It's the Canadian Fourth of July today! Let me buy your car, Mercedes of Canada!
This was parked down the street from our place in DC. It has Quebec plates and a temporary visitor parking permit.
Someone on benzworld.org's forums has successfully imported a B200 to California as a used car. Though the price of a new B-Class in Canada was pretty uncompetitive with, say, an Audi A3 or a 3-series--like $45,000 loaded, last time I checked--low mileage 2006 and 2007 models are up to 30-40% below that at MBCA dealers. I confess, I'm very tempted.
As awesome as I think Merc B classes are, every time I look at the prices and think about it, I figure you can buy a Honda Fit that is pretty much the same size and has lots of similar features (but is plasticy and tinny compared to the merc) for less than 1/2 the cost with every option imaginable added.
[great minds. by the time I figure out how to import a B-Class, the newer, bigger, hopefully nicer Fit will hit the US. -ed.]
Looks like a cross between a Taurus and a Prius. That's not a compliment.
[comparisons to the Taurus rarely are. -ed.]
I tried importing a Canadian car once, but something was wrong with it. I kept my speed at 65 according to the spedometer, and people were just totally blowing by me on the highways...
The B200 must be bigger than a Fit, right?
Anyways, for 45 big ones, I'll buy a Mazda 5 and a Mazdaspeed 3, switch the powertrains, then keep my new "Mazdaspeed" 5 and sell the 3.
The B200 is a bit bigger than a Fit, yeah, and even slightly larger than a Nissan Versa, which is probably the biggest of the low end econo-cars from Japan, I think. (Is the Suzuki SX-4 a little larger?)
Seems like Canadians love hatchbacks more than our neighbours (spelled with a "u", yes) to the south... every second car on the streets here is a Mazda 3 hatch, we got the Yaris 5-door a few years before the US (it just finally got announced for US sale), and Hyundai's bringing over their kinda-awesome-but-kinda-looks-like-an-old-Camry-wagon Elantra 5-door Touring version over from Europe quite soon.
[we loved driving the five-door Yaris in Iceland a couple of summers ago. Almost as nice as the 5-dr BMW 1-series diesel. What a blast that one was. -ed.]