Hi there, I’m a newbie, but thought I’d share thoughts & findings about recent purchase of B-class (turbo) and options, and would be grateful for suggestions as well regarding upgrades/styling extras.
Sorry if I’ve posted this in the wrong place- is there a specific area for B-class?
Our (wifes) car:
B200 Turbo
metallic paint
H-K spkrs
CD changer
heated seats
Designo interior
comfort seats
storage pack
rear airbags
interior lights pack
fixed panoramic roof
auto
parktronic
rear airbags
12V boot socket
illuminated sills
window tints
brabus door pins
mudflaps
I have c230K coupe with sports suspension & wifey had 330 Msport conv. The BMW had to go due to 2 kids under 2yrs, so finally decided on B after much head scratching. My wife wanted a higher ride ‘just because’ & also for ease of placing children- could not justify R class due to size & fuel efficiency so plumped for B class. If I’d been left to it, I may have got a C-class estate, but a similar performing & specced up new one would’ve been £10K extra! Some have said on forum that its more sensible to go for A class, but there is lots more space in B & we prefer looks. There were not many used B200Ts around & few had much kit on them, so we went new but there are more used ones coming along now. Economy is not much worse than non turbo 200, but performance in a different league & torque is better than 180 diesel.
We think this car is great- I did worry a bit during the four month wait after ordering, but it has grown a lot on me and we would highly recommend one to anyone. Have now had it a month and done approx 600miles
Unfortunately the turbo’s now been deleted from the B line up in UK, as has standard petrol 200 - may be available as imports from another country. We’d have liked the facelift changes, but were happy to have the turbo & do without! I believe that some of facelift styling changes were already on the turbo anyway, but not the front bumper or software/audio/Bluetooth upgrades.
PRICE
As usual M-B dealer hard to haggle with. We saved £2400 on new price with a ‘B’ keyring(£25!) & MB golf brolly thrown in, but dealer wanted to charge £150 for fitting mudguards, so I fitted them myself. Bought an extra B keyring, roofbars & illuminated sills all off ebay as one offs at fraction of rrps.
RIDE/COMFORT:
Lots of forum members advise against the sports suspension. We were used to firm ride so opted for the (standard) sports suspension on the turbo. We find this ride quality fine & no worse than the firmness that we’re used to- it’s less woolly than the comfort suspension & gives more confidence in handling. It’s comfier than my coupe, even on the bigger AMG 18s (the c230k has 17s), though this may be down to the seats- we have comfort seats and designo interior in the B which means that the sports seats are deleted to ?standard seats with designo covering. The designo option may also add plusher padding(according to dealer) but am unsure this is true. Deleting the sports seats also means that one can choose the storage pack & multicontour seat if required. My wife found that her posterior didn’t fit very well between the bolsters of the standard sport seat, although she was pregnant at the time!
The steering is definitely less direct & much lighter than we were used to, but this is a different type of car- one soon gets used to it.
We have the CVT box, which is fine. There is no satisfying gearbox downshift that the BMW had, but the B-class is actually faster than the C or the BMW and the acceleration’s great! This is impressive, particularly as it’s FWD as opposed to our RWD cars. We have not had any problems with traction. Economy slightly lower with CVT, but acceleration actually better than manual as there’s no time spent inbetween gears.
Economy is not much worse than non turbo 200, but performance in a different league & torque is better than 180 diesel.
TRIM
We would highly recommend the designo option as it really lifts the interior look, compared to the cloth/artico standard sports seat. The feeling of luxury with this goes some way in ‘making do’ with the B instead of an R class. The price is similar to comand and includes wood trim instead of the aluminium trim on centre console & doors, nicer floor mats, plus ‘designo’ plaques all over the place. Ordering designo adds 2-4wks extra onto delivery times.
Wife does not like steering wheel- thin compared to 330 & also rough stitching on inner side- I am used to this from the C!
OPTIONS:
The options list in the brochure is not comprehensive in describing features!
We saved money by not getting phone/comand/bi-xenons and opted for lots of cheaper goodies instead. With the new facelift B there’ll also be a dealer option of add on sat nav that fits with a special bracket just above airvent, which I am hoping will also fit pre-facelift models…
We’d highly recommend the H-K speaker upgrade. Compared to my C class (with standard speakers) it gives a much richer, fuller sound with better clarity and richer bass & midrange.
The parktronic is great and much more informative than BMW version. Although is a little quieter so have to be careful to turn down stereo!
The panoramic roof gives a large open feeling to the car and is a lot cheaper than the louvred roof, which IMO, one’s unlikely to use much at speed with aircon.
Luxury climate may appear to be an overpriced option. However, there are a number of advantages. Lux climate adds: nice looking digital display, separate L/R temp controls, extra vents for the rear seats and the REST function which uses residual heat from engine to keep interior warm in winter when engine off or blows the fan on cool in summer. Plus, when recycle is used, it gives true climate control, altering the air humidity as well as temp.
I find the courtesy lights a little annoying in the footwells- they stay on with the interior lights and I just feel they are a bit wasteful- I may change these to LEDs to cut down power use. The sunshade lights are useful according to wife.
Brabus pins are overpriced at £63 (inc discount) but give an extra chrome bling and having a capital B (for Brabus), were irresistibly apt for a B class.
Our car had no jack/toolkit or wheel chock in the recess, which I only discovered when I came to do the mudguards. Fortunately dealer didn’t quibble, but I wish I’d checked on receiving car & would advise others to do same.
12v socket is inexpensive at £20 but I did not realise that there is one as standard for the back seats as well as in front console, so this option adds a third one, so not really necessary, but useful for electric boot coolbox
KIDS
This car is great for kids- very easy to put them into child seats as seats are nice & high up. Due to this, they are less likely to suffer injury in a side impact, as they are above the usual area of impact.
Kids also have a good view of the road so are kept entertained.
Isofix is great!
We found out that the Mercedes child seats are simply Britax car seats with a transponder in, but at over double the price. The transponder is only of use in the front seats. If using the front seat for child seat, the airbag only needs turning off if rear facing seat used, otherwise can be left on, but just push the front seat back as far as poss. There is no other way of turning off the airbag- even dealer will not do this. BMW wanted to charge £300 to turn off airbag in 330 in addition to signed disclaimer & advice to inform insurer. They would charge the same to reactivate airbag afterwards!!
Future wishlist
New chrome sided key- they are still supplying old all black keys with Bs!
Satnav- see above
Brabus twin spots
?steering wheel
Xtreme power bulbs
Now some questions:
Have yet to fit the sills- any tips
Has anyone fitted the Carlsson rear bumper to a B?
I would love to change the radiator grill to a CL type one. On the Brabus website there is a nice debadged grill, but no mention of it in the listings??
As A & B classes are v similar, would the Brabus sports steering wheel fit into the B class?
I don’t think we are likely to need extra perfomance, but is the Brabus turbo performance upgrade compatible with the CVT box, just in case?
Any experience of upgrading the stereo with a non M-B unit?
Whilst we are not boy racers, we like our cars- are there any other subtle styling upgrades anyone has made they’d recommend?
Hope this info might be useful to anyone considering one & thanks in anticipation of any feedback/suggestions. Sorry if lots of waffle.
I will try & upload some pics if anyone is interested!
Sorry if I’ve posted this in the wrong place- is there a specific area for B-class?
Our (wifes) car:
B200 Turbo
metallic paint
H-K spkrs
CD changer
heated seats
Designo interior
comfort seats
storage pack
rear airbags
interior lights pack
fixed panoramic roof
auto
parktronic
rear airbags
12V boot socket
illuminated sills
window tints
brabus door pins
mudflaps
I have c230K coupe with sports suspension & wifey had 330 Msport conv. The BMW had to go due to 2 kids under 2yrs, so finally decided on B after much head scratching. My wife wanted a higher ride ‘just because’ & also for ease of placing children- could not justify R class due to size & fuel efficiency so plumped for B class. If I’d been left to it, I may have got a C-class estate, but a similar performing & specced up new one would’ve been £10K extra! Some have said on forum that its more sensible to go for A class, but there is lots more space in B & we prefer looks. There were not many used B200Ts around & few had much kit on them, so we went new but there are more used ones coming along now. Economy is not much worse than non turbo 200, but performance in a different league & torque is better than 180 diesel.
We think this car is great- I did worry a bit during the four month wait after ordering, but it has grown a lot on me and we would highly recommend one to anyone. Have now had it a month and done approx 600miles
Unfortunately the turbo’s now been deleted from the B line up in UK, as has standard petrol 200 - may be available as imports from another country. We’d have liked the facelift changes, but were happy to have the turbo & do without! I believe that some of facelift styling changes were already on the turbo anyway, but not the front bumper or software/audio/Bluetooth upgrades.
PRICE
As usual M-B dealer hard to haggle with. We saved £2400 on new price with a ‘B’ keyring(£25!) & MB golf brolly thrown in, but dealer wanted to charge £150 for fitting mudguards, so I fitted them myself. Bought an extra B keyring, roofbars & illuminated sills all off ebay as one offs at fraction of rrps.
RIDE/COMFORT:
Lots of forum members advise against the sports suspension. We were used to firm ride so opted for the (standard) sports suspension on the turbo. We find this ride quality fine & no worse than the firmness that we’re used to- it’s less woolly than the comfort suspension & gives more confidence in handling. It’s comfier than my coupe, even on the bigger AMG 18s (the c230k has 17s), though this may be down to the seats- we have comfort seats and designo interior in the B which means that the sports seats are deleted to ?standard seats with designo covering. The designo option may also add plusher padding(according to dealer) but am unsure this is true. Deleting the sports seats also means that one can choose the storage pack & multicontour seat if required. My wife found that her posterior didn’t fit very well between the bolsters of the standard sport seat, although she was pregnant at the time!
The steering is definitely less direct & much lighter than we were used to, but this is a different type of car- one soon gets used to it.
We have the CVT box, which is fine. There is no satisfying gearbox downshift that the BMW had, but the B-class is actually faster than the C or the BMW and the acceleration’s great! This is impressive, particularly as it’s FWD as opposed to our RWD cars. We have not had any problems with traction. Economy slightly lower with CVT, but acceleration actually better than manual as there’s no time spent inbetween gears.
Economy is not much worse than non turbo 200, but performance in a different league & torque is better than 180 diesel.
TRIM
We would highly recommend the designo option as it really lifts the interior look, compared to the cloth/artico standard sports seat. The feeling of luxury with this goes some way in ‘making do’ with the B instead of an R class. The price is similar to comand and includes wood trim instead of the aluminium trim on centre console & doors, nicer floor mats, plus ‘designo’ plaques all over the place. Ordering designo adds 2-4wks extra onto delivery times.
Wife does not like steering wheel- thin compared to 330 & also rough stitching on inner side- I am used to this from the C!
OPTIONS:
The options list in the brochure is not comprehensive in describing features!
We saved money by not getting phone/comand/bi-xenons and opted for lots of cheaper goodies instead. With the new facelift B there’ll also be a dealer option of add on sat nav that fits with a special bracket just above airvent, which I am hoping will also fit pre-facelift models…
We’d highly recommend the H-K speaker upgrade. Compared to my C class (with standard speakers) it gives a much richer, fuller sound with better clarity and richer bass & midrange.
The parktronic is great and much more informative than BMW version. Although is a little quieter so have to be careful to turn down stereo!
The panoramic roof gives a large open feeling to the car and is a lot cheaper than the louvred roof, which IMO, one’s unlikely to use much at speed with aircon.
Luxury climate may appear to be an overpriced option. However, there are a number of advantages. Lux climate adds: nice looking digital display, separate L/R temp controls, extra vents for the rear seats and the REST function which uses residual heat from engine to keep interior warm in winter when engine off or blows the fan on cool in summer. Plus, when recycle is used, it gives true climate control, altering the air humidity as well as temp.
I find the courtesy lights a little annoying in the footwells- they stay on with the interior lights and I just feel they are a bit wasteful- I may change these to LEDs to cut down power use. The sunshade lights are useful according to wife.
Brabus pins are overpriced at £63 (inc discount) but give an extra chrome bling and having a capital B (for Brabus), were irresistibly apt for a B class.
Our car had no jack/toolkit or wheel chock in the recess, which I only discovered when I came to do the mudguards. Fortunately dealer didn’t quibble, but I wish I’d checked on receiving car & would advise others to do same.
12v socket is inexpensive at £20 but I did not realise that there is one as standard for the back seats as well as in front console, so this option adds a third one, so not really necessary, but useful for electric boot coolbox
KIDS
This car is great for kids- very easy to put them into child seats as seats are nice & high up. Due to this, they are less likely to suffer injury in a side impact, as they are above the usual area of impact.
Kids also have a good view of the road so are kept entertained.
Isofix is great!
We found out that the Mercedes child seats are simply Britax car seats with a transponder in, but at over double the price. The transponder is only of use in the front seats. If using the front seat for child seat, the airbag only needs turning off if rear facing seat used, otherwise can be left on, but just push the front seat back as far as poss. There is no other way of turning off the airbag- even dealer will not do this. BMW wanted to charge £300 to turn off airbag in 330 in addition to signed disclaimer & advice to inform insurer. They would charge the same to reactivate airbag afterwards!!
Future wishlist
New chrome sided key- they are still supplying old all black keys with Bs!
Satnav- see above
Brabus twin spots
?steering wheel
Xtreme power bulbs
Now some questions:
Have yet to fit the sills- any tips
Has anyone fitted the Carlsson rear bumper to a B?
I would love to change the radiator grill to a CL type one. On the Brabus website there is a nice debadged grill, but no mention of it in the listings??
As A & B classes are v similar, would the Brabus sports steering wheel fit into the B class?
I don’t think we are likely to need extra perfomance, but is the Brabus turbo performance upgrade compatible with the CVT box, just in case?
Any experience of upgrading the stereo with a non M-B unit?
Whilst we are not boy racers, we like our cars- are there any other subtle styling upgrades anyone has made they’d recommend?
Hope this info might be useful to anyone considering one & thanks in anticipation of any feedback/suggestions. Sorry if lots of waffle.
I will try & upload some pics if anyone is interested!
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