Owner Review: A city car that’s rewarding to drive - My Mercedes-Benz B180 (W245)

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Basic information

2010 Mercedes-Benz B180 (W245)

The reason why I bought this car

Needed something small and easy to park which felt solid to drive for the daily commute.

Car selection process

• Models that I have considered include: VW Polo, Honda Jazz

Reasons why I chose this car:

• When I first started working back in 2017, I needed a daily to commute to work in the city center so I was looking around for a small hatchback but my family had the B-class with barely 4000km on the odometer so they proposed that I take it instead.

User Experience

• I have already done 56,000 km

Since I acquired the B-Class, it has been extremely reliable and only required regular maintenance. However, for the past few years, I couldn’t help but feel it was underpowered despite being Mercedes marketing it as a Sports Tourer. The B180 comes with a 1.7L naturally aspirated engine putting out 116bhp and was the only option offered for the Malaysian market which is a shame considering there is a top of the range B200 Turbo model.

During the MCO last year, I decided to upgrade my headunit to a custom Android screen as a birthday present to myself but in the end I decided to make it a sleeper with lowered Bilstein B8 shocks and H&R springs, a Stage 2 ECU remap with a high flow sports catalytic converter, optimised ignition timing to run on RON 97 fuel and a new active exhaust system, new sport rims and Michelin PS4s and an engine bay strut bar. New brake discs and pads were also changed.

On the cosmetic side, I installed a new Mercedes diamond grill and 2016 AMG steering wheel. I also redid the entire interior including carpeting and headlining to black from the standard light grey colour scheme and redoing the seats in perforated Nappa leather and adding interior ambient lighting. With all the time we had during the lockdown, I really learnt how to appreciate the inner workings of the car with some parts such as dynamic LED turn signals and brighter white LEDs for the interior lighting and pneumatic hood struts ordered online and installed at home.
Finally, wrapping it in a satin dark grey vinyl wrap from the stock silver colour to shake off the "aunty car" reputation that the B-Class is usually associated with. I'm pleased to say the outcome of this project is that the engine now feels much smoother with more low end torque putting out 130bhp after the tune despite reading many comments saying there is no point tuning a naturally aspirated engine.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Reliable, great for long distance drives on the highway due to its high seating position. I've driven it down to Singapore and up to the east coast numerous times without problems.

Cons

• Quite severely underpowered when stock and original suspension wasn't the smoothest ride.

Ratings:

Total Score: 5
Performance: 3
Quality & Features: 4
Space: 5
Ride Comfort: 4
Fuel Economy: 5
Price & Cost: 4

Summary:

The B-Class has always been in the shadow next to its more exciting A-Class brothers despite sharing the same chassis even up to the most recent W247 model launched last year. Overall, a great city car which I wanted to make more rewarding to drive.

Any interesting event:

Having a project car (even though its my only car) is one of the most exciting things one can do. To think it was only meant to be an upgraded head unit to connect with Spotify!

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