The New B-Class

With this new vehicle concept, Mercedes-Benz is once again asserting its role as the trendsetter among car brands and preparing the way for a young market segment with a promising future. The Sports Tourer meets the wishes of today’s motorists for a car with generous space, exemplary comfort, excellent practicality, an exciting design and a high level of driving pleasure. The new B-Class takes the advantages of different vehicle concepts and combines them into an interesting and distinctive profile of its own: as a Compact Sports Tourer, the B-Class is a touring, family and recreational vehicle with incomparable added experience value in terms of design and dynamism.

One of the major advantages of the Compact Sports Tourer is the sandwich concept developed by Mercedes-Benz. Thanks to the space-saving arrangement of the engine and transmission partly in front of and partly beneath the passenger cell, the new B-Class offers the interior spaciousness of larger saloons and estate cars despite its compact external dimensions. The body has a length of 4270 millimetres, corresponding to the compact car class. Inside, however, the new Mercedes model offers more than other cars of comparable size in this segment in all comfort-related respects, e.g. shoulder-room, legroom and headroom.

The New M-Class

The trendsetter among modern off-roaders has stepped up another gear: Mercedes-Benz presents the new M-Class. With state-of-the-art technology such as three powerful new engines, the standard-fitted seven-speed automatic transmission 7G-TRONIC, the now even more effective four-wheel drive system 4-ETS, AIRMATIC air suspension and the anticipatory occupant protection system PRE-SAFE®, the M-Class is set to reaffirm the off-roader’s leading position in a fast-growing market segment which Mercedes-Benz created with the preceding model in 1997.

You need look no further than the design of the new M-Class, with its beguiling blend of heavily contoured surfaces and taut lines, to admire the majestic character of the second-generation off-roader. The swept-back windscreen, striking front wings and rising shoulder line of the new car set the unashamedly sporting tone, a theme developed by the proportions of the body: the new M-Class is 150 mm longer (now 4780 mm), 71 mm wider (now 1911 mm) and 5 mm lower (now 1815 mm with roof rails) than its predecessor. The wheelbase has grown by 95 mm to 2915 mm.

Three of the four engines available for the 2005 model are new and outstrip the output and torque of the power units for the outgoing model to the tune of up to 38 per cent. Cutting-edge drive-system technology and impressive aerodynamics (the Cd value is down to 0.34 from the previous 0.40) combine to cut fuel consumption by as much as ten percent.

CATS Motors decided to drop the A-Class in the local market in favor of the much more practical B-Class.
Interior's well-finished if a bit bare even on the range-topping B200.
New M-Class closes the gap in handling, refinement and build quality with its chief rival, the BMW X5.  The potent off-roader is powered by a 3.5-liter V6 mated to a 7-speed gearbox.

Design is certainly cleaner and more elegant than before, but it's not as daring as some would have liked.

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