Would love MB owners thoughts on whether the AMG a180/a200 is a semi sensible purchase in my situation

[Scooby_Doo]

granny using it at same time will be super rare tbh. wife is super petitite so she could def fit in middle seat in that scenario (50kg 163cm)...but we'll def get a 7 seater at some point. just a tiny bit too early at this point imo. If anything would simply make more sense to prob get 2 separate cars at 25k & 10k in that scenario. have to admit i hate how the GLB looks like though! Would def be getting a XC90 at that point i feel. GLC / GLE look much nicer but i imagine even then would be out of price range!



yep. i think the dealers "Big Motoring World" have a very good selection. I guess at the end of the day just need to test the same model, not necessarily same car surely? if i like the look and feel of model but dont like colour / milage / additional specs, could just order from somewhere else to be delivered (assuming return available for unpredictable / unmentioned issues like rust etc)

A word of warning - your good wife might well be 50kg & 163cm but there isn't much room in the middle of two child car seats fitted in an A class. I'd make sure you put both seats in the back of whatever you're going to buy and see if you can squeeze your wife into the gap.

 

[MancRick101]

A word of warning - your good wife might well be 50kg & 163cm but there isn't much room in the middle of two child car seats fitted in an A class. I'd make sure you put both seats in the back of whatever you're going to buy and see if you can squeeze your wife into the gap.

Or stick her in the boot maybe?

 

[Ammb89]

Or stick her in the boot maybe?

what a silly response. where would the buggy go? on the nice leather seats? the wheels are much more likely to be dirty than wifeys boots etc. please think next time!

 

[E55BOF]

If reliability is a prime consideration, you might not want an XC90. In September 2020, Which? reported that the XC90 was the least reliable car in their survey; XC90s between three and eight years old had a fault rate of 74%, the highest of any car in any age group, and 15.8% actually broke down or failed to start.

If you want a reliable premium/luxury SUV, buy a Lexus. Shame about the looks, but you can't have everything...

 

[Ammb89]

If reliability is a prime consideration, you might not want an XC90. In September 2020, Which? reported that the XC90 was the least reliable car in their survey; XC90s between three and eight years old had a fault rate of 74%, the highest of any car in any age group, and 15.8% actually broke down or failed to start.

If you want a reliable premium/luxury SUV, buy a Lexus. Shame about the looks, but you can't have everything...

XC90 is prob only one I've looked at since I've always liked Volvo and did consider maybe getting a 2016 XC90 as it would fit the bill but haven't really looked at other options and either way I'm sure in 4-5 years when we need a 7 seater things will be different.

One thing though we should prob admit that MB doesn't do too great on these surveys. I love the brand, design etc but do get scared seeing them there so often in the unreliable section! But at same time how do you interpret these? Some of these articles state that some of the most unreliable cars are also there car of the year winners in some years etc! How does one align such differing data points!

 

[DrNick]

The more expensive and complicated a car is, the more it can go wrong. Its just probability. Same with anything.
Car of the Year is a marketing/design thing. Lots of good ideas, but the long term issues are not assessed!
If you want reliability, go Korean, Malaysian or Japanese.
If you want a piece of art that doesn't go anywhere, buy a large Italian car.
There's a bunch of stuff inbetween.