SA Road Tests

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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. I drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under real-world South African conditions. Most, but not all, the vehicles driven are world cars as well, so what you read here possibly applies to the models you get where you live.

My most recent drive is on the home page. Archived reviews and opinion pieces are in the active menu down the left side. Hover your cursor over a heading or manufacturer's name and follow the drop-down.


We go on an up-date with Mercedes-Benz B-Class twins B200 and B220 CDI

Time for another upgrade

Posted: 28 August 2015

The numbers
B 200:
Base price (automatic): R418 462 including CO2 tax – R461 462 as tested
Engine: 1595 cc, chain driven, DOHC, 16-valve, four-cylinder turbo petrol
Power: 115 kW at 5000 rpm
Torque: 250 Nm between 1250 and 4000 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 8.6 seconds
Maximum speed: 220 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 7.9 l/100 km
B 220 CDI:
Base price: R459 200, zero CO2 tax – R502 200 as tested
Engine: 2143 cc, aluminium head over iron block, DOHC, 16-valve, four-cylinder turbodiesel
Power: 125 kW between 3400 and 4400 rpm
Torque: 350 Nm between 1400 and 3400 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 8.3 seconds
Maximum speed: 224 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 6.4 l/100 km
Tank: 50 litres
Boot: 488 litres
Warranty and maintenance: 6 years / 100 000 km


We mentioned “up-date” in the title above, so what’s new?

Little that a casual observer would notice, actually: The frontal view boasts a new bumper, bigger side intakes, a grille with two louvres in place of three and DRLs integrated into the headlamps. The back bumper was reshaped and given a chrome strip, while the tail lamps were fitted with LEDs.

Inside, the tablet-like display grew to 8” diagonally and instruments were restyled. Not immediately visible are twelve colours of ambient lighting and a choice of six individualisation packages consisting mainly of appearance items.

The above-mentioned display unit has drawn comment over the years. An M-B spokesperson explained recently that while it looks rather like an afterthought, fitted into a slot on the dash, engineers decided it would be better to make it a rigid fixture because the old foldaway system had possible reliability issues.

Our biggest complaint, after living with two examples of B-Class for a while, was that it’s only static – big, bright and beautiful – but static nonetheless. You have to navigate a bewildering array of tiny control buttons on the dash, some in conjunction with the rotary controller, to find anything. Trying to do so while in motion is unsafe and fiddling with the unwieldy computer menu, while parked, is frustrating. It’s time to follow others and make this display unit interactive.

We drove a B 200 (petrol) and a B 220 CDI back-to-back. Both were fitted with 7G-matic transmissions and were similarly equipped with twin-pane sunroofs, Harman-Kardon Logic7 surround sound and Comand Online satnav. These options added R43 000 to each car’s price and the B 200’s twin-clutch gearbox (standard on B 220 CDI) cost a further R18 000.

Both cars’ interiors were typically Mercedes-Benz with almost completely black trim, wand-like P-R-N-D selector on the steering column, seat adjustment buttons on upper door panels, gear shift paddles behind the steering wheel and the familiar E-S-L selector (Eco, Sport and Manual) on the lower dash. Everything works as it did three years ago, when the current series was introduced, so that’s at least familiar.

Driving impressions: The 1600 cc B 200 is best described as smooth and willing, but not exciting. Performance was perfectly adequate for day-to-day city use and occasional freeway cruising. The gearbox behaved impeccably, as always, and we noticed no turbo lag in normal driving.

The 2143 cc, B 220 CDI on the other hand, was much more agile on the open road; enabling us to overtake quickly and maintain cruising speed up long hills comfortably. Low speed manoeuvring in confined spaces was less joyful unfortunately. We could not modulate the throttle to transition smoothly between standstill and cautious motion. Revs build with gentle accelerator pressure but the car remains stationary until, like a switch being engaged, it lurches into action. This is only happens at very low speed; firmer treatment in normal driving masks this tendency.

User interface: The hatch door opens down to mid-thigh level to reveal a neat rectangular compartment with a five-centimetre loading lip. Four lashing hooks, a light, a first aid kit, a load-through hatch (ski slot) and a 12-volt socket are provided for convenience. Seatbacks split 2/3:1/3 and a right-handed pull handle is provided. The power amplifier for the music system, emergency triangle, owner’s handbook and towing eyelet are stashed under the boot floor. Tyres are runflats, so there is no spare.

The rear seatbacks fold with a step, but you might need to remove head restraints or shift the front chairs forward slightly in order to get it done. Head- and under-seat foot room is generous, while knee space varies between just enough and plenty – depending on whether the aircraft style tray tables are up or down.

Those seated back there will find decent levels of comfort with netted pockets and door bins for storage, air conditioner repeater vents, pop-out cup holders in the armrest, cigarette lighter and ashtray, and a full set of head restraints and seat belts.

The two in front have a big central armrest over a storage bin that also houses two USB sockets (awkward to reach, by the way), a pair of cup holders, a box with lid, ash tray and lighter in a further lidded compartment, medium door bins and a big glove box.

There are the usual buttons on the steering wheel, cruise control, automatic stop-start, a fuel computer and parking sensors. The electric parking brake engages and disengages automatically. While the dual skyroof lets in lots of light, the opening sunroof is much like everyone else’s. It’s fine up to about 75 km/h. After that it gets noisy, but never gusty – not at legal speeds, anyway.

We were really enthusiastic about the B-Class range back in 2012 but it’s beginning to show its age. It’s time for another upgrade; one that goes beyond cosmetics.

Test cars from MBSA press fleet

The diesel launch report is here

Introduction of petrol models is here



What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.

I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material. If I ever place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with that vehicle at least once already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.

Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. As quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so they can see I do actually exist.

Comments?
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