I must admit I have only ever seen one A
Class in my life. There are not too many kicking around
Thailand but the one I saw was at the Bira circuit. Even when
I was in the UK 12 months ago I did not see any in the
supermarket car parks. It seemed as though they were not the
flavour of the month.
My walk around the one at Bira revealed
that it was much bigger than I imagined, and much taller as
well. I was left with the thought that DaimlerChrysler must
have designed them for carrying giraffes (or was it elks).
Mercedes
Benz A Class
However, our Down-Under correspondent John
Weinthal has just spent a week with an A Class and found
himself alphabetically challenged. Here are the Words from
Weinthal.
“Driving the Mercedes Benz A Class baby
car I pondered what the A might allude to: Attractive - surely
only to the blind; Agile - sorry, it has the responses of a
three-legged turtle; Absurd - let’s not be too harsh in our
introduction. Finally I settled for Alternative, as in
eccentric, but without the Allure of many of that ilk.
“The
A Class was originally launched in late 1997, then re-launched
following a delay of some months after the infamous roll-over
by a Scandinavian review team in their so-called Elk Test
manoeuvre.
“After this incident which attracted
worldwide publicity, Mercedes went back to their drawing
boards to re-engineer the suspension, no doubt to enhance the
life expectancy of these northern beasties.
“The A Class never recovered from this
exercise which dulled the steering, stiffened the ride and
made the car rather listless if not quite lifeless. Beyond
that, there is the rear side styling with its quirky over and
under windows and upswept rear door window line, both of which
were possibly adopted to hide an essentially ultra-short
wheelbase station wagon profile.
“I
have driven a few A Class Mercs over the years belonging to
three friends. Significantly, none had been for a test drive,
and each sold them for substantially less than the new price
within a year of purchase.
“It took Mercedes six years to reach the
one million production figure - the only surprise is that they
have persevered for so long. But persevere they have. We will
see a second generation A Class here around next May. For the
first time there is a three-door and the five-door looks much
more conventional.
“The engines are claimed to be 38 percent
more powerful and 10 percent more fuel efficient. There is
also a 142 kW turbo model and, for Europe at least, the choice
of three four-cylinder diesels.
“The new cars are wider and longer with
substantially changed underpinnings which is hardly
surprising! In Australia the original A Class now comes in a
variety of trim specs with short and not-so-short wheelbase
versions powered by either 75 kW 1.6 litre or 92 kW 1.9 litre
four cylinder engines.
“A Class is available with a five speed
manual or sophisticated five-speed automatic transmission. The
test car was a short wheelbase automatic 1.6 in Piccadilly
trim specification - a special edition costing AUD 36,690
(around 1.2 million baht at straight currency conversion) with
the auto shifter. Piccadilly distinctions include floor mats,
choice of metallic black or blue paint, a leather clad
steering wheel and gear knob plus a couple of Piccadilly
badges.
“The major claimed attractions of the A
Class are large interiors for their external dimensions,
folding and removable seats for load carrying flexibility and
accident safety which is claimed to match that of the larger
conventional C Class sedans. While these claims may be
reasonable what do they mean in the real world?
“If I want more space I will buy a larger
car - or, for genuine practicality within still compact
dimensions, one of the many soft off-roaders most of which
cost less than the 1115 kg A Class and offer more space plus
better ride, handling and outright performance.
“For the asking price (in Australia) the
A Class is pretty basic in its equipment levels. There’s no
power operation for the rear windows, no fast up or down for
the fronts, no auto lights or wipers, no remote controls for
the audio and a glove-box without a lock.
“It does have air-conditioning, cruise
control and a height adjustable driver’s seat. There are
front and side airbags for the front seat occupants,
electronic traction control, ABS brakes and brake assist. You
get all this and heaps more on a new V6 Hyundai Tucson plus
the safety of all-wheel-drive. And the Tucson costs just under
AUD 30,000 (but unfortunately not available in Thailand)!
“Over a two hour drive the A Class seats
proved to be real bum-numbers. The auto change is lethargic.
The steering is less than communicative and weights up as lock
is increased. There is considerable body roll on moderate
corners. Engine and other noise sources are about average for
a hard working 1.6 litre auto as it struggles to maintain even
Australia’s absurdly low speed limits in hilly terrain - and
that’s with only the driver aboard. The distinctly
downmarket look and feel of the drab purple plastics and
leather of the A Class did nothing to raise the spirits, nor
does its very basic instrument cluster.
“If I must have a high roof sedan with a
ski slope nose I would grab a Daewoo Matiz for less than half
the money (not available in Thailand) or move upmarket from
the lively and fun Daewoo to something like the classy looking
new Mitsubishi Colt (not available) or a Honda Jazz (reviewed
a couple of weeks ago and retailing here around 600,000 baht).
“In my opinion each of this trio has a
better look and feel to the interior and more endearing
exterior styling. That’s before one considers the excellent
Mazda3 and Mazda6 and a host of other sub-AUD 35,000 cars
which, by any objective standard, represent outstandingly
better value and more rewarding motoring than this A Class
Aberration.
“However, the forthcoming models promise
some starlight at the end of this tunnel, even if it is nine
months off for Australia.”
One does not have to screw one’s eyes up
too much to read between the lines that John Weinthal was not
altogether impressed by this vehicle, so perhaps it’s good
that we don’t get the A Class here. Both the A Class and the
smaller Smart would cost too much in this country to be
saleable items; however, judging by John Weinthal’s test,
the A Class is hardly saleable in Australia either!
You
have to bring your own tent and your own 4 x 4 Offroader, as
it is camping out in the jungle. The organizers promise plenty
of exciting off-roading. Mud tyres are mandatory as most of
the tracks at this time of the year will be muddy and
slippery. Entries are limited to a maximum of 20 cars, so the
organizers say to ring today!
The
answer was Mercedes Jellinek, from where we get the Mercedes
car. Interestingly, she had a sister called Maja, and some
Daimlers were sold in Austria as Maja’s. Now that’s a real
piece of autotrivia! She was not related to either Karl Benz
or Gottleib Daimler.