Help Needed - thinking of buying mini Merc.

[BimMerc]

Hi all!

Im thinking of buying an A-Class that I have seen in the local rag. Heres a breakdown of it, let me know what you think...

A170 CDI Elegance
Metallic Silver
Manual
Alloys, Air Con, 4 x elec windows.

Its a 2001/51 reg and the guy is asking £6250

Its showing 67,000 miles, but the seller is a trader and sait it didnt come with the service book?? Its had 1 previous owner.

Any way I can check the authenticity of the car? What do you guys think?

 

[Aletank]

Check prices on the Autotrader web site.

To check the milage you could ask the seller what area the last owner lived where the car come from and phone round local dealers to see if they have serviced the car. Might of been serviced at one dealer all its life and get a full print out of the services that have been done.

Just read again, Don't forget 1 previous owner normally means its had 2 owners, so thats a bit more detective work for the history.

Good Luck

 

[BimMerc]

I will check up best I can, any more tips ppl - what to look out for on the car?

 

[IanA2]

I personally wouldn't touch anything without a service history......

 

[Seamster15]

Definatly a lot of cash to layout without S/H - why not right your local dealer with the registration/Vin numbers and ask them to check ?

 

[Piff]

Check the rear suspension has been sorted - most needed new rear suspension arms, something to do with water penetration into suspension bushes at the front of the rear wheel arches.
Also wouldn't touch anything without full service history - preferably main dealer at that age.

 

[BimMerc]

thanks for the info guys.
A quick few questions: how would I go about checking the rear suspension arms?

2. would the local dealer have details on the service history, are Merc dealers linked up?

I can try to verify the service history with Mercedes I guess in the registration areas.

 

[PJH]

Do the number plates have a phone number for the Supplying Dealer ?
Ring them first to enquire about Service History.

 

[BimMerc]

Well, MBClub has come up trumps again! I spoke to a few local dealers about the car -

and guess what..

It went in for a service in June 2005, at 141,000 miles! Needless to say I won't be buying that.

 

[Dieselman]

Well, MBClub has come up trumps again! I spoke to a few local dealers about the car -

and guess what..

It went in for a service in June 2005, at 141,000 miles! Needless to say I won't be buying that.

Crikey.

A little nod to Trading Standard is in order then to stop any luckless person buying it.

You should add HPI Equifax or Experian to your list of people to ring as well.

 

[IanA2]

Crikey.

A little nod to Trading Standard is in order then to stop any luckless person buying it.

You should add HPI Equifax or Experian to your list of people to ring as well.

Absolutely!!!

 

[jeremytaylor]

Crikey.

A little nod to Trading Standard is in order then to stop any luckless person buying it.

Definitely.

Scumbags like this need dealing with (apologies to Scumbag, of course!)

 

[Shude]

It went in for a service in June 2005, at 141,000 miles! Needless to say I won't be buying that.

Not tempted to renegotiate for a more realistic price then?

 

[grober]

Just Dont!

Dont buy an A class (old design) Built to a budget, not very reliable, but expensive labour rates at your MB DEALER. Suspension redesigned to avoid hitting a Moose in the middle of the road so pretty jittery ride. How many Moose do you need to avoid in the UK there are other MB models which will give the authentic MERCEDES feel for the same money. New model has better reports but expensive.

 

[Vlad]

Dont buy an A class (old design) Built to a budget, not very reliable, but expensive labour rates at your MB DEALER. Suspension redesigned to avoid hitting a Moose in the middle of the road so pretty jittery ride. How many Moose do you need to avoid in the UK there are other MB models which will give the authentic MERCEDES feel for the same money. New model has better reports but expensive.

That's a bit of harsh report.....there's nothing wrong with the recently replaced A Class.....infact I would go so far to say that they make great family cars. We are currently on our third, a newly acquired A210 Advantgarde which replaced an A190 which replaced an A170.

The A170 was an early car and, yes to be fair the earlier A Classes have naff build quality, however, the facelifted cars are much much better and we never had a single warranty claim on our A190 over the three years that we had it.

As a concept they take some beating and are very versatile little cars.

Re labour rates, that applies to all MB cars and as per other MB models built in the late 90's build quality is no different from some of the other MB models that also suffered from questionable build.......ie rusting W210's etc etc

Well thats me nailing my colours to the post!

 

[BTB 500]

FWIW, in the Top Gear 2005 survey (for cars built from 2002-2004) the A Class came 143rd out of 159 cars.

http://www.topgear.com/content/features/stories/2005/11/stories/01/6.html

 

[Vlad]

The luck must have been with us then ......I see the VW Sharan came in at 146

 

[SilverSaloon]

make sure TS are contacted regarding the milage. dealers should not be doing this.

 

[grober]

A Class-y letdown??

My next door neighbour had a A170. (I did try to warn him) He was very enthusiastic about its technology its double skinned sandwich floor etc. He was enthusiastic about it when his wife said it made her car sick all the time. He was enthusiastic about it when its plastic roll bar links needed replaced. He was enthusiastic about it when the local MB dealer didnt want to use the MOBIL 1 he supplied for its oil change. He was enthusiastic about it when the trim rattled all the time and he had problems with the removeable seats. He was enthusiastic when he found it was too small to put his 2 mountain bikes in without partially dismantling them. He was still enthusiastic about it when he traded it in after 9 months for a Ford Galaxy
I apologise if I have offended any A class owners and yes the later models were better. but I,m left with the feeling that the first A class was a brilliant concept ( designed with hybrid technology in mind maybe ??) which failed to live up to the high expectations of its owners.

 

[BTB 500]

The luck must have been with us then ......I see the VW Sharan came in at 146

It did, and the vehicle I had before (Vauxhall Sintra) came bottom one year!

My Sharan is just 3 years old with only 18,000 miles, and has needed (under warranty) a new steering rack, battery, and heated windscreen. I also had major problems getting the towbar wiring installed correctly (they gave me a free service in the end, in compensation). And over the last 800 miles it's averaged 20.2 mpg

No doubt to some owners these would have been major issues and they'd have slagged the car off to high heaven ... but I love mine! "Customer satisfaction" surveys are funny things, which is why I put "FWIW" when mentioning where the A Class came in the TG one