Automotive road trip review of the all new 2019 Mercedes-Benz B-Class

In May 2019 I had the opportunity to test the all new Mercedes-Benz B-Class during a 3-week Romania road trip. I logged over 1500 miles/2400km during this three week period. This is what I thought of the Mercedes-Benz B-Class from a road trip perspective.

VEHICLE MODEL TESTED

2019 Mercedes-Benz B-Class 200d – This 4-cylynder diesel model is rated at 150 horsepower. More specs below.

INITIAL ASSESSMENT OF THE MERCEDES-BENZ B-CLASS

Interior: The B-Class has a striking interior cabin with a lovely dashboard while the seats showcase stylish exposed stitching.  A beautiful steering wheel and a widescreen cockpit display that combines two 10.25-inch screens side by side are quite dramatic. And, the 64-color ambient lighting and jet-style air vents are pretty cool too. The large windows and massive sun/moon roof provides ample light and visibility.

Exterior: The front of the car has a sporting grill and looks incredible straight on. The back however is less attractive, but I can appreciate that it’s difficult to make a hatchback look stylish.

KEY VEHICLE SPECS

• 150 HP 236 lb-ft 8G-DCT dual-clutch transmission 5.4-4.2 l/100 km 119-112 g/km
• Millage 52 city / 57 highway mpg | 22km city / 24km per liter highway
• 8-Speed Automatic Transmission.
• FWD with optional AWD.
• Paddle shifters for sport mode driving.
• Premium six-speaker surround sound system.
• Lots of driving assist features: Semi-autonomous,  passive safety features, one of the safest cars on the road.
  • Active Distance Assist – support the driver by adjusting the speed when approaching bends, interceptions or roundabouts.
  • Active Emergency Stop Assist and Active Lane Change Assist – further increases safety, making long trips more relaxing.
  • Active Brake Assist, a system that can help mitigate rear-end collisions with slower-moving, stopping or stationary vehicles ahead, as well as with crossing pedestrians or cyclists.

BASE PRICE

$28,800 base model. As tested, $34,250.

MRT ROAD TRIP RATINGS OF THE B-CLASS

(1-50 miles. The farther I’m willing to drive, the better! 50 miles is the highest score)

• Acceleration 47 out of 50 miles (No problems passing, plenty of acceleration).
• Braking 46 out of 50 miles (Very responsive breaking).
• Climate Control 48 out of 50 miles (The air condition, heating, individual controls, etc. were fantastic).
• Sound System 46 out of 50 miles (Great sound system, easily connects to phone/iPod).
• Navigation System 47 out of 50 miles (Great Bluetooth connection. Lane indicator. CarPlay and Sirius radio included).
• Windshield Wipers 47 out of 50 miles
• Seat Comfort 46 out of 50 miles (The seats have plenty of power adjustments).
• Gas Mileage 48 out of 50 miles (I filled up 5 times and averaged 54mpg or 23km per liter).
• Miles per tank 47 out of 50 miles (The B-Class gets really good range. The most miles we logged on a single tank was 779km, but with a 50 liter tank, could probably get 950-1000km safely).
• Head lights 50 out of 50 miles (Great illumination with adaptive high beam feature, which means as on-coming traffic closes in, the lights automatically dim so you don’t have to).
• Sun visor 41 out of 50 miles
• Wind when window is down 40 out of 50 (When the driver’s window is down, a bit of air comes in, and is a bit loud).
• Sun/moon roof 50-50 (Massive full glass roof really opens up the car. Next best thing to having a convertible).
• Blind Spots 47 out of 50 miles (None really…good visibility).
• Controls 48 out of 50 miles (Everything was quiet accessible and intuitive).
• Heated Seats 50 out 50 miles (worked great, has 3 different heat level settings).
• Cooling seats (Not applicable, which is disappointing for warmer climate areas).
• Navigation cameras 50 out of 50 (360 ° camcorder parking package is fantastic).
• Heated Steering Wheel 45 out of 50 miles (This is a nice feature, a cooling option would be nice too).
• Road Trip storage 46 out of 50 miles (The B-class has adequate storage for a road trip. There are many cubbies to store things).
• Autonomous features 47 out of 50 miles (The B-Class has some incredible autonomous features and is way ahead of its competitors in a similar class).

Mike’s Road Trip Mercedes-Benz B-Class Rating is: 46.8 miles out of 50 – a stellar road trip rating.

MERCEDES-BENZ B-CLASS FUEL ECONOMY DETAILS

This B-Class 200d model is rated for 51mpg city and 57mpg hwy. After five fill-ups with about 45% highway driving (the rest city and off-road), this 200d averaged around 54 mpg or 23km per liter.

CONCLUSION

The all new Mercedes-Benz B-Class is affordability in a luxurious wrapper. The vehicle comes with a lot of bells and whistles with great performance and fuel efficiency, especially at this price point. The new B-class is more stylish, safer, has better performance and is more comfortable than previous generations.

The B-Class has a smartphone-inspired control system, which includes the center console touch-pad and navigation screens. Many of them cover the same functions, by pressing or swiping. It does take a bit of practice to navigate, but ultimately it is brilliantly logical. If you’d prefer to say “Hey Mercedes” the system can navigate many functions without touching anything. We did find this feature to be a bit limited however.

If you own, or have driven a Mercedes-Benz B-Class , I’d love to hear your thoughts. If you have any questions about this vehicle, please leave a comment below and I’ll try and answer it. Click here for more information on the Mercedes-Benz B-Class in Romania. By the way, this B-Class car is not available in the United States.