NEW A AND B CLASS MERCEDES
10 June 2008 - Mercedes-Benz

Excellent build quality

Mercedes-Benz continues their new and refreshed ‘product rush’ with the arrival of the revised A and B-Class cars which go on sale in the UK from 17 July 2008.

A-Class
Mercedes-Benz said at the international press launch in Berlin last week, the A-Class was the first ‘premium’ car in the compact segment when it was launched in 1997. The second generation A-Class was introduced in 2004 and over 1.7 million of them have been sold worldwide making it one of their best selling model ranges.

Berlin is the home to the Mercedes-Benz German sales organisation but it is the city that Carl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler registered their patents for the first automobile 120 years ago.

In the UK the A-Class average annual sales are 12,663 units with 56 per cent being to retail customers, 41 per cent are female owners and 45 per cent are repeat buyers. The average age of A-Class owners is 57 years.

The new A-Class range consists, as before, of three and five door hatchback models. There are no price increases over the outgoing versions despite added specification, improved safety features, better fuel economy, lower CO2 emissions, body restyling and a revised model line-up.

Classic, Sport and Turbo variants are no longer available so the revised line-up is;
Classic SE which is expected to take around 51 per cent of sales, Elegance SE 20 per cent and Avantgarde SE 26 per cent. On the road prices range from £14,365 to £18,815.

Although the engine options for the A-Class is comprehensive for Europe with four petrol and three diesel units, in the UK there are four, the 1.5-litre 150 and 1.7-litre 170 petrol and 2.0-litre 160/180 CDI turbodiesel units. All are available with the option of manual or automatic transmissions.

In the UK over 70 per cent of A-Class sales are for petrol powered models and over 47 per cent of customers choose the automatic transmission option. The best selling model has traditionally been the A150, 90hp, five-door accounting 45 per cent of sales followed by the A180 CDI, 109hp, five-door with 21 per cent and the A170, 116hp, five-door with 12 per cent. Five door models account for 90 per cent of A-Class UK sales.

Additional lower emission BlueEfficiency models, three and five door manual variants with A 150/170 petrol engines and the three door manual transmission A160 CDI diesel, will be available from September production this year at no extra cost over the standard models.

BlueEfficiency specification will include Mercedes’ new ECO Stop/Start function, low rolling resistance tyres, lightweight construction and detailed aerodynamic body styling changes. The three-door A160 CDI BlueEfficiency model is said to return 62mpg with 119g/km of CO2. BlueEfficiency versions are claimed to offer a nine per cent fuel and CO2 saving over conventional new A-Class models.

Active Park Assist, which identifies a parking space big enough for the A-Class and when engaged reverses the car into the space, is also a new option priced at £550.

B-Class
The B-Class is not the best known Mercedes model in the UK but as its name suggests it is the next step up in the ladder from the A-Class. This model range too is all about passenger packaging whilst still retaining considerable amounts of load and luggage space.

The B-Class was first introduced in 2005 and over 350,000 have been sold worldwide to date. The UK market is expected to average around 5,500 sales in a full year and 14,528 of them have been sold in the UK since the model range was first introduced.

The B-Class is only available in one five-door body style and combines some of the functions of an estate car with those of a five-seater MPV. In Germany and Austria they are very popular vehicles for taxi operators because of their seating capacity, the large luggage area and they are cheaper to buy and run than the traditional Mercedes E-Class Estate which is also widely used for taxi work.

In the UK 68 per cent of B-Class customers are private buyers, 62 per cent of registered owners are male and 40 per cent are over 56 years of age. B-Class UK owners mainly come from multi-car households, 54 per cent of buyers choose diesel models and 68 per cent also choose the automatic transmission option.

The revised B-Class range for the UK has also been reduced in the number of engine and specification options. Standard, and Turbo versions are deleted and the range now has SE and Sport derivatives with two petrol and two diesel engines available for both specification levels. Prices range from £18,840 to £22,540.

These prices represent an increase of £150 across the range but Marc Palmer, Mercedes-Benz UK product manager said the new B-Class models have added value for the customer in terms of specification, design, safety, fuel economy and Bluetooth capability. He added the SE models now have a panoramic glass roof as standard which previously cost £460 and the Sports specification which used to cost an extra £495 is now standard.

The B-Class revised engine line-up now consists of two petrol and two diesel engine options with manual and automatic transmission options available for all of them.

The two petrol units are the 1.5-litre 150, 95hp and 1.7-litre 170, 116hp, engines. The turbodiesel engines options are both 2.0-litre units, the 180 CDI 109hp and the 200 CDI 140hp. The sales split between the engines is traditionally 36 per cent for the B180 CDI, 25.5 per cent for the B150, 18 per cent for the B200 CDI and 14.7 per cent for the B170. The sales split between SE and Sport specifications is expected to be 50-50.

BlueEfficiency versions using petrol engines with manual transmission will become available from September this year. Active Park Assist is also as option for the B-Class models, again priced at £550.

Views

New Mercedes-Benz A-Class
Driving the new A-Class models last week in the former divided city of Berlin for the international press launch, taking in the historic sites including the infamous Berlin Wall, proved what we already knew about the A-Class. It is a premium quality compact city car but with an elevated command driving position making it easy to drive and park.

Where both the A and B-Class models appeal is to those customers who need popular sized family cars but they want their products to be ‘premium’ in both quality and brand image, with a good level of specification and to some extent performance and fuel economy doesn’t matter, especially to retail buyers. Company car users will be more interested in the BlueEfficiency models coming our way next Autumn and I have to report that their ECO Stop/Start system is excellent, probably the best around at the moment for the speed of its operation.

In all other respects the front-wheel drive A-Class is as before. It mostly provides a comfortable ride but it can prove choppy over poorer road surfaces, it is exceptionally easy to drive and to park thanks to the high-up driving position and being just less than four metres in length. The specification is all you could reasonably ask for at the price. The fuel economy is better and the emissions lower and it looks smart with the styling updates. With prices starting at £14,365 a Mercedes becomes affordable and the best selling Classic SE A150 five-door at £15,115 is a bit of a bargain.

The enhancements for SE models include crash responsive emergency lighting (warning lights and interior lighting) and flashing adaptive brake lights, hill start assist, body coloured door handles, mirrors and rubbing strips, enhanced Telematics with Bluetooth, a carwash compatible aerial, large three-louvered grille, new front and rear light clusters and new style front and rear bumpers. Of course all the usual features such as power front side windows, air conditioning, airbags and split folding rear seats are all present.

It was just unfortunate that Mercedes in Germany did not have the UK’s likely best selling model, the A150 petrol version for the Media to drive so we had to make do with the expected second best selling version, the A180 CDI turbodiesel. This 2.0-litre unit has been given the better fuel economy treatment and should return around eight per cent better fuel efficiency. This is officially 54mpg, but our test car with the six-speed manual gearbox in Berlin city traffic, returned 30mpg. Acceleration was adequate with 0-62mph taking 10.8 seconds and top speed is said to be 116mph.

MILESTONES. Mercedes-Benz A180 CDI, Classic SE 5-Door. Price: £17,215. Engine 2.0-litre, four-cylinder turbodiesel, 109hp, 250Nm of torque from 1,600rpm. Performance: 116mph, 0-62mph 10.8 seconds, 54mpg (30mpg actual for city driving), CO2 134g/km, VED Band C £120. Insurance group: 6 tbc. For: More of the same – but better, easy to park, easy to drive, relatively roomy, good storage space, well built badge desirability. Against: Some models are expensive, choppy ride, light and vague steering.

The Mercedes-Benz B-Class
Look on the B-Class as being the big brother of the A-Class five-door. It lingers in the domain between a C-segment five-door estate and a C-segment MPV. It has more seating space and certainly more luggage room than an estate but it does not have the clever alternative seating positions of an MPV such as the Vauxhall Zafira. Yes all the rear three seats foldaway to create an even larger luggage space and that is probably enough for most families with children or older couples with grand children. Again the right badge is the thing with the B-Class having more appeal than estates based on the Ford Focus, Vauxhall Astra or VW Golf. Not being a true MPV also means it also doesn’t shout ‘functional family transport’ at you.

With the new model line up in the UK the SE specification is by far and away the most sensible and will appeal to the vast majority of drivers even though the prices are the same for SE and Sport specification options. The B180 CDI diesel will marginally be the best selling engine even though nearly 70 per cent of customers will be private buyers but these will include business owners. The most popular B180 engine shows up to a seven per cent improvement in fuel economy and CO2 emissions.

The restyling, similar to the A-Class, has sharpened up and refreshed the car’s exterior and there are the same savings for fuel economy and reduced CO2 levels. The front wheel drive B-Class generally handles well enough for most people where ride comfort is the priority. It rolls a little during cornering and rough surfaces can upset the vehicle’s stability, small issues if you want to own a family sized Mercedes-Benz.

The high-up seating position gives good visibility in all directions and with an overall length of 4,273mmn it can easily be parked. The height of 1,604mm means it fits easily into normal house garages and multi-story car parks.

MILESTONES. Mercedes Benz B180 CDI SE. Price. £20,850. Engine: 2.0-litre, four-cylinder, turbodiesel, 109hp, 250Nm of torque from 1,600rpm. Performance: 114mph, 0-62mph 11.3 seconds, 50mpg (40mpg actual), CO2 137g/km, VED Band C £120. Insurance group: 8 tbc. Boot capacity: 544-2,245-litres. For: Refinement, huge load space, flexible seating, impressive build quality, executive looks. Against: Indifferent handling, lack-lustre steering response.

Miles Better News Agency

http://www.mercedes-benz.co.uk

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