slender
Senior Member
I've posted one or two threads here of late seeking advice regarding swapping my Volvo S80 for an A Class. After hunting around for a couple of weeks Sandie and I found as close to the perfect vehicle for us and our budget as possible at Mercedes Benz Direct in Birmingham last weekend; a 2007, 57 plate, A160 Avantgarde automatic in horizon blue. We'd initially found a 2007, 07 plate, A160 Elegance automatic, again in horizon blue, and were mulling over some figures when, by chance, I noticed the 57 plater with just a few more miles for the same price which had quite literaly just arrived. A bit of hard negotiation later and a better deal was struck than the one initially offered on the slightly older one and we collected our car last night.
We've only done 20 miles in it so far so it's too early for me to post anything other than first impressions. In terms of the service at Mercedes Benz Direct we found everybody we came into contact with to be polite and friendly. The salesman basically just left us alone for as long as we wanted, with the vehicle keys, and only accompanied us on test drives. We liked that approach a lot. At no point did we receive a hard sell. Whether that's because we made it crystal clear from the start what we did and didn't want or whether that is just the way MB Direct is, I don't know. Formalities were dealt with efficiently and a round of applause for the first Business Manager who actually listens when a customer states they don't want the complete myriad of bolt-on financial extras that you know you are going to be offered and moves the process on as swiftly as he can.
The valeters had done an excellent job on the exterior of the car but the interior was, at best, satisfactory. I have, today, got the interior up to the standard it should have been and removed the marks from the seat backs, dust on the indicator stalks, scuffs in the footwells, that kind of thing. I am very, very, particular about the way my cars are kept and our A Class now looks on the inside as it should have done yesterday.
Driving our car back the first thing that really struck me was the complete absence of a bonnet stretching out in front of me!! After many, many, years of having cars with a very long bonnet it did seem strange to have this huge, clear, uninterrupted view ahead. Our car is the slowest A Class but our initial opinion is it will bowl along quite happily at A road and motorway speeds and hopefully return some impressive mpg figures. We don't expect to win many traffic light Grand Prix's, but, that's never been our driving style anyway. The room in the A Class is incredible and at no point did it feel that we had gone downmarket by downsizing. The fit and finish of the car is excellent, with everything feeling solid and well-engineered. It's unlikely the rear seats will ever be used for anything other than transporting coats, but, the rear leg room appears to be very good behind the front passenger seat and acceptable behind the drivers seat, which is always pushed almost right back to accommodate me. Cabin storage is excellent with loads of well thought out places to secrete the items we all lug around with us and we were delighted to find a rear 12V socket to complement the one in the front.
Once we've driven a few miles in it and started to get used to it I'll be back to post some real-life mpg figures and report on how life with it is.
Many thanks to all those who offered comments and opinions on my earlier threads, and especially to Hawk20 who, unknowingly, motivated Sandie and me to fully explore A Class ownership when we read his excellent thread on swapping his S Class for, not one A Class, but two!!
We've only done 20 miles in it so far so it's too early for me to post anything other than first impressions. In terms of the service at Mercedes Benz Direct we found everybody we came into contact with to be polite and friendly. The salesman basically just left us alone for as long as we wanted, with the vehicle keys, and only accompanied us on test drives. We liked that approach a lot. At no point did we receive a hard sell. Whether that's because we made it crystal clear from the start what we did and didn't want or whether that is just the way MB Direct is, I don't know. Formalities were dealt with efficiently and a round of applause for the first Business Manager who actually listens when a customer states they don't want the complete myriad of bolt-on financial extras that you know you are going to be offered and moves the process on as swiftly as he can.
The valeters had done an excellent job on the exterior of the car but the interior was, at best, satisfactory. I have, today, got the interior up to the standard it should have been and removed the marks from the seat backs, dust on the indicator stalks, scuffs in the footwells, that kind of thing. I am very, very, particular about the way my cars are kept and our A Class now looks on the inside as it should have done yesterday.
Driving our car back the first thing that really struck me was the complete absence of a bonnet stretching out in front of me!! After many, many, years of having cars with a very long bonnet it did seem strange to have this huge, clear, uninterrupted view ahead. Our car is the slowest A Class but our initial opinion is it will bowl along quite happily at A road and motorway speeds and hopefully return some impressive mpg figures. We don't expect to win many traffic light Grand Prix's, but, that's never been our driving style anyway. The room in the A Class is incredible and at no point did it feel that we had gone downmarket by downsizing. The fit and finish of the car is excellent, with everything feeling solid and well-engineered. It's unlikely the rear seats will ever be used for anything other than transporting coats, but, the rear leg room appears to be very good behind the front passenger seat and acceptable behind the drivers seat, which is always pushed almost right back to accommodate me. Cabin storage is excellent with loads of well thought out places to secrete the items we all lug around with us and we were delighted to find a rear 12V socket to complement the one in the front.
Once we've driven a few miles in it and started to get used to it I'll be back to post some real-life mpg figures and report on how life with it is.
Many thanks to all those who offered comments and opinions on my earlier threads, and especially to Hawk20 who, unknowingly, motivated Sandie and me to fully explore A Class ownership when we read his excellent thread on swapping his S Class for, not one A Class, but two!!
