w168 A-Class advice

[Dand]

Hi everyone,

After noticing A-class's that look reasonably tidy with fairly low miles have fallen into sub 1k territory my dad is quite interested in getting one to use as a little workhorse. Hes mainly interested in a 1.4 manual. I was just wondering what kind of stuff he should look out for as ive heard they are prone to quite a few things or if its an avoid them like the plague jobbie.

Many thanks,

Dan.

 

[Howard]

People will tell you to steer clear , but they tend to be people who have never actually owned one.

Have a look at Loftys site , it is the holy grail of A class maintenance / what to look for ...

Albert Rowe, Lofty's homepage

Pointless going into it here , everything is covered on there.

Main things are ECU's , rusty jacking points , don't buy an auto etc

 

[Dand]

Yeah ive noticed A-Class's get a bit of a hard time. Compared to the other MPV type cars available in this price bracket they look like alot of car for the money imo.

Thanks for the heads up and link, it should prove very handy

 

[mauno]

buy the 1.4 ,my wife got one. bought at 80k now at 160k. minor faults only. buy manual

 

[BlackC55]

Get the latest you can. The older the 168 the better.

 

[MB-BTurbo]

Get the latest you can. The older the 168 the better.

Thats confusing. You want him to buy one thats not so good?

 

[grober]

Think Olly means the later versions of the W168 [ i.e. the youngest ones -- altho they are all "getting on a bit" now!] To be honest the first repair on a sub £1000 A CLASS is quite likely to be as costly as the car itself-- parts can be expensive and access to routine ancilliaries can be difficult increasing repair costs. Buy a Golf or better a Ford Focus

 

[dulayj]

Wifes been driving an A210 auto lwb for 4+ yrs-no real problems except broken front spring.Olly changed the auto fluid at 50 k still looked in good condition-agree that access can be difficult but routine maintenance is reasonably straight forward.
some minor rust rear wheel arch-if anything major happens will be time for a new car for her!

 

[MB-BTurbo]

...Buy a Golf or better a Ford Focus

Only buy a Golf thats pre 2000. Similar to Mercedes build and reliability went down the pan after the 90s. I wouldn't touch a VW post 2000 with a bargepole.

 

[grober]

Only buy a Golf thats pre 2000. Similar to Mercedes build and reliability went down the pan after the 90s. I would touch a VW post 2000 with a bargepole.

Fair comment. What I was trying to say is that sub £1000 A class Merc is a disaster waiting to happen for someone on a limited budget unless you are very lucky.

 

[Howard]

Plenty that have been needlessly scrapped , so great secondhand parts availability.

If you can pick one up cheap enough , drive it till it becomes uneconomical to repair and then weigh it in and buy another.

 

[Dand]

Thanks everyone, its given alot of food for thought that i will pass on to my dad.

Howard has pretty much summed up his usual routine. Buy something cheap you can stand barrels up right in and stack creates up, run it until something expensive breaks an then weigh it in and move on to the next. Have to confess it feels very wrong saying thats the plan for an MB.

 

[forrera]

I always say the problem with mercedes a class has always been a bad mechanic, not the car.
if you are tempted to buy a car under a grand, you'll scrap it the next day.
buy a good a class and find someone who knows them well
I own several w168s, 2 of them have covered 145k and 132k miles and still going strong
google forrera mercedes

 

[forrera]

1.4 suffer from noisy chain, sooner than other models, watchout for faint rubbing sound like a mill, if you hear this sound then the chances are the chain will break in less than a year.

 

[michael8554]

The auto models are a joy to drive but are randomly unreliable.
Some run to 150K miles without issues, some fail at 70K miles.
The ECU in the sump is in a hostile environment for electronics, thousands of hot/cold cycles is not ideal. Perhaps cars used for local journeys fail before motorway cars?
The unusual engine/gearbox design mean that amateur gearbox replacement is difficult.
It's sad that many decent cars are scrapped because Mercedes want £1900 to supply and fit the valve chest/ECU.

 

[Tan]

My advice is to buy a long wheel base model as they are cavernous and make a good work horse.

My late Father has a A140 LWB Auto and its been very good over the 8 years that we have owned it.