Good things come to those who wait

This was actually my first week long test in the B200 Series, and I have been looking forward to it ever since I rented the smaller A Series Mercedes on a visit to England some years back.

I actually needed a large style rental vehicle for that trip as I had my wife with me together with a gift for my nephew in the shape of a full sized mountain bike. That meant four large suit cases, three for her and one for me, two bigger than we needed carry on bags, and a dirty great thing with wheels and pedals. Obviously what I needed was a station wagon, or what the Brits like to call an "Estate Car".

The rental agencies first offer to me was a GM Astra Wagon/Estate Car. To be honest, that sounded a tad boring to me and so I enquired what else might be available. It was then that the nice lady behind the counter offered to rent me a Mercedes-Benz. At first, I thought that she was either pulling my leg or had somehow mistaken me for Jeremy Clarkson (BBC's Top Gear Journalist/Presenter). An easy mistake to make considering we're the same age, are in the same profession, and we both talk with funny Brit accents. Of course, that's where the similarities end, him being more widely recognized than the Pope, and one who earns money faster than a Texas Oil Baron, and me, well, let's not even go there!

Not that I begrudge the man, good luck to him, in fact his success has given me something to aspire to, and hopefully one day I'll have the opportunity to meet the delightful chap in person...and ask him if he can lend me a few bucks!

Anyway, back to the story. After catching my breath, producing a wallet full of moths and showing her the name on my Visa card, she explained that the company had a few A Series Mercedes on trial and that I was welcome to one of those. She then astounded me by saying that it would actually be cheaper to rent than the GM Astra.

I honestly thought that she had made another mistake and being the quick thinking gentleman that I am, I did what anyone would have done and kept my mouth tightly shut and quickly grabbed the keys before she could change her mind.

I tell you, I was very impressed with that little car. It didn't look anything like a rental vehicle, and it had oodles of room inside. In fact, all of our baggage went into it with room to spare. I remember thinking to myself, I wish that they sold vehicles like this in Canada.

Well I got my wish, didn't I? No, not the loan from Mr. Clarkson, I'm still waiting on that, but Mercedes did actually bring over that style of vehicle, albeit in the form of the larger B Class.


Bigger, better, faster!

Which brings us nicely to my test vehicle of the week, the B200 Turbo?

The B Series is even better than the A. Being larger, it looks considerably more up-market, and it features even greater interior space. It is also much quicker, especially when fitted with a Turbo unit.

Mercedes-Benz, who has always been rather forward thinking in my book, has studied the problem of how to create a larger interior in a vehicle, whilst maintaining a reasonable exterior size, and they came up with a very clever concept indeed. Basically, they utilize a unique sandwich floor idea, which literally offers heaps of benefits. First, the engine and transmission are kept lower down in the vehicle, allowing for a more cab forward approach to the interior, hence more space and a higher driving position. This also adds greatly to the safety aspects of the vehicle, as the power plant is designed to slide down the angled floor and away from the occupants in the event of an accident.

The design also allows for greater rigidity to the floor and therefore improves not only handling, but also side impact collision outcomes.

It's hardly surprising that the company would place safety high on its list of priorities. After all, Mercedes-Benz has always been a forerunner in that area of automotive design, and this is profoundly obvious with the B Class.

My test vehicle boasted 6 airbags as standard, including adaptive dual-stage front air bags, 2 side-impact air bags, and window-curtain air bags. All 4 outbound seatbelts feature Emergency Tensioning Devices (ETD's), and belt force limiters are also included.

The B200 Turbo also features Electronic Stability Control (ESP) which is complemented by a Traction Control System (ASR) and Brake Assist (BAS).