When it comes to building greener cars, everyone's at it. Even premium carmakers like Mercedes-Benz are jumping on the bandwagon, with the launch of its Blue Efficiency range of cars. However, unlike most other manufacturers, Mercedes has decided to tweak its petrol-powered cars, rather than its diesels. It does this by the addition of a stop/start mechanism, as found in models from the likes of BMW. This new system will initially be found in A-, B- and C-Class models, but it's likely that it will be rolled out on to other models in the future, starting with the E-class in 2010.
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This new BlueEfficiency model has been tweaked by Mercedes engineers to return better fuel economy and emit less carbon dioxide – but not by a huge amount. On the combined cycle, the B170 consumes 44.1mpg (an improvement of 2.6mpg) and CO2 emissions are an unspectacular 156g/km (a cut of 7g/km), placing it in Band G for road tax (£150 per year). When you compare these figures to those recorded by some of the competition – the BMW 116d's 64.2mpg and 118g/km, the Ford Focus Econetic's 65.7mpg and 114g/km, or the VW Golf Bluemotion's 68.9mpg and 107g/km – you realise that Mercedes has some way to go. And it's not as if you'll get much of your money back on a B170 when you come to sell, either: residual values for the B-Class have traditionally been pretty low, so they've become known as something of a bargain as a second-hand car.
Read the full Mercedes-Benz B-Class B170 BlueEfficiency Sport road test
RoadTestReports.co.uk provides road tests reports written by members of the Guild of Motoring Writers. These reports are complemented by car reviews submitted by the members of the public who drive the vehicles day in day out.
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