Not a good 10 days

[GP801]

Just thought I would share my Mercedes ownership experience over the past 10 days.
First up the 124 goes in for its annual service, brake fluid/coolant change and MOT before going back to Italy. One front spring has snapped. I had not noticed anything at all amiss. So two new front springs. New headlamp needed to get it through the MOT. Turns out when it was repaired last year after we hit a deer the body shop used genuine parts apart from a cheapo nasty pattern headlight and the beam was miles off. New sensor for the boot central locking. New gasket/seal on the front of the engine and rocker cover. Not essential but I like it to be maintained properly. Few other bits that were not essential - just me being obsessional. Had a Smart for a week whilst this was all sorted. Interesting.
Today it was the CLKs turn for its service. The nearside headlight had recently stopped doing the self levelling dance and points to the floor. The motor has died. New lamp needed. Not cheap. On the plus side had an A class for the day which was really rather good. Very nicely built. Not at all harsh as some reviews have suggested. It was however running only small wheels.
So there we are. A very expensive time but hopefully thats it for a little while.

 

[grober]

You used to able to get new glass lenses which avoided renewing the entire headlight assembly provided the reflector was in good nick but the plastic clip surrounds holding the glass on were often brittle and tended to snap on removal.- bummer. W124 good for another year.

 

[Clkrichard]

Someone else debunking the myth about A Class ride quality ! I just dont understand it but usually it comes from people who have never even been in one.
Well done and thank you.

 

[GP801]

You used to able to get new glass lenses which avoided renewing the entire headlight assembly provided the reflector was in good nick but the plastic clip surrounds holding the glass on were often brittle and tended to snap on removal.- bummer. W124 good for another year.

Not any more allegedly. I suspect the reflector was probably part of the problem too. I can understand why the body shop made the call. £100 for the pattern part. £279 for genuine. 99% of the time it would probably have been fine. On the plus side as you say all set for another year, hopefully problem free.

 

[GP801]

Someone else debunking the myth about A Class ride quality ! I just dont understand it but usually it comes from people who have never even been in one.
Well done and thank you.

I was really very pleasantly surprised. I was also surprised as to just how big it was. It certainly felt wider than both the 124 and the CLK. It would definitley need parking sensors or a camera. The rear visibility is dreadful but thats about the only negative I could come up with.

 

[Clkrichard]

I agree GP801. We bought it to replace my wifes CLC and it is a better car in very respect. Bigger inside, quieter, just as comfortable and similar performance. The A appears to be a bit more economical but is a manual vs the auto CLC.
I do wonder if some of the ride comments are based on cars with the night pack option which includes run flat tyres ?

 

[npuk]

What A Class did you have a W169 or W176? I am assuming it was a W169 from what you have said.

 

[GP801]

What A Class did you have a W169 or W176? I am assuming it was a W169 from what you have said.

The new one. I assume thats a w176. It was the least powerful diesel engine. Manual gearbox.

 

[trapperjohn]

Glad the fleet is sorted and up to date always a great feeling.

I have driven a couple of older A Classes, all had big wheels and sports suspensions. Dire was the ride quality but then again my favourite car is a 124 and for preference the estate.

Cars used by the press for testing are usually the top spec with the biggest wheels. On the long term test cars the jurno'o tick the "upgrade" boxes for fun and end up testing something way out of my range.

I'll keep an open mind on the ride and report back when I have driven a good one. I dont ever see myself owning one though. An A Class that is.

 

[mct_cars]

Someone else debunking the myth about A Class ride quality ! I just dont understand it but usually it comes from people who have never even been in one.
Well done and thank you.

If anyone is worried about a car being too hard, hire yourself an Insignia for the day. Anything after that will feel like a magic carpet ride.

 

[grober]

I still blame many of the criticisms of today's Mercedes ride quality on their so called "agility control suspension" dampers which are supposed to convey a degree of adaptive damping to the suspension. This uses inertial units within the shock absorber to adjust its damping characteristics " on the fly" to suit varying road conditions instead of the more expensive electronically controlled damping which uses solenoids inertial sensors and an ECU. Mercedes have markedly improved these over the last few years but like all such systems they are a compromise. Its my contention these units handle variation in low frequency large scale suspension deflections very well but they have 2 weaknesses. One they don't do well in suppressing in high frequency vibration and two they don't handle rapidly changing road conditions very well. This means under certain unchanging road conditions they can give the best of both worlds - a fine handling car with a comfortable ride. Where the system falls down is in situations of rapidly changing road conditions where the suspension seems to exhibit a degree of rate dependant hysteresis [Hysteresis is the dependence of a system not only on its current environment but also on its past environment. This dependence arises because the system can be in more than one internal state. To predict its future development, either its internal state or its history must be known. ]
I think many of the criticisms of the new A CLASS suspension are related to this phenomenon where a combination of wheel and tyre size and road surface result in the suspension being put into a state of hysteresis where it simply fails to react appropriately. Under the majority of conditions its fine.