Faults:

New springs (on all corners).

New timing chain.

New alternator.

New start engine.

New power steering pump.

New water pump.

ECU & LHM unit repaired.

General Comments:

Got it from first owner and many things (see faults) had already been replaced, otherwise I would never have bought it. All together the previous owner spent almost 1/3 of the new price on repairs, which I think is rather a lot... On the other hand, the car is 17 years old and has driven more than 280.000 km, so you could expect some things to break down in the meantime.

Now it still drives like new, and both interior and exterior look very good, free of scratches, dents or whatever. The clutch still is the original (first) one and doing fine. So I would think the Mercedes A to be rather good quality, as long as you're willing and able to replace certain things in time. Buying second hand is tricky; only buy one with a full history of maintenance, so you don't risk a costly repair right away.

What I like about the car are the high seating position and good quality seats, the small exterior and the relatively spacious and very flexible interior. The brakes are great and the engine has enough power and is very silent. On the highway the car is surprisingly comfortable and doesn't use that much fuel (1:15-1:17).

What I like less is that the suspension is quite hard, so in city traffic it is not as comfortable as you might expect from a Mercedes. Also in town it is far less economical (1:10-1:12).

Conclusion:

The A Class certainly isn't the best car that Mercedes ever built, it is not the most comfortable nor reliable, but for me the combination of size and practical use are making it a fun car to drive.

Faults:

Minor electric problems.

Blown horn.

Blown headlight.

Blown power window fuse.

Seat-adjust lever (plastic) broke after using it a couple of times.

General Comments:

I guess if roller-coaster wagons were altered for road-use as personal vehicles, this is kind of what they would feel like.

You sit tall, have nowhere to put your legs, and in every corner, you feel like you are going to flip over.

At the same time, the car has a low center of gravity, so it feels like it's gripping the road, but since you sit far above that center of gravity, the actual feeling is that of being ejected through the window at any time.

Moves sideways over bumps like a tall sports-utility vehicle.

Hard, uncomfortable seats.

Horrible plastic everywhere... and LOW GRADE plastic, not even high-density injection-molded plastic.

Most of the rubber around the windows of this Brazilian-made roller-coaster wagon was already dried and cracked when we got it.

Changing a light bulb is incredibly difficult, and changing any part is an expensive affair.

The car was reliable, but we felt like we were sitting on a time-bomb, waiting for something to break and drive us into bankruptcy.

The car was extremely uncomfortable to ride in for any amount of time, and I just feel it was not worth the stress over the expensive parts.

There are cheaper, more comfortable cars in the same quality bracket.

Faults:

Nothing.

General Comments:

Nippy town car, very economical.

Faults:

I have had the steering column replaced 5 times.

Thing's breaking in the car; plastics etc..

Can't list the problems; there are so many.

Very disgusted; thought I was buying a good car instead a lemon.

Cost of repairs is huge!

Very disappointed!

General Comments:

This car is far less superior than any other small car, because of all the faults and design problems.