Merc to dump the A-Class?

[Gucci]

One for the purists....

http://www.autocar.co.uk/News/NewsArticle/AllCars/226393/

 

[hawk20]

One for the purists....

http://www.autocar.co.uk/News/NewsArticle/AllCars/226393/

Oh I do hope not. My brother has the A160cdi and gets 70mpg on a run. The safest car in its class. Revolutionary. And the interior space is better than many mid -sized cars. More than that, it is one of the very few smaller cars that has enough legroom for people with long legs (33 inch inside leg makes finding a car with enough room very difficult). The new model since 2005? is miles ahead of the previous one and a fabulous car for modern life and modern parking problems.

 

[karlefr]

I say, get rid of it and concentrate on what Mercedes-Benz is good at!
Big luxury and fast sports cars!

 

[Alfie]

I say, get rid of it and concentrate on what Mercedes-Benz is good at!
Big luxury and fast sports cars!

Mercedes are actually rather good at all their cars, including the W169, W245,w203 and W204.

I say keep it. It was the car that spawned a whole generation of mini/tall family cars.

 

[pammy]

I don't particuarly like the A class - but can see it for what it is in terms of a pratical day to day car delivering excellent economy etc etc. But if it's not cost effective to produce then how do they carry one with it?

I don't thnk we can ignore the fact that Mercedes like BMW and Audi now have no choice but to produce cars that are accessible by more people and lose some of the exclusivity on some of their models. I don't think it detracts from the prestigre end of their market though.

 

[Godot]

I hope not too. Bought it, because we need a car, with a least some quality, that we could "step into" rather than step down or step up into. The Mem Sah'b has a replacement knee & I have ache problems left over from a fractured spine. The current A Class, is for us, the "biz"

 

[grober]

Evolutionary pressures

To talk for a moment in evolutionary terms --- if we are lucky the A CLASS/ Smart or their descendants will still be scurrying round in 20 years time while "Big luxury and fast sports cars!" may simply be the equivalent of automotive dinosaurs, and we all know what happened to them.

 

[Gucci]

To talk for a moment in evolutionary terms --- if we are lucky the A CLASS/ Smart or their descendants will still be scurrying round in 20 years time while "Big luxury and fast sports cars!" may simply be the equivalent of automotive dinosaurs, and we all know what happened to them.

Good point....how much longer for the R-Class?!

 

[Godot]

As for 4x4s :http://search.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/search/results.pl?scope=all&edition=d&q=4x4&go=Search

Don't think our "little ones" are generating so much fuss!

 

[Swiss Toni]

Forget the Elk Test, the poor-grade plastic used on the original A Class dashboard told you everything you needed to know about Mercedes at that time.

They are pulling themselves out of the mire, but it is a very slow process...

 

[hawk20]

Mercedes are actually rather good at all their cars, including the W169, W245,w203 and W204.

I say keep it. It was the car that spawned a whole generation of mini/tall family cars.

It did indeed. Sheer genius. The only smaller car that I can get enough legroom in the front of, and easily have enough legroom to sit behind myself -if you know what I mean. More room than a C class. And in a head on crash with an E class you have as much chance of surviving in the A as do the people in the E class. Genius.

Then try the amazing B class. Almost as much room inside as an S class, and the boot is as big as the S, yet it is no longer than a Focus. The sandwhich floor does a lot more than people realise.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

It was only a week or two ago that Autocar ran a story on MB and BMW maybe joining forces on the next generation small FWD chassis - conventional though, not the costly sandwich floor used for the currentl A-Class.