Merc A Class - Any good?

ryanpetit

ryanpetit

ryanpetit

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Joined
5 Mar 2010
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392
Location
Brighton
Hi all,

Thinking of chopping in the Wife's Mondeo for a smaller engined A class. She likes the look of them and the car is more suited to her town driving.

Is there anything to look out for? What are they like to own?

Thanks
 
If I remeber rightly didn't one model of the A class have an uncanny ability to end up on its side/roof?
 
They are great in one respect: the amount of space in them is amazing, you can easily remove the rear seats and fit all sorts of stuff in the back.

Beyond that they are pretty damn horrible to drive and maintain - silly things like having to remove the whole headlight assembly to change the bulb don't help

The rolling over thing was just during testing (the Elk test apparently) where if you swerved suddenly (to avoid an elk) the car could roll. The stability control was updated to stop it happening in the production version apparently.

(My Mum has one...)
 
Siliconslave said:
They are great in one respect: the amount of space in them is amazing, you can easily remove the rear seats and fit all sorts of stuff in the back.

Beyond that they are pretty damn horrible to drive and maintain - silly things like having to remove the whole headlight assembly to change the bulb don't help

The rolling over thing was just during testing (the Elk test apparently) where if you swerved suddenly (to avoid an elk) the car could roll. The stability control was updated to stop it happening in the production version apparently.

(My Mum has one...)
Click to expand...

Thanks, this was helpful.

I don't like the headlight thing, seems about as fun as changing a bulb in my dad's megane.

Do they carry high merc servicing costs & parts too?
 
Reminds me of that top gear where Hammond tries the old Scandinavian flick in a Bedford rascal. :D
 
horrible to drive if you like driving, but my mother has one and wouldnt change it for the world, 2002 avantgarde long wheel base. I've not been in another car with as much rear legroom this side of an S class either.
 
I did my driving lessons in one of these, the original one was very easy to flip (something top gear raved about) so it was revised, it was the revised model I learnt in (thankfully) however the modifications they had done to stop the roll had resulted in a car that felt like the suspension consisted of RSJ's welded into place. They must have fixed this or it wouldn't still be on sale but yeah, avoid the original ones like the plague, and avoid the 1st revision ones like pneumonia.
 
Ahh good, stay away from the original one like pneumonia then ^^

*edit*

I just did a double take, the flipping problem was discovered after production started, Merc recalled all sold cars and fitted them with ESC and the new suspension (all cars sold after this point had it as standard). So if you but an older one it will have the rubbish ride I complained about but won't roll over (easily).
 
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Well rear leg room is a plus as we have a toddler, however crap to drive is not. The one we viewed has awesome boot space too for the size, so I'm still thinking it would be a good mum-mobile if its not too pricey to run.
 
i cant envisage any MPV style car being good to drive though, it's par for the course. They are the definition of mum mobile.
 
wouldn't touch the older models. naff interior and dodgy quality. I have a 56 plate A180 Cdi. Not exciting but comfortable and practical. Has been very reliable. Had one duff headlight bulb (on the new model it took all of two minutes to change both bulbs) - nothing else has gone wrong. Servicing is typical Mercedes - not cheap. It now goes to a specialist. Has averaged 45.5mpg over the last 54000 miles.
 
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