Mercedes A Class

They have a reputation for developing hugely expensive faults just after they come out of warranty, but I don't know how justified it is.

Steve Burt ( snipped-for-privacy@nospam.tiscali.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

From a discussion on a mail list elsewhere this am :-

# The A-Class was lucky to make it to the next service without needing to # go back for some major piece or other to be replaced! # The more I think about it the more angry I get. # I mean - 24K A160 had to have TWO rear arms, TWO front springs, drop # links, TWO fuel tank senders, NEW brake discs and pads (it had sat for a # fortnight)  A NEW wheel.. TWO sets of new tyres ( total of 3 sets in 24K # miles) # Calm down.. take deep breaths... that's better...

Well that settles that then

so next option is a Citroen zara Picasso

Tony

Frying pan -> Fire...

(And boy, am I glad I'm getting an extended warranty on the A140).

If you're looking at that class, our original choice before I remembered the A-Class existed at a sensible price, was the Berlingo Multispace Desire - with the Modutop. It's still a Citroen, but thankfully bereft of most of the complicated electronics that PSA cost-cut so well - and the interior is fantastic. Which is good, because the exterior isn't.

Even then, I had a hard time convincing myself it wouldn't follow the example my Peugeot 306 Cabrio[1] set by being utterly crap and unreliable by 30,000 miles.

Richard

[1] I must stress the Cabrio part, as the roof and door trims were parts that failed. French cars are sometimes bad, but French cars made by Italians? Run away really quickly. In fairness the italians didn't make the gearbox that sounded knackered at 33,000 miles.

RichardK ( snipped-for-privacy@NOSPAMbtconnect.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

You wanna bet? The B'lingo was the first PSA vehicle with Multiplexing...

What, before the XM?

I trust Multiplexing mostly (the Scorpio is multiplexed. Some of the things it does when it goes wrong are truly hilarious) - the things that seem to fail on the Picasso are expensive visible bits, like the LCD dashboards. If they want £300 for an XM 2-line display, I dread to think how much a full-size display costs!

And of course, the gearbox is the same as the 306 one...

Richard

RichardK ( snipped-for-privacy@NOSPAMbtconnect.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

The B'lingo was muxed from launch in '96. We never got the Muxed XM - it was only *very* late LHD ones that may have been - '98 or so onwards.

B'lingo, Picasso, 306 - yep, all the same box. Just 'cos you got a duff one...

Are you mad??