B vs C-Class?

Lament

Lament

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Hi,
I'm currently driving a C180 Kompressor, the W203 FL version, my question is if i trade it in for a B-Class, will this be worth it?, and I'm mainly talking about fuel consumption.
The C180 Komp is a 1800 Petrol, While the B200 is a 2L Turbo Diesel, as well all know diesel should last longer, but the review i read about the B-class it says "8L per 100km highway" and "10L urban", now those figures are not impressing me as my C-Class gets +- the same.
Does anyone have experience with these cars?, are those figures correct?
The B-class is the 2008 model (W245) with 110k KM on the clock, and my C-class is a 2004 model (W203) with 185k Km on the clock.

I honestly love my car, but petrol is killing me.
 
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What sort of fuel efficiency do you get? What is your monthly fuel bill?
 
Ancalagon said:
What sort of fuel efficiency do you get? What is your monthly fuel bill?
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R750 weekly, close to R3000pm
When i drive highway i get between 7 and 8L per 100km, that's +- 13KM per liter. But i try to avoid the highway these days thanks to farking ANC and the Etoll, so Urban i get +- 9-10km per liter.
 
My guess would be that the B class is simply too large for it to give you kind of fuel savings you want.

To my mind, there are two things that have a large effect on fuel economy - engine and vehicle weight. The B class is still quite a large car, so its going to be heavy. Thats why the fuel efficiency numbers are what they are, even with a diesel. If you want to save petrol, by a small diesel. A polo bluemotion or something.
 
Ancalagon said:
My guess would be that the B class is simply too large for it to give you kind of fuel savings you want.

To my mind, there are two things that have a large effect on fuel economy - engine and vehicle weight. The B class is still quite a large car, so its going to be heavy. Thats why the fuel efficiency numbers are what they are, even with a diesel. If you want to save petrol, by a small diesel. A polo bluemotion or something.
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I might be wrong, but the C-class is heavier than the B-class, not sure if im looking at the wrong specs here, but the "C-class Gross Laden Mass = 1965" while the "B-class Gross Laden Mass = 1880"
That's why in my mind it should be relatively more fuel economic being diesel and all.
The Polo Bluemotion is crazy expensive for what you get, and i will never drive a non autonomic car again, it makes sitting in 2 hour traffic almost bearable.
 
Yeah but how much lighter is it? Its like the weight of one person - hardly worth fighting about.

A non DSG automatic is less fuel efficient than a manual or a DSG (dual clutch) gearbox.

I'm not sure you have many options available to you, if it has to be a comfortable, large and powerful automatic car.
 
Think the 2008 B-class still had a CVT gearbox. Not a problem, but you might not like the way it feels. Have you test driven it?
 
Ancalagon said:
Yeah but how much lighter is it? Its like the weight of one person - hardly worth fighting about.

A non DSG automatic is less fuel efficient than a manual or a DSG (dual clutch) gearbox.

I'm not sure you have many options available to you, if it has to be a comfortable, large and powerful automatic car.
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:cry:
i know manual is more fuel efficient, i just though if you take two cars, both automatic, +- same mass, the diesel would have been more fuel efficient than the petrol.
Toyota Prius looks more attractive every day :P
 
You are throwing your money away if you think it will make a significant difference going from C to B.

You are also making the prime mistake of spending HUGE money in order to "save" R 100 / week in the long run.

Don't do it.
 
Are you sure you are not looking at the B200 petrol? Check B200 CDI specs... I see low figures for that one. Around 5l/100km.
 
Fazda said:
You are throwing your money away if you think it will make a significant difference going from C to B.

You are also making the prime mistake of spending HUGE money in order to "save" R 100 / week in the long run.

Don't do it.
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Its not that huge price difference, probably +- R40k, and then its a 4 year newer car, with almost half the KM's on the clock.

But yeah, i'll probably keep the C-class for now.
 
Lament said:
Its not that huge price difference, probably +- R40k, and then its a 4 year newer car, with almost half the KM's on the clock.

But yeah, i'll probably keep the C-class for now.
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OK, so let's make all things equal.

If your current car is paid for, and you are paying cash for the B Class, after the C Class has been traded in, and you will have to fork out R 40 000 ( It's actually far more complex, but let's just stick to that scenario for the purpose of this exercise.)

A saving of 2 l/100 equates to 20 l / 1000. Right?
On average, we travel 20 000 km / year which means that we are "saving" 400 l / year
400 l @ R 14/l = R 5600.
So now we are saving R 5600 / year, which means that we will have to travel 20 000 / year for 7 years and a bit before we even break even on the initial R 40 000 extra that we put in to the deal.

It DOES NOT Make sense.
 
Fazda said:
which means that we will have to travel 20 000 / year for 7 years and a bit before we even break even on the initial R 40 000 extra that we put in to the deal.
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Except for this part :

Lament said:
and then its a 4 year newer car, with almost half the KM's on the clock
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So although one of the reasons is the fuel cost which ultimately won't save him cash - the other reasons are the newer more reliable car that is under warranty for longer.

Also - don't Merc have that funny staggered motorplan type of thing, meaning he'll pay less on the maintenance on the newer car?
 
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