BETTER PARTSFacelift Friday: Mercedes-Benz B-class (W 245)
The Mercedes-Benz B-class and Paris share a long history. In 2004, the brand the Vision B concept car, a car that a year later as the B-class came on the market. Earlier this week pulled the Germans in Paris, the canvas of the already the third generation.
The Vision B was used together with the Vision R is presented. Where the final R class preferably quickly forgotten, grew the B-class out to be a pretty successful model. So much so that the car in 2014, when the second generation of the B-class already on the road, got imitation in the form of the BMW 2-Series Active Tourer.
Our focus for this Facelift Friday on the first generation, the W 245. Although the car was on the basis of its interior as a midi-MPV called, were missing things like loose seats, klaptafeltjes and boxes and boxes. In fact, the car had a fixed back seat. In its advantage spoke with a flat loading platform. This was the practical chapter is closed. The B, therefore, was a counterpart of the just previously launched Volkswagen Golf Plus than a Touran.
The offer was clear: six versions, three petrol engines and a diesel. The majority of the models was a B 180 CDI version, equipped with a 109 horsepower version of the same 2.0-litre diesel engine as in the B 200 CDI. Connoisseurs could opt for the B 200 Turbo. This version kicked it up to 193 hp and - if equipped with a manual gearbox - to a peak of 225 kilometres per hour.
In 2008, Mercedes-Benz, it is time for a facelift, in which particularly the lower part of the bumper on the kick went. The horizontal lines disappeared and made place for a second grille. The grille itself was now standard three sharp blades. For the facelift were the less wealthy models equipped with slimmer instances. On a technical level, was the facelift also modest. Thus, Hill-Start Assist and Active Parking Assist are optional, and there were so-called BlueEfficiency models.
The B-class in the Netherlands is the fifth best-selling model of Mercedes-Benz ever. In 2012, the car 3.440 registered copies here his most successful year. Fun fact: in 2010, it transgressed a number of trainees at Mercedes on the B-class, on which the model was equipped with a 388 hp 5.5-liter V8 engine and rear-wheel drive.