Topic: Test Drive: 2014 Mercedes-Benz B 250

[tpl]

If you couldn't have a spare, even a mini spare, would your rather take your chances without RFTs?

I would vote yes, in general, but I don't take roadtrips to far off places and can always get a towtruck. RFTs are only good for about 50 very dodgey kms once shredded anyways are they not?

I took my chances all winter.   

[mmret]

If you couldn't have a spare, even a mini spare, would your rather take your chances without RFTs?

I would vote yes, in general, but I don't take roadtrips to far off places and can always get a towtruck. RFTs are only good for about 50 very dodgey kms once shredded anyways are they not?

I took my chances all winter.

Indeed, as we do with the Z4 year round. Got a flat once though on the winters...those Dunlops are pricey to replace !

[tpl]

About the Transmission, as per the manual for the CLA250 which uses the same transmission setup I think.

In Eco mode the transmission basically has three logic levels, light, medium, and heavy lets call them. If you use the throttle lightly, the car will very gently shift and shift quickly to what it believes is the most fuel efficient gear. Lethargic is a good way to describe it. If you use moderate throttle levels, in other words, faster starts, the transmission will start to shift for more power and less efficiency and will do so as long as you continue to use moderate throttle. The third level is full to the floor, if you press down on the throttle you should feel a point where you encounter resistance but can still push the pedal further, doing so the engine will max boost for a short period of time, the tranny will kick down, and you will encounter much torque steer and your tail starts wagging like a dog with a bone. That's basically the only time the engine gets close to sounding like it is there in the CLA250.

So you don't need to use Sport mode shifting to get a powerful feel, you just need to press down on the throttle harder. Once done, it was my experience that it would be about a minute before the engine goes back to assuming lethargy. Really the sport mode only takes out the lethargy default and any throttle use is done as if you wanted to get going now. Sport mode is also not great in that once you get to speed and start cruising, it still holds a lower gear and uses more fuel.

Another thing you can do, if you have paddle shifters, I think you do, is if you manually shift with the paddle shifter the E mode is turned off and you are in manual control temporarily. So you can do this to get grunty full control of your power, and then once you're at the speed and gear you wanted, just wait one minute and the system will switch back to E automatically.

Not sure if you've had time to play with and get accustomed to the Eco stop start, I've found the following with my car. It doesn't like to come on reliably when it is cold outside, that's not surprising really. If you're at a light and it turns the engine off, the engine will turn on again if you lift your foot from the pedal. However you can (on the CLA) set it so that it doesn't turn on when you lift from the brake pedal by lifting your foot only partially and then pushing down on the brakes again. That will engage the Hold mode. The car will not move now, engine is off, no brake pressure needed either. If you do that, then the engine comes on when you press on the throttle (or if you press on the brakes to turn off Hold). Just don't try to do a fast launch in this case, the car doesn't like that, so go gentle in this case. What I do is double press the brakes to turn on hold, I rest my foot on the brake pedal, and then when I see the light for the cross street turn amber, I press on the brakes to turn off Hold, and then when I lift off the brakes the engine comes on and is ready for me when I press on the throttle.

IIRC the 2013 B250 worked exactly the same way. They might have changed/tuned up the transmission programming for 2014 tho' for your CLA

The start stop supposedly will only work when about 8 conditions are correct and when it does, it will work 3 times and then not work for a few stops ( or a few minutes, not clear).   However. One blazing hot day in TO traffic it worked every time. Many days in regular arm weather it just did not work and certainly when it was -20 outside it never worked!    My dealer just shrugged and said it was known to be a bit random ( 2013)

[mmret]

Ze formula is just too complex for North American simpletons.

[Rupert]

I think that tire pressure info on the dash  readout is a good thing to have, but even so I always eyeball my tires before I get in to drive. The 250 must have a low tire pressure indicator on the dash.
For a few bucks you can get a tire repair kit, including plugs, and together with one of the neat compact 12V air pumps (also inexpensive) and a piece of your old vacuum cleaner chrome tubes (or neat extendable breaker bar with quality sockets)...repair your tire yourself en route. Not good for cuts or more serious damage, but with one exception, all of my flats have been caused by nails or screws (roofing nails). Screws are the worst. If there is somewhere safe to work you can be on your way again in a half hour or so and get your tire vulcanised later. A 'run flat' is handy to get you to a safe place or maybe home or to a haven of tire repair. I think that spares, compact or not, should have easy access to the tire valve which is a problem when located under the vehicle.
Not for everyone and not more than a rare event but nice to have options if a bit handy.

[mmret]

Eyeballing can't tell you if you're 2-3 PSI low.

[Rupert]

True, but it might indicate weather you should get in or not. It does not replace a gauge test but rather augments it on a more frequent basis. Forgot...you will need a cheap pair of pliers and a flat screwdriver.

[tpl]

True, but it might indicate weather you should get in or not. It does not replace a gauge test but rather augments it on a more frequent basis. Forgot...you will need a cheap pair of pliers and a flat screwdriver.

My 2013 B used the ABS to determine if a tire was low. No useful info in the manual about how low would set off the alarm.  Mine actuated once at 130 km/h on the 401. I slowed up, continued, arrived, parked, ate dinner, drove home at 80 km/h ( total after the alarm about 60 km) and in the morning checked the pressures. All were OK so I put it down to the FGC gremlin testing me rather than the tires.  This happened 2 days before the car was to be traded in. 

And to echo mmret, with RFT tires or for that matter any 45 or lower profile tires you just can't tell if they are low at all until they are flat.

[Blueprint]

A couple of additional notes to add to my review:

If it were available in Canada, we would have purchased the diesel variant, and again, if available, we would have chosen all-wheel drive.

We are very likely going to replace the run-flats with NRFs sooner than later. This is purely an urban car, so even though there isn't enough space for a spare, the combination of a can of Fix-A-Flat and our personal roadside assistance plan will be enough coverage to make me comfortable. We're also putting winter tires on it, come October(ish).

And finally, here's the one point that made our decision a very easy one. We showed up on the weekend where this particular Edmonton dealership were having a one-day "demo clearance". They had 5 B250s to chooose from, and none of them were demos. All brand-new, all 2014s, yet all qualified for a $10,000(!!!) rebate. I couldn't have negotiated that kind of deal on a $36,000 vehicle in a million years. So even though we were prepared to pay whatever the $36,000 list price would have been after haggling, this took the car into a new stratosphere in terms of value. I'm not sure I'll never be able to score a nearly 25% rebate on a vehicle I was ready to buy anyway, but I won't complain - we'll put those savings toward our European vacation this summer. 

Congrats on the purchase, and that's a sweeeeeeet discount! That's the kind of rebate that has one thinking of that "Start the car!" IKEA commercial.

Did you get the one that's featured in the article?

[Wildsau]

Congrats on the purchase, and that's a sweeeeeeet discount! That's the kind of rebate that has one thinking of that "Start the car!" IKEA commercial.

Did you get the one that's featured in the article?

Thanks very much! Haha - "Start the car!" - exactly. I kept thinking how on earth did this happen? Also, I'd be pretty choked if I'd just coughed up the full amount on the same car a day earlier. Strangely, they got a new shipment of 2014 B250s in within a few days of the sale, and things are back to normal. I will chalk it up to pure luck, I guess.

Yes, the car in my review is actually our own B250.

[mmret]

A couple of additional notes to add to my review:

If it were available in Canada, we would have purchased the diesel variant, and again, if available, we would have chosen all-wheel drive.

We are very likely going to replace the run-flats with NRFs sooner than later. This is purely an urban car, so even though there isn't enough space for a spare, the combination of a can of Fix-A-Flat and our personal roadside assistance plan will be enough coverage to make me comfortable. We're also putting winter tires on it, come October(ish).

And finally, here's the one point that made our decision a very easy one. We showed up on the weekend where this particular Edmonton dealership were having a one-day "demo clearance". They had 5 B250s to chooose from, and none of them were demos. All brand-new, all 2014s, yet all qualified for a $10,000(!!!) rebate. I couldn't have negotiated that kind of deal on a $36,000 vehicle in a million years. So even though we were prepared to pay whatever the $36,000 list price would have been after haggling, this took the car into a new stratosphere in terms of value. I'm not sure I'll never be able to score a nearly 25% rebate on a vehicle I was ready to buy anyway, but I won't complain - we'll put those savings toward our European vacation this summer. 

Congrats on the purchase, and that's a sweeeeeeet discount! That's the kind of rebate that has one thinking of that "Start the car!" IKEA commercial.

Did you get the one that's featured in the article?

$10k off on a $36k car...that is just insane. Congrats !

[mleitman]

I'd love to see some pics of how comfortably three kids could sit in the rear.