Looking for an A Class

[GYBlue]

Hello all
I am considering buying a used A-Class which will be my wife's car. I have never owned a Mercedes before and as such, I was looking for some pointers for the model.
The car will not clock up very many miles as it will be used for the daily school runs and short journies during the day and not at high speed.
I am looking for a smaller engine size that will fit into the lower road tax brackets.
Are there any generic faults or regular issues that I should be aware of and look out for with an older A-Class (12-16 plate)?
(As an example we currently own a Peugeot and have an issue with an anti-pollution fault which we discovered after buying the car is a generic issue with the make.)
Any models to avoid or on the flip side any models to search out?

Any recommendations and advice will be gratefully received.

Regards

Andrew

 

[219]

Firstly , welcome to the forum.

I’m not expert on those particular models , but in general, for short local journeys , avoid Diesel and go for a petrol car .

I’m not sure that Mercedes offer any particularly small engines , so for low tax bracket you may have to look elsewhere.

For a small ‘city car’ from the Mercedes stable , you might want to look at the Smart range too .

No doubt someone with more knowledge of these cars will be along shortly .

Some information here

Mercedes-Benz A-Class (2012)

 

[Thrash]

I know there was an issue with older A Classes with water collecting in the rear footwells, it's quite a common and known issue with these models and some people managed to get it fixed free of charge, despite being out of warranty but a lot of other people haven't been so lucky. If I remember correctly, the fix was to replace the rear vents in the bumper.
There was also an issue with the fuel filler cap opening randomly or not opening at all, this is fixed by replacing the actuator I believe.

Those are the only 2 common issues which spring to mind, if you google them you will find a lot of posts on forums about them. I had 2 W176s but didn't have either issues, at least in my time of ownership.

In terms of engines, you'd probably only really want to look at the A180 petrol. They did release a A160 later on but I think that was around 2016.