Mercedes is company currently enjoying a minor renaissance. Even the most ardent fans of the marque will admit that quality slipped on certain models in the late nineties, but recognising that sales rely on an impression of bomb-proof build quality, the company has got its act together. While it's easy to make a £90,000 car drip with feel-good factor, Mercedes have latterly shown that its more affordable models are now well up to scratch. Take the B-Class, Mercedes' take on the five-door family saloon. It's a small car but feels built like a tank.

Perhaps we should qualify the word 'small'. Sit in the back of the B-Class, stretch your legs out and you'll appreciate that it's comparable with the amount of room in the back of an S-Class limousine. Only those at the extreme end of the ergonomic scale will have any problems with head or legroom and there's ample room for three abreast. Despite this, the B-Class breaks the tape at only 4,270mm long. To put that figure into perspective, a Ford Focus measures 4,342mm from bumper to bumper, making this Mercedes something of a packaging marvel. So why aren't we all beating a path to our local Mercedes dealer?

The big caveat for many will be the asking price. Yes, we're used to Mercedes charging a premium, but at £17,235 for the entry-level 95bhp B-Class and £20,685 for the 136bhp 2.0-litre car, you've got to really want one in order to sign the dotted line. Although many will look at these prices, compare them to something like a Renault Scenic or a Focus C-MAX and decide that the gulf is just too large, the B-Class doesn't purport to be a mini-MPV, instead targeting family buyers who would have previously bought something aspirational but practical. Vehicles such as Volkswagen's Passat, Saab's 9-3 Sportwagon and Volvo's V50 would sit squarely within this category. That's the Mercedes take at least.

"The B-Class marks a return to the sort of quality we demand from Mercedes-Benz"

Mercedes dub the car a Compact Sports Tourer, but despite the great strides in driveability made by the A-Class upon which the B-Class is inspired, sporty is perhaps a stretch too far, even in Range-topping 193bhp 2.0-litre turbo guise. Still, although it won't make the cover of evo magazine, the B-Class is nevertheless a quality steer. The rear seats all fold flat into the floor and the boot floor can even be raised to offer a flat loading surface. Other clever touches include a front passenger seat that folds forward to permit long loads and slots next to the rear doors to allow seat belts to be stowed safely out of the way when loading and unloading. The centre rear seat back can also pop forward, offering an armrest with a neat pair of cupholders when travelling four-up. The driving position is undeniably sporty. The wheel sits almost vertical and your legs stretch forward into a deep footwell. It almost feels like sitting in a jacked-up Lotus Elise but for the interior quality.

In order to best appreciate the great strides Mercedes have made with the B-Class, acquaint yourself with, say, an old A-Class or an early M-Class model. Open the glove box and observe how the hinges look only marginally more expensive than a CD case. Pull at the floppy plastics of the lower dash. Marvel at how Mercedes had the chutzpah to put a plastic gearchange selector in the M-Class that wouldn't pass muster in a Kia. The B-Class isn't quite back to the over-engineered Benzes of the Seventies, but it's as good as anything else out there in terms of perceived quality. Not only that, but the interior aesthetics are, to this eye at least, a lot happier than those in the latest BMW and Audi offerings.

The dashboard is cleanly designed with a neat mix of contrasting colours and metallic detailing. Standard specification across the Range includes air conditioning, a four-spoke steering wheel with multifunction buttons, an armrest between the front seats, electric windows and tinted glass, Plus brushed aluminium trim on the fascia, transmission tunnel and door panels. Front parking sensors should have made the list too, as the front of the car slopes rapidly away and the body-coloured rubbing strips don't look as if they'd withstand too many scrapes with a concrete bollard before they started to look a little secondhand.

The petrol line up opens with the 95bhp B150, then there's a 115bhp B170 and a punchy 136bhp B200. Mercedes even offer a 193bhp turbocharged version of this engine which will make 60mph in 7.2 seconds and run onto a top speed of 140mph. Most buyers will instead opt for the diesel-engined models and Mercedes have a pair of Euro IV compliant units, the entry-level being marked out by the109bhp B180 CDI and the premier diesel powerplant is that fitted to the 140bhp B200CDI. A manual transmission is the default gearbox but all models will be available with an optional Autotronic CVT gearbox. Its 'manual' mode features seven gears although like a proper automatic, it has a torque converter.

The B-Class handles neatly enough, with less body roll than you may expect for such a high-sided vehicle. The electro-mechanical power steering feels a little odd at first, but trust it and it'll direct the car's nose accurately. The ESP stability control system can feel a little over zealous for real press-on driving but otherwise it's fairly vice free. With a little more weight to carry around than the equivalent A-Class, the B-Class enjoys better front end traction, especially evident when packing one of the more powerful engines.

In the final reckoning, the B-Class' success or failure very much depends on whether customers will swallow the Mercedes party line that goes some way to explaining its pricing premium. After all, a 2.0-litre Renault Scenic, which does the family accommodation thing as well, if not better, will cost around £3.000 less. Of course, the Mercedes is the more aspirational model and will retain a good deal of that value when the time comes to sell on, but it's still quite a big ask. If you appreciate quality and don't mind shelling out, the B-Class shouldn't disappoint.