[Closed] Owning an older 03/04 A class?

Replaced a subframe on an older one, it had rotted out, and the rear beam bearings with excessive play. Those are two that stick in my mind from mot fails i've issued.

I had a 04 A class in 2008. I wouldn't have one unless you paid me to drive it. It wasn't a 'bad' car- a great concept but age-related it'll be epically bad.

Can't you afford ANYTHING else?

The controls feel like quality, the doors feel like quality but its everything under the surface that make it shit.

I had an 06 plate Mitsubishi Colt 1.5tdi, which is a Merc A class with a Merc engine. It was fine when I had it at around 60k miles, and I sold it to a friend and it's now at well over 100,000 and still going strong. It's not had anything other than consumables. I used to be able to get 2 bikes in the back with front wheels off but it was very tight and left little room for other kit if you were planning on a weekend away. You might struggle with XL sized frames. It wasn't great to drive but perfectly acceptable if you take it for what it is - a small car. The engine in mine was 100hp which was decent for the size and it went pretty well.

I loved driving my old one but I didn't like the way suspension struts wore out and I had a few other niggly problems that were annoying.

I wouldn't advise going for an old one.

Thanks guys very good advice, also looking at Mk4/5 Golfs so think i'll stick with what I know!

OP, the upside is they make great city / bike cars. The downside is they are really quite poorly made especially the older ones with a history of lots of probalems some which appeared after relatively few miles. For something similar (not as good to look at and in terms of image) get a Honda Jazz or as you say a Golf.

I once had an A Class airborne on Corney Fell in Cumbria. 😯
I pat my shants.

I had the oem bike rack which connected to the hatch. It was awesome with two trays for carrying bikes. It folded up when not it use and was really practical. All the seats can come out so carrying stuff inside was easy. I had a leaky injector at 70k and replaced the rear suspension springs and cups ( listen for clunks when going over stuff) . The semi auto occasionally went into F - limp mode.

There was a swb and lwb version of the a class. You can tell the difference by the shape of the rear window.

loads of info here http://www.aclassinfo.co.uk/mypage.1.htm

I've (we've) owned 2, a 51 plate and an 04 plate, 51plate was a 1.4 and the 04 a 1.6, both petrol.

The 51 plate was a lovely car to drive, enjoyed it's ownership but I(we) did have a myriad of problems with it. Suspension is made out of Brie, balljoints manchego, stater motor cheddar, rear subframe bushes chocolate. In the time I owned it it was fully serviced by Merc (bought new BTW) and in that time all the work was done on warranty even when it came out of warranty in it's last year with us they paid for the Brie suspension to be replaced. I say suspension this included 4 sets of front springs, 2 rear springs, bushes (all of them replaced at least 4 times that I know of)
But, yeah but it was ace to drive and I could get all my windsurfing gear in it when the Beemer was being used by the wife.
The 1.6 came to us as we px'd the 1.4 in even though we were pissed off with them we got convinced that since 04 all the problems were sorted, ok we bought it. TBF we had no problems with that car at all, but once again FSH by Merc and who knows what was changed during servicing eh..

We then bought a B class which TBH was a way better car in everyway except we bought th 1.8 which was a bit underpowered.

So, I loved them, they caused headaches and lots of time at the dealers but the concept was ace and they drove lovely. I'd say punt on one if it's had a Merc FSH because you maybe able to go back to them if somethings been chaned and gone wrong again.

HTH

Thanks BikeBouy the whole reason for looking at them is that I drove a B class yesterday and loved it, thought the A might be a smaller cheaper version. I'm almost certainly looking at Golfs now after reading a few nightmares!

Old A is totally different to B class.

With MKIV Golfs dont forget youll age related issues too

I bought a new A170 in 2000 (X reg) and ran it until 2012, putting just over 100,000 miles on the clock. In all of that time I had to replace one set of rear springs and bushes (done foc under warranty), a battery, a rear exhaust, a set of front discs, a couple of sets of front brake pads and rear brake shoes, two sets of tyres . . . and absolutely nothing else. Had it main dealer serviced for the first three years, and then used a local independent Mercedes specialist garage for its annual service and MOT. Perhaps I was lucky, or perhaps I don't work my vehicles hard, but mine was about as reliable and trouble free as you could reasonably expect any car to be.

Please don't get a mk4 golf. Great 1.9 tdi engine but the absolute worst handling car I've ever had in every way,that chassis is a turd!!!!

Had a 52 plate long wheelbase one for a couple of years , my experience echoes Horas to a degree , its not a bad car and the Lwb version had tons of interior space but was all just a bit meh.

Much preferred the Audi A2 I had before one of the only cars that I'd like to own again.