Hi all,

 

Thinking of getting my wife an A-Class.

 

Anybody have any experience of them and what to watch out for? I know there were many issues in the early days.

 

Looking at a 2000/2001, and either the 1.4 petrol or 1.7 diesel.

 

Thanks,

 

Shamaz

 

we used to have a member called funkysi that used to reply to threads like this

 

how you doing

Hi all,

 

Thinking of getting my wife an A-Class.

 

Anybody have any experience of them and what to watch out for? I know there were many issues in the early days.

 

Looking at a 2000/2001, and either the 1.4 petrol or 1.7 diesel.

 

Thanks,

 

Shamaz

 

LOL! the "elk" test was a long time ago & has never been an issue on the road with vehicles losing control!!

 

I work for Mercedes & would never own one - get a Golf!

 

If you really are set on one then things to watch out for:

 

forget about the auto or semi auto versions - prone to expensive failure

 

the petrol version is prone to the MAF failing which is built into the engine ECU - over £1k for a new one, there are companies that will rebuild your old unit however.

 

diesel versions can have problems with the injectors - another pricey repair, they are also a pain to get out.

 

if the cluch goes its complete engine & transmission out to replace.

 

starter motor faults are common - engine & box need lowering to access.

 

suspension faults are common - anti roll bar links wear, springs break, rear radius arm bearings wear.

 

have also seen timing chains break on petrol versions - not common but can destroy the engine.

 

not really a cheap car to maintain when things do go wrong, not overly a nice car to drive either IMO.

 

As said, if you want a car this size then I would get a Golf (in fact - i did, our other car is a mk v Golf) :scooter:

 

If I havnt put you off by now & you want any more info then let me know :)

 

That's what attracted me!

 

On a serious note, that issue was sorted in 97...

LOL! the "elk" test was a long time ago & has never been an issue on the road with vehicles losing control!!

 

I work for Mercedes & would never own one - get a Golf!

 

If you really are set on one then things to watch out for:

 

forget about the auto or semi auto versions - prone to expensive failure

 

the petrol version is prone to the MAF failing which is built into the engine ECU - over £1k for a new one, there are companies that will rebuild your old unit however.

 

diesel versions can have problems with the injectors - another pricey repair, they are also a pain to get out.

 

if the cluch goes its complete engine & transmission out to replace.

 

starter motor faults are common - engine & box need lowering to access.

 

suspension faults are common - anti roll bar links wear, springs break, rear radius arm bearings wear.

 

have also seen timing chains break on petrol versions - not common but can destroy the engine.

 

not really a cheap car to maintain when things do go wrong, not overly a nice car to drive either IMO.

 

As said, if you want a car this size then I would get a Golf (in fact - i did, our other car is a mk v Golf) :scooter:

 

If I havnt put you off by now & you want any more info then let me know :)

 

You've almost put me off...as I was reading, I thought:

 

- OK, a manual it is, until you mentioned the clutch.

- OK, a diesel it is, until you mentioned the injectors.

 

Not a good car then!

 

The Golf seems much larger than an A-class; it's the size that I like. I think we'll stick to a Micra then.

Hi my wife has one a A160 and loves it,I don't the ride is hard and low to the ground so you have to watch out for speed bumps,the front suspension leg spring broke along with the spring seat so had to buy a complete lot,not expensive though,apart from that it has been very reliable and cheap to run although it is a 1600cc so no cheap tax and it's a semi auto which so far is faultless and great for town driving unlike the golf gti which is so stiff it ruins your knee joints after a feww hundred pumps.I don't know why they decided to fit low profile tyres either I am thinking of changing to a more sensible type to counter the hard suspension.The seats are all removable which is handy and changes it into a van,they are heavy though.

Thats the view from me after 5years ownership.

Hi my wife has one a A160 and loves it,I don't the ride is hard and low to the ground so you have to watch out for speed bumps,the front suspension leg spring broke along with the spring seat so had to buy a complete lot,not expensive though,apart from that it has been very reliable and cheap to run although it is a 1600cc so no cheap tax and it's a semi auto which so far is faultless and great for town driving unlike the golf gti which is so stiff it ruins your knee joints after a feww hundred pumps.I don't know why they decided to fit low profile tyres either I am thinking of changing to a more sensible type to counter the hard suspension.The seats are all removable which is handy and changes it into a van,they are heavy though.

Thats the view from me after 5years ownership.

 

Thanks for that. Have you had any of the other issues stated by Paul? He works for MB so clearly they are very real issues, but it would be nice to know how many of them you have had.

Funny what Paul said about getting a Golf. One of my best mates was looking at the A class and a Golf and after looking at a few went with the Golf and not regretted it.

Crap don’t bother my wife had a 51 plate 3 years old nothing but trouble!!!!

 

Battery goes flat all the time for no reason this is a common fault as we knew 3 other people with them that had the same issue.

 

Alarm goes off for no reason while driving happened on the others we knew.

 

Clutches go after 50000, engine out and cost a fortune, parts are mega bucks.

 

Suspension issues, springs snapping.

 

******* to work on as well as the engine is leant back under the car.

 

Apart from that they are great!!!!!

 

Daz.:no:

Crap don’t bother my wife had a 51 plate 3 years old nothing but trouble!!!!

 

Battery goes flat all the time for no reason this is a common fault as we knew 3 other people with them that had the same issue.

 

Alarm goes off for no reason while driving happened on the others we knew.

 

Clutches go after 50000, engine out and cost a fortune, parts are mega bucks.

 

Suspension issues, springs snapping.

 

******* to work on as well as the engine is leant back under the car.

 

Apart from that they are great!!!!!

 

Daz.:no:

 

Sorry I also forgot to mention the ECU\MAF!!!!!!!!!

i just bought a mk5 gt tdi and i love it. plenty of space but small/nimble enough in town, a doddle to park, comfortable, 50-60 mpg on a motorway run, 35 crawling around central london in heavy traffic. you can't go far wrong with a golf

I also work with Mercedes (in a main dealer), expensive cars to repair I'm afraid. Certainly wouldn't be my choice of car - sorry.

If its for your other half buy a Honda Jazz. My wife has a Jazz Sport SE she gets 59mpg on a long run and about 46 running round town. Very nice inside loads of room for everything.

Worth a look at.

Although my wife loves her A160 semi-auto to bits and have had none of the problems mentioned apart from the broken suspension strut it would not be my 1st choice or even my 10th a golf or even a skoda is a better choice.

Edited August 3, 201114 yr by KOPE

My wife has the A140 Avantgarde, Speaking from our own personal experience its brilliant in my opinion, manual box, so much room in it, like a Tardis. We have had it for 3 years, a 2000 year model, done so much work and been well flogged when needed, holidays, load lugging(think its clever how all the seats can be removed if needed, she did a car boot few weeks back, took out rear seats in a jiffy and my god the room was huge in there.We had a front spring crack, me mate at garage said thats normal for these cars.Great on fuel, i drove 500 mile round trip to coast a few weeks back, £65 in fuel, bloody amazing, full up with gear too!.As for handling, never been a issue, and i throw it about, it has ESP also.:cool:

Tony

 

Hers a pic, Purple too!:blushing:

Thanks to everyone for your responses.

 

I think the general consensus is that in the majority, this is not a good car to buy and seems to have rather a lot of failings for many owners. Worse, when things go wrong, they are prohibitively expensive to resolve.

 

That also seems to be the general view of the experts.

 

It's a pity as the concept is great and the mark 2 version is actually very good, but the 1st release (1997-2002/3) is a bit of a disaster.

 

On that basis, I'll look elsewhere.

Thanks to everyone for your responses.

 

I think the general consensus is that in the majority, this is not a good car to buy and seems to have rather a lot of failings for many owners. Worse, when things go wrong, they are prohibitively expensive to resolve.

 

That also seems to be the general view of the experts.

 

It's a pity as the concept is great and the mark 2 version is actually very good, but the 1st release (1997-2002/3) is a bit of a disaster.

 

On that basis, I'll look elsewhere.

 

I would pretty much agree with that :yes:

 

There are going to be owners that have no real problems but there are loads that have major expensive ones. they are getting to the point now where they can just be uneconomical to repair & go to that great car scrapyard in the sky! :hang: