It might be a four-seat, family-orientated car but every model of the B Class will happily stretch beyond 160 km/h. Not only are they pleasantly fast but you choose the mill you want from a choice of course petrol or diesel. But there is a natural gas conversion, and if you want the added thrill of driving ever faster through the bendy bits, the dramatic 4MATIC all-wheel drive should really fit the bill.

The car is supremely easy to get in and out of as it comes with four passenger doors, and a decent amount of leg-room once on board. As we wandered round, we enjoyed looking at the body style, the redesigned front apron, nicely designed headlamps and optionally LED high performance lights.

It is assumed that Mercedes owners will get the best out of their driving experiences, whether travelling alone on possibly uncertain country or mountain roads or batting sublimely around on a day out with the whole family.

Safety has to be taken most seriously and the Collision Prevention Assist Plus could be a simple answer as the driver gets a visual and acoustic warning that a rear-end accident is more than a possibility. Braking can be instigated to help minimise the problem.

This is a radar-based system that works when the distance to the vehicle in front is too short in the speed range between 30 to 250 km/h. The driver is first warned by a lamp set in the instrument cluster.

If no notice is taken by the driver, an acoustic warning is set off, complemented by the Adaptive Brake Assist, which supports the drivers braking in order to prevent the accident. If the driver ignores all warnings, the system can intervene and reduce the speed via autonomous partial braking.

The optional Active Parking Assist with Parktronic will make life so much easier as the car can be commanded to park either parallel to kerb or perpendicular. Active Parking Assist automatically carries out the steering manoeuvres necessary at speeds of up to 10 km/h.

A reversing camera is also optional along with the interesting Traffic Sign Assist that identifies speed limits, no-entry signs, no-overtaking signs and cancellation signs, and displays them to the driver. This is great fun but possibly the drowsiness detection system Attention Assist is of more use to long-distance drivers.

Obviously, not all motoring situations are detected by the driver before the optional Pre-Safe occupant protection system is initiated. This identifies critical driving situations in advance.

The test drive itself was done in a B 160CDI Style with the 7G-DCT automatic change, along with paddles to keep enthusiastic drivers up to the mark if they wish to make their own gear changes.

The Style can be recognised because it runs on 10-spoke alloy wheels and the tyres have a run-flat ability, it has radiator trim with two louvers painted in iridium silver with chrome inserts. There is a beltline trim strip in chrome along with a long chrome trim strip on the rear bumper.

Among other pleasantries in the interior there is a Seat Comfort package, and we found that the whole interior is ergonomically sound and the seats in particular absolutely great. The three-spoke multifunction steering wheel is trimmed in silver chrome and the instrument cluster with 11.4 cm TFT colour multifunction display was particularly easy on the eye.

There are a total of nine airbags along with state-of-the-art seat belts. Comfort suspension proved absolutely right on Maltese roads. Obviously, ABS and Traction Control are great safety devices along with Accident Prevention Assist, and to keep occupants comfortable in horrible conditions, the air conditioning works extremely well.

The outside mirrors fold and adjust electrically. The Audio 20 CD including Bluetooth works to Mercedes perfection and Style has Accident Prevention Assist as standard along, not surprisingly, with Isofix child seat mounts.

Even by contemporary standards, the revised B Class is streets ahead of most of the class and a test run proved the road holding, brakes and razor-sharp steering were a pleasure to use, probably far more enthusiastically than the average owner would contemplate.

However, it is of vital importance that when the B comes into the household a little experimental driving should be handled on a safe section of deserted tarmac in order that the new drivers should get to know their B class under far more stressful conditions than normally found under polite daily motoring.

All drivers should be able to control their vehicle when the unexpected occurs. In fact, half a century ago we were always taught to ‘expect the unexpected’ and this is just as true today, as we in Malta are faced with many poor drivers.