[kdbcom]

Surprisingly the 'Official' consumption figures supplied by Mercedes actually don't show a lot of difference between the auto & the manual transmission versions :-

B200 (petrol) urban man 30.4 auto 29.7 * extra urban man 47.1 auto 47.1 * combined man 39.2 auto 38.7

B200CDI (diesel) urban man39.2 auto 37.2 * extra urban man 61.4 auto 56.5 * combined man 50.4 auto 47.1

So it is strange that the diesel comes off worse here but this is ofset by that beautiful seamless takeoff from 0-whatever.

Performance is hardly affected either losing only .1 of a second to 62 mph and 3-4 mph on the top speed.

I think it's more of a case of you either love or hate Auto transmission.

N.B. these figures are correct as of M/B latest web site figures