Early A Class

[amolak]

Hi, I was looking at getting an early A Class for around town driving.

Any advise on best engine and problems to look out for would we well received.

Thank you

 

[grober]

Smart cars have their own set of problems. Honest John's-What to Watch Out For


Rearmost side windows can be prised off with bare fingers giving access to thieves.
Engines can have a short life and exhaust back boxes rust inside out.
Exhaust manifolds can crack and cost £380 + labour of about £300 to replace. OK if still under warranty, but a lot of money if not.
2008: Unofficial recall over coil springs issue, springs being replaced FOC. Owners need to contact their official local Smart dealers.

Quite a few posts on here about short engine life.

edit:- this was in response to another post which has now been removed.

This now "disappeared" post did mention that the early A class can have problems that are expensive to rectify which is true. See Honest John's take on the car:-
Disastrous quality and hugely expensive problems at over 3 years old.

Car review: Mercedes Benz A-Class (1998 - 2005)

 

[Chattonmill]

I think there was a bit too much advertising going on by MSL, at least that was my thought before his posts got removed!

 

[amolak]

thanks, I think I'll give the A class a miss...

 

[EDZ649]

The biggest problem with the A class are the gearboxes. Try and buy a manual one if you can because if you get an auto and it goes wrong the box is £5000 from MB and you will be had pushed to get a decent second hand one from a breaker. Most of the ones they have are there because they have been scrapped due to the gearbox.

 

[blondebier]

I know these seem to get quite a bit of bad press but I quite like them.

We've got one... the rarer A160 cdi (2003). It's a great little car when I am around to drive it.

It always does over 50MPG. On a run it'll do over 60MPG! ~ just over 600 miles out of a tank.

The best bit is that it only costs £35 a year to tax! It's just had an A service at the stealers and that was £220.

I can't comment on the other gear boxes, but we've got a manual and gear changes are really smooth. I have read some reports of problems with the autos.

The early petrol models do seem to be amazingly good value.

Good luck in your search. I hope you find a good one.

 

[ACID]

I think there was a bit too much advertising going on by MSL, at least that was my thought before his posts got removed!

Yes there was !!

A Class in my view is a real bad car and should stay away.

ACID

 

[npuk]

The newer w169 2005 onwards are much improved but would stay away from the older w168 models.

 

[Robbie T]

The biggest problem with the A class are the gearboxes. Try and buy a manual one if you can because if you get an auto and it goes wrong the box is £5000 from MB and you will be had pushed to get a decent second hand one from a breaker. Most of the ones they have are there because they have been scrapped due to the gearbox.

Sorry, but where did you get that figure? An auto box for one of these is closer to £2k and not that prone to failure.

They do, however have various other problems with them:

Rear suspension radius arms
Air mass sensor (part of the ECU £1k roughly)
Rear springs
Steering column


I'd steer ('scuse the pun) clear personally

 

[EDZ649]

Sorry, but where did you get that figure? An auto box for one of these is closer to £2k and not that prone to failure.

They do, however have various other problems with them:

Rear suspension radius arms
Air mass sensor (part of the ECU £1k roughly)
Rear springs
Steering column


I'd steer ('scuse the pun) clear personally

There is a thread on this very forum about it costing £5000, not that long ago. Auto boxes on 168's are always going wrong and are very prone to failure.

 

[wemorgan]

A more expensive second-hand alternative to the A-class (W168) is the Audi A2.
The best engines are either the 1.4 diesel (75 & 90 bhp) or the 1.6 FSI petrol.
All the cars are manual (not including the 1.2 TDi automatic only available in LHD).

 

[J400uk]

If you can't stretch to the MK2 W169 A-Class, get an Audi A2 or Honda Jazz.

 

[A210AMG]

We have found ours to be very good, Its a last of the old shape A210 Evo LWB. Does over 40mpg (2.1 manual) and over 3 years of owning it has been a great car.


It does seem there are always people that have heard of people having problems with what ever car you are looking at.


We chose ours as its different to a Golf, Astra or similar nothing box. The only other car at the time that we liked was the Audi A2 but the boot / room is much smaller.

So a thumbs up from me for the little A class

 

[camerafodder]

Don't go there!

 

[Smiley]

The best early A class auto to buy comes with a Toyota badge and is known as a Corolla.