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Jul 14, 2011 10:08:29 GMT
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I was in Jersey last week on a belated "honeymoon" with Nicola, as our honeymoon was spent at the 2010 Gathering, with my brother along with us. In the mean time, Tom, Nicola's son is almost 16 and will be looking at cars soon enough, though at the moment I am getting the feeling he wants a moped for a bit of mobility. I not sure when the A Class was launched, probably 1999 or thereabouts, so is it "retro" yet, will it be in a few years ? There are 1400cc models of them, and I saw a 2 door on Jersey that got me thinking a lot. Looking at them: Not been done before - Check Price dropping below £500.00 on Autotrader - Check 1400cc for insurance - Check Comfort, luxury, status brand - Check Reliability...erm? - Check ? Everything has potential - Check I am sure there are some of you who have had one, knows someone who has one, heard of one etc..... Please do surface your Horror and Hero stories here. I have no idea if one could lower them a couple of inches (not hardcore) with insurance friendly mods. What size wheel one could add or go up to. Performance I am not interested in at the moment, but looks are a priority. Looking at the front end in real life made me realise just how wide they are, and the illusion is improved by the way the grille is designed. It looks a bit like a guppy, or a wide mouthed toad, so blacking out part of the grille will increase that look of wideness. Does anyone know what size engines the 2 doors came in? Even though a teenager probably would do better with a 4 door car to load all his mates into. Here is one for £550.00 and not running , Hope link works. www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201128402332069/sort/priceasc/usedcars/price-from/0/price-to/1000/model/a_class/make/mercedes-benz/page/1/postcode/me38rb/radius/1501/quicksearch/true?logcode=pThere are loads under the £1k mark. Probably perfect dailies. Here are a couple of pics. Any photoshop wizards, by all means do your best. Euro Look or Cleaned would be what I would like to go for, I do like wide rims and a bit of shiny bling could work too.   Versus a 4 door.    |
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Last Edit: Jul 14, 2011 10:16:38 GMT by grizz
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nutter81
Part of things
I joined facebook so i could talk to the missus
Posts: 928
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Jul 14, 2011 10:33:25 GMT
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didnt the earlier ones fall over on corners due to being unstable
i think anything has potential done correctly and seeing your threds Grizz I'm sure it will be done as it should
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BenKH
Part of things
Praise the lowered
Posts: 421
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Jul 14, 2011 10:52:28 GMT
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Hm, different choice for a first car and I definitely would like to see one modifed. Insurance might be a bit high on a Mercedes though?
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Jul 14, 2011 10:53:43 GMT
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This  Applied to this, should work  |
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ZXRob
Europe
Posts: 1,193 
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Jul 14, 2011 10:58:28 GMT
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The only experiences I have with The A class Mercedes is my sister owned one and 3 months later it set on fire. I worked in a breakers yard and dealt with loads of them that had set on fire. And I worked on alot of them in my various mechanic jobs changing starter motors because they are the cause of them setting on fire. If you are thinking of good Mercedes build quality then the A class doesnt have that really, they are a bit of a pain to work on aswell when something does go wrong which seems to happen quite a bit.
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stealthstylz
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,914
Club RR Member Number: 174
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Jul 14, 2011 11:00:20 GMT
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This is another car me and Bruce have discussed. Could be awesome with bigger wheels and slam.
Matt
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dan95x
Part of things
Posts: 361
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Jul 14, 2011 11:04:34 GMT
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Only thing I know about them is that the starter motor is an engine out job, and that they regularly fail.
Oh, also, I was told when looking into doing said starter motor on my brother in laws car, that only mercedes can tell you which of about 5 different starter motors it is for your car based on VIN number, so it is trial and error if you decide to get one from Euro, GSF etc (I don't know how true that actually is, I had already given up on the idea of doing it for him as a favour when I found out it was a 2 day job on the drive!)
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Jul 14, 2011 11:08:22 GMT
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I have the same feeling for these as so many "is it retro yet?" cars
No, its not "retro". You could mod one up and make it cool, sure. I'd like to see that.
I wouldn't ever own one myself unless it was a £300 disposable thing. Then I'd just run it into the ground TBH.
If I was going to spend time and effort on a car I'd want it to be something I liked well enough in the first place, not just "oh it was cheap"
You can get loads of cool project cars for under a grand. You can get an S Class for that if you try hard. Or an E Class diesel. Or a HC Viva. Or a Lada Riva...
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Last Edit: Jul 14, 2011 11:11:23 GMT by akku
1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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Jul 14, 2011 11:12:44 GMT
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Just been on GoCompare.com
Quote on a real £890.00 Merc A140 Classic....
Wait for it.
Provisional License - Locked in garage, Comprehensive : £1300/year
Full License: .................................... OUCH !!!!!
£6000/year
I would be happy to help him pay for the provisional license, but full license tarriff...... Halfords bicycle I think.
In the mean time I will still be toying with the idea of the A Class, as it is a shape and car I like for its quirkyness and actual school run/pensioner discount Wednesday credentials.
Maybe let him run it for a year, thentake it back and carry on modding it while he i in something sensible on his full license.
Joem83, I think you have a point there, VIP can work on a small car as we have seen on Micra's and Diahatsu's etc.
Matt, if A52 has considdered it, then it has to to be a go-er.
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Jul 14, 2011 11:16:14 GMT
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I have the same feeling for these as so many "is it retro yet?" cars No, its not "retro". You could mod one up and make it cool, sure. I'd like to see that. I wouldn't ever own one myself unless it was a £300 disposable thing. Then I'd just run it into the ground TBH. If I was going to spend time and effort on a car I'd want it to be something I liked well enough in the first place, not just "oh it was cheap" You can get loads of cool project cars for under a grand. You can get an S Class for that if you try hard. Or an E Class diesel. Or a HC Viva. Or a Lada Riva... Point absolutely taken AK, and I suspect if one digs about a bit there could be some decent real retro stuff with small engines for the money. In the mean time the A-Class will bug me, and who knows, maybe I can play with one till it is a real retro. A bit like the original boxy 190's are begining to attract a more mainstream following. |
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BenKH
Part of things
Praise the lowered
Posts: 421
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Jul 14, 2011 11:25:49 GMT
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You think that's bad? I got £8,000 for curtisre's 1.1 Fiesta Mk3, and that was the cheapest!  Stuff living in the second city! That said, comparison sites are usually quite high compared to what you'll get if you phone up, so I guess it's worth phoning around, but an A140 will be somewhat expensive to insure for a 17 year old, but if you can, by all means do it. |
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Last Edit: Jul 14, 2011 11:55:28 GMT by BenKH
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Jul 14, 2011 11:40:28 GMT
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I have a friend who bought a 500 quid A class a couple of months ago, so far it has randomly refused to start (no ignition lights at all) on 3 or 4 occasions, one of which she called me out to, but when i turned the key the lights came on and it fired up, all good, except that it then wound all 4 windows down halfway and refused to move them up or down.
We disconnected the battery for a day and it cured the issue, although it does still happen occasionally.
She has also found the insurance to be about twice the price of her old Focus.
I would advise caution when buying a cheap one.
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Volvo back as my main squeeze, more boost and some interior goodies on the way.
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VIP
South East
Posts: 8,293
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Jul 14, 2011 12:20:50 GMT
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Just been on GoCompare.com Quote on a real £890.00 Merc A140 Classic.... Full License: £6000/year To be fair, it would seem that anything he insures on a new Full Licence will be just as expensive. I just compared the cost of insuring a 1.4 A Class against the renewal on my Cuore [3cyl 989cc Group 2 car], and it was only £30/year more expensive. |
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Jul 14, 2011 12:21:15 GMT
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I fancied an A Class however a little research found too many potential problems with a cheap version to be viable. In fact it's recommended you only buy decent cars with an extended warrantee ! One aspect that often causes problem is the steering. It's a LHD rack with linkages that convert to RHD. These UJ's alone are £500+ Talking to secondhand dealers they don't like selling them as they can easily be out of pocket if customer requires any repairs during even a short warrantee period. Shame as they ticked all the boxes for me. Paul H |
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Jul 14, 2011 16:20:21 GMT
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I wanted to get the missus an early diesel one as the MPGs are V. impressive!
I got her a Mitsi SpaceStar in the end, but do wish I held out for the Merc..
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Current retro - 1996 Alfa Romeo GTV / Daily - 2016 Nissan Qashqai
Previous retros - Prelude, Integra, XR2s, XR3s, Orions, CRXs, Sylvia S12, S13, Pulsar, ZX 16v, 205 Gti, MX5, MR2 etc
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Jul 14, 2011 16:32:59 GMT
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valman
Part of things
Posts: 603
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Jul 14, 2011 17:34:42 GMT
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bit of a girly car though isnt it? id get him something manlier as i wouldnt be seen dead in an a class, 5/10 of my teachers at school all had a classes and they all happened to be female
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Jul 14, 2011 17:39:26 GMT
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Bought one of these a few years back for the wife , with the same vision as you guys , slam, bandeds job done....but beware !! most are cheap for a reason.....  if you're looking at early petrol versions, the mass air flow sensor is built in to the engine ecu, and they tend to go...a lot!! last time priced about £1500...there are people offering fixes on the net ,but ive not heard of any working!! The starter motors are not engine out but are a touch fiddly,as you have to drop rear of the subframe to gain access, Diesels are also very problematic due to injectors like to go out of tolerance , causing smoking /bad starting/emissions etc , and then seize in the head ..which is nice.(i have seen 2 year old cars back in the day have new engines for this ) All models w168 suffer with steering column problems , also all like to snap roadsprings,front and rear , have also seen a lot of front shock spring perches dropping off the shock too....plus both petrol and diesel have a single timing chain (not duplex) which as you've guessed the older they get like to snap, The gearboxs (manual) are also prone to diff noise ,and the valve chest in an auto if problematic is worth more than the car !!! the 3 idlers on the side of the lump can also cause problems with noise as can the alternators get very noisy !!.. hope this helps , this is not gospel ,just my experience i liked these when new a lot ,but as time goes on the faults are showing there ugly heads .. as you can imagine i didnt have mine long...peace out the perm!!  |
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300ce lowrider
c220 track car
c280 youngtimer
S320 ...vip no 4
S430 ..
2 x slk 230
500se ,
E36 amg
E 430
E55 amg
Ml 320
C43 amg
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Jul 14, 2011 18:27:33 GMT
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bit of a girly car though isnt it? Sure....just like the Mazda MX5, Suzuki SJ & Vitara etc...  Get over your ill conceived pre-conceptions (or possible threat to your manhood) and you might start to appreciate that some cars really don't deserve the blatant stereotype that more narrow minded people put on them. As Matt said, an A-class done right will really rock...as for reliabilty & build quality, that's another issue (which also applies to half the cars on this forum  ) |
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boo
Part of things
Posts: 26
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Jul 14, 2011 20:54:55 GMT
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i work on them regulary mainly on the bodywork . they rust every were around the back arches ,bottom of the doors ,aruond the strut tops ,even the chassis / floor pan  despite that i don't mind them too much .they also did an amg one with a 2.2 petrol engine i think |
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Stuff living in the second city!
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despite that i don't mind them too much .they also did an amg one with a 2.2 petrol engine i think