Category: Superminis 
Price Range: £14,290 to £18,645
Low emissions, cheap to run, comfortable, high driving position, quiet cruiser on motorways.
Noisy on start-up, drab interior, slow, no five-door option, pricey.
A serious option if 'green' driving is a priority.
This is where the CDI makes sense - but only if you disregard hourly rates for work at Mercedes dealerships as well as the original purchase price.
With its aerodynamic and weight-saving enhancements, the Classic returns 116g/km of CO2 (the higher-spec Avantgarde emits 117g/km) which keeps road tax costs and company car tax rates down. Official stats suggest it'll return 64.2mpg on the combined cycle but we reckon the urban consumption figure of 53.3mpg is more realistic.
Latest Readers' Drives About the Mercedes A-Class
wrote on 16 08 2006