Mercedes B-Class Review & Prices

The Mercedes B-Class is like a sensible pair of shoes from Marks & Spencer. It’s a little bit more premium than your average high-street stuff, but it’s a bit dour, a bit suburban, and you’ll end up looking across at pricier, racier SUVs — the Nike cross-trainers of the motoring world.

The thing is, should you? After all, a B-Class is going to be more practical than an SUV, and it’s also going to be more economical thanks to being more aerodynamic. It’s a traditional MPV, a class of car which has all-but died out, but which once was reckoned to be the form that all cars would eventually take (until SUVs took over).

Mercedes has updated the B-Class for 2023 to improve its chances against its only premium SUV competition - the BMW 2 Series Active Tourer - so should you shun the fashionable blandishments of SUVS and go for something truly sensible?

The B-Class’ strength is that it’s basically an A-Class that’s been stretched upwards. That means it keeps the classy cabin layout of the A-Class, and it gets the same twin 10.25-inch digital screens. One is for instruments and the other is for infotainment, and both are mounted in the same unit which looks as if someone’s stretched an iPad out across the top of the dashboard.

The screens use an older version of Merc’s touchscreen software, but it still looks classy and it’s easier and less fiddly to use than the systems offered by BMW and Audi. The B-Class’ cabin is also very well made, and generally of very high quality although you’ll find some cheap plastics lower down in the cabin, and the column stalks behind the chunky three-spoke steering wheel look appallingly cheap for a car with the three-pointed star on the front.

The best thing about the B-Class’ inside, though, is the space on offer. There’s lots of legroom and headroom in the back, so it’s both family-friendly and even four-friends-off-for-a-weekend friendly. The boot is generous too, from a minimum of 420 litres with the seats up, to a maximum of 1,505 litres with them folded — and they fold properly flat too.

Underneath, the chassis is the same as that of the A-Class, so you get nicely weighted steering and suspension that’s a little softer than that of the hatchback. That means more body roll in corners, and the B-Class isn’t as much fun to drive (there’s also no sporty AMG version) but the softer ride means it’s more refined and comfortable, and that’s the point — it’s not a tall hot hatch, it’s a comfy device for hauling people and stuff around.

The 2023 update to the B-Class gets some minor exterior styling updates — nothing you’d spot without the aid of a magnifying glass and a Haynes manual to be honest — and the engine lineup has been cut down to just two options.

There’s a petrol 1.3-litre turbo, the B200, which has 136hp and a little extra kick under full acceleration from a mild-hybrid system (which also makes the B-Class more economical around town). CO2 emissions are 136g/km and claimed fuel economy is 47mpg. There’s a B200d diesel as well, which does without the mild-hybrid bit, but gets an eight-speed automatic gearbox over the petrol version’s seven-speed unit. The diesel B-Class boasts 133g/km CO2 emissions, and fuel economy of 55.3mpg.

So, what’s it going to be? A sensible B-Class that actually does everything pretty well? Or a pricier, more stylish, but also more compromised SUV? We’ll let you know when we’ve given the new B-Class our full test treatment.

In the meantime, go and check out all of carwow’s Mercedes deals, or have a look through the latest used Mercedes on offer through carwow. And when you’re ready to sell your current car, we can help with that too.