So let me add another suggested modification for your B-class... the interior lights. At the time the W245 was still made, there was an option to buy the "interior lighting" package.
That package included:
- Reading lights in the front (in dome light)
- Footrest illumination (in the front only)
- Courtesy lights in the doors (front only)
- Reading lights in the rear
- Illuminated sun blinds
Even though the additional price of this optional package was less than EUR300 at the time, very few cars tend to have it.
To be honest, I think that adding some interior lights dramatically adds to the luxurious feeling/looks of the car. Let me comment on each of the "interior lighting package" items below.
Reading lights in the front
If your car does not have the reading lights in the front (also installed in combination with other options, such as the automatically dimmable rear view mirror, the anti-theft alarm system, sliding lamella roof, etc.), then you must change the dome light. Though this should not be difficult, you must be aware that it is not a matter of the proverbial "plug and play". You must pull whole new wiring from the SAM unit (=relays box) and probably even from the fuse box (these dome lights have a way thicker leads wire). Hence, not recommended as a first retrofit.
Footrest illumination
If there is one thing that is (1) easy to retrofit, (2) inexpensive, (3) DRAMATICALLY adds to your car's interior, then it is this one. Though Mercedes-Benz originally only delivered footrest illumination in the front, it is fairly easy to install it in the rear as well. Please see
this tutorial on how to do it.
Courtesy lights in the doors
Here's another option that is adding so much to the looks of your car that you wonder why on earth Mercedes-Benz did not install by default. Slightly more work than the footrest illumination, but a comparable price for this retrofit.
As with the footrest illumination, Mercedes-Benz particularly cared for the people in the front, and did not supply courtesy lights in the rear doors. Yet, thanks to "Naamloos" we can easily do it in the rear doors as well; see
this thread with part numbers summarised by "Gole"
on this page. See
this link (and
over here) for an explanation of how to remove your door panels.
Reading lights in the rear
This option implies that you take out the rear handles from the headliner, and replace them with handles that have small reading lights and a switch included. They look nice, but they are only compatible with dome lights that have the reading lights as well, and... you must be willing to take out the entire headliner in order to pull your wiring. As such this retrofit is not expensive (basically you only need a standard cable harness and two new handles with lights) but it takes some effort to install. If I find the time and motivation to do this over summer, I will edit this posting and include a small tutorial and hyperlink it from here.
Illuminated sun blinds
This is the most expensive retrofit of two small lights. If you don't have these two lights under your sun blinds, you will see a pre-stamped place in the headliner where they should have been. Just to remind you that you had not ordered them
I would, however, NOT advise to retrofit them. First of all you need to cut your headliner
, second, this is insanely expensive as you also need to replace the entire sun blinds. Therewith the entire retrofit of these two small lights easily costs you some EUR300 excluding all effort to retrofit them (hence more than the original price of the entire interior lighting package). Too bad.
So far for this suggestion; comments welcome. I am currently busy with some other retrofits; I hope to expand this list soon.
Best,
Arjen.