Mercedes-Benz A-Class W168 Review (1998-2004)
Mercedes-Benz A-Class cars for sale
1.0
Expert review
Pros
Innovative design and engineering
Lots of space for such a small car
Improved quality after 2001 facelift
Cons
Hard and crashy ride
Atrocious reliability
Repairs could cost more than the car is worth
The CarGurus verdict
As a concept the A-Class mk1 is brilliant – a spacious prestige car that occupies very little road space, with an incredibly versatile and practical interior. But as an ownership prospect it’s very hard to recommend because of its woeful reliability issues.
To buy an A-Class mk1 you need to be a gambler who is prepared to lose big and walk away without regrets. Even if you chance upon a good one, there’s always the possibility that big ticket items will start to go wrong or require replacing within a year or two of ownership. Given that it’s easy to find an early A-Class mk1 for £500, economics dictate that scrapping is more viable than repair.
And that may be the way to approach A-Class mk1 ownership – buy the best one you can for the least amount of money, and if it breaks, throw it away and buy another.
The Mercedes-Benz A-Class W168 is very short to make it easy to park around town, yet it’s also quite tall, enabling it to comfortably accommodate four adults, and a fifth at a pinch. When it launched, Mercedes claimed that it boasted the same interior space as the much larger E-Class.
This concept of smart packaging extends to the seats. Not only do the rears split and fold, they can slide fore and aft by 110mm to alter the boot space, they can also be removed entirely – as can the front passenger seat – to turn the Mercedes A-Class into a small van. When Mercedes facelifted the A-Class mk1 in 2003, it also introduced a long wheelbase (LWB) version, the interior length of which was slightly longer than the S-Class luxury saloon of the period, giving rear seat passengers more space and increasing the size of the boot.
Infamously, the A-Class mk1 hit the headlines when it fell over during a Swedish magazine’s ‘Elk Test’, a high-speed swerve around an obstacle. Embarrassed, Mercedes delayed the A-Class mk1’s launch in the UK until September 1998 while it revised the suspension, lowered the ride height, fitted wider tyres, and made electronic stability control – back then still a novelty – standard rather than optional. (The A-Class mk1 also boasts electronics (ASR) that keep it controlled during hard acceleration on slippery surfaces, as well as Brake Assist to stop it quicker.)
Even with these changes, you still have to keep your wits about you driving an A-Class mk1 on the motorway as its steering has a tendency to follow the grooves carved by heavy trucks, and crosswinds can blow it off-line. Also on the debit side of the A-Class mk1’s dynamic performance is its hard, crashy ride quality at all speeds. The long-wheelbase version is slightly better in this respect, but not by much.
The engine line-up of the A-Class mk1 comprises petrol units of 1.4-litre, 1.6-litre, 1.9-litre and 2.1-litre capacities, and a 1.7-litre common-rail direct injection turbodiesel with three power outputs – 75bhp (confusingly badged as a Mercedes A160 CDI), 90bhp and 95bhp. Unless all your miles are in town the petrol 82bhp A140 is hard to recommend as you have to rev it hard to extract all its performance: the diesels make more sense as their real world performance is superior and easier to access, plus they’re considerably more economical.
Although not renowned for its driving pleasure the A-Class mk1’s interior flexibility makes it popular with small families, whilst older owners enjoy the extra visibility afforded by its upright driving position. But there are some expensive pitfalls to A-Class mk1 ownership, as we'll explain...
Even the most youthful A-Class mk1 is knocking on in years, and a consequence of age – and often high mileage, too – is that components wear out or reach the end of their natural life. In the case of the A-Class mk1, a depressing number of these items broke or expired within the early years of ownership, and then their replacements did the same with alarming frequency, particularly once the car was out of warranty.
Off the record, some dealers will admit that the clutch on the semi-automated gearbox needs replacing every 65,000 miles or so, at a cost of £1,400 or more. Because of the difficulty of accessing it in the A-Class mk1’s tightly packed engine bay, fitting a new alternator (an item which seems to fail often) costs in the region of £800 and probably closer to £1,000 if you also have to replace the alternator belt and pulley.
Components with worryingly short lifespans include steering columns, steering racks, flywheels, pretty much every element of the rear suspension and especially the bushes – one owner reports having to replace bushes practically every six months – batteries, engine mounts, and more. If you’re determined to own an A-Class mk1, you may want to factor in up to a third of the car’s value annually for its upkeep.
It’s such a shame because the A-Class mk1’s general running costs aren’t that bad. A minor service at an independent Mercedes specialist can cost from as little as £85, with a major from £140 and a major major one from around the £200 mark. And you’ll want the number for that Mercedes specialist on speed dial for when non-service work is required.
Quoted combined fuel consumption figures for the petrol engines range from the mid-30s to the very high 30s. As for the diesels, the A170 CDI gives a quoted 56.5mpg and the A160 CDI 62.8mpg. Obviously in real world driving those figures will dip considerably, but several owners of the diesel models report that their cars consistently return 50mpg-. In terms of Vehicle Excise Duty, you’ll be paying between £165 and £305 for the petrol versions annually depending upon the engine size and gearbox, and between £30 and £270 for the diesel derivatives.
While some owners have enjoyed trouble-free motoring with their A-Class mk1, many others have been repeatedly frustrated by the baby Mercedes. Rattling trim panels, broken seat height adjusters, non-functioning electric window switches, disintegrating column stalk assemblies, leaking and broken sunroofs, malfunctioning alarm systems and defective remote key fobs are just some of the reported issues with the interior.
Perhaps because it wasn't terribly easy for Mercedes to engineer the A-Class mk1 for right-hand drive, the steering column seems to be a bit of a bodge – so much so, in fact, that some owners report as many as five repairs to the steering column, while it’s not uncommon for a car to be fitted with at least two new steering racks. And if it’s not a complete new rack, then the power steering pump often requires replacement.
The A-Class mk1’s rear suspension is another area where components are replaced more often than wipers blades on other cars. Some owners report having to replace rear suspension bushes as frequently as every six months, and springs, anti-roll bars, anti-roll bar drop links, trailing arms, bump stops and rear ball-joints are also common repeat repairs.
Diesel fuel injectors are problematic and can cost as much as £1,800 to replace, while glow plugs have been known to corrode into the cylinder head – a new cylinder head is around £4,500. Failing ECUs typically require the air mass sensor to be renewed at the same time, which costs in the region of £1,200: and it may take weeks to get a new ECU. Turbochargers are now of an age where they are failing, while flywheels have been known to give up the ghost within 35,000 miles.
There have been a couple of reports of the torque convertor automatic gearbox requiring replacement – at a cost of about £5,500 – but this doesn’t seem to be a common problem. More troublesome is the automatic clutch system gearbox – a five-speed manual for which you don’t need to press a clutch pedal – examples of which have been reported to have failed with as few as 21,000 miles on the clock.
Rust isn’t too much of a problem, although it is starting to bubble through on the rear wheel arches of some cars. It’s more commonly found at the base of the A-pillars, where the action of the plastic front wings expanding and contracting can rub through the paintwork.
- Low mileage and a full Mercedes-Benz service history is absolutely no guarantee that the A-Class mk1 you’re looking at is worth buying. Many of the faults listed within the Reliability section of this review occurred on cars with less than 50,000 miles on the clock – some with as few as 17,000 miles – and expensive items such as steering columns have been replaced multiple times on a single A-Class mk1. In some instances components such as suspension bushes are reported to have been renewed pretty much every six months. You have to be prepared for big bills with a Mercedes W168 A-Class.
- Unless you’re really lucky and have bought a reliable A-Class mk1, you’ll probably be spending a lot of time and money at a garage. There’s no point even entertaining the idea of a main Mercedes-Benz dealer for servicing and maintaining a car worth so little – hourly labour rates can be £150 or more. Independent Mercedes specialists are much cheaper and because they work on cars like this all the time, they may well have a better idea of what to look for and how to fix it cost effectively: research on the internet which specialists are best in your area.
- While the initial concept of the A-Class mk1 was to create the most compact car possible that can accommodate four adults comfortably, for many prospective owners the long-wheelbase version, launched in 2001 at the same time as the facelift, is a more practical vehicle. Rear passengers enjoy luxury car legroom and there’s more space in the boot, yet it remains a comparatively small car.
- If you want to enjoy the ‘pure’ A-Class mk1 experience: The standard wheelbase A-Class mk1 has a Tardis-like quality to it, appearing very small on the outside and yet housing four adults easily inside; it’s a very impressive piece of automotive packaging. Go for a post-2001 facelift example as the cabin materials are better, and make sure it’s a Classic SE trim or above so that it’s fitted with air conditioning. As for the engine, the 1.7-litre diesel (A170 CDI) offers reasonable performance alongside respectable fuel economy.
- If you prefer petrol to diesel: The 124bhp 1.9-litre A190 is tempting, but given the fact that the A-Class mk1 is better suited to pottering than charging around the place, the 102bhp 1.6-litre A160 is the more appropriate pick. We’d suggest the long-wheelbase facelifted model with the Elegance trim package if you can stretch to it, as you’ll get air conditioning and alloy wheels.
- If you want a brisk A-Class mk1: Introduced to the UK range in February 2002, the A210 Evolution has a 2.1-litre petrol engine producing 140bhp. It does 127mph and sprints from zero to 62mph in 7.9 seconds so it’s not what you might call a hot hatch, but given the car’s somewhat skittish suspension, this is as quick as you really want an A-Class mk1 to be. The A210 Evolution is available only with sporty Avantgarde trim.
- If you want an A-Class mk1 that’s different to the rest: There were options galore for the A-Class mk1 including stereo and satnav upgrades, different alloys and trim materials, and a large multi-panel sunroof. Original owners could also choose upgrades from Mercedes’ Designo catalogue that included special types and colours of leather and other trim materials. It might take some dedicated searching, but if you find a Designo-equipped car there’s a strong chance it could be a one-off.
