Category: Small Family 
Price Range: £14,290 to £18,645
Room, versatility, ease of driving, view out, compactness, image, individuality
Pricing, choppy ride, unyielding seats, patchy quality, crude diesels, small boot
Hugely versatile, easy to drive and economical to run, but pricey and not as robust as other Mercedes
From the outside, the A-Class appears to be built to the same high standards as the rest of the Mercedes range, and at first sight, so does the interior, particularly of post-2001 models. But close inspection reveals some cheap plastics, flimsy fittings and occasional quality glitches that are borne out by ownership experiences which suggest the A-Class is simply not as robust as its name, and price, imply. While hardly a disaster, it is not uncommon to experience problems, and even moderate mileages can provoke suspension trouble, power steering failure, rattling trim, water leaks and electrical malfunction.
Latest Readers' Drives About the Mercedes A-Class
wrote on 16 08 2006