can anyone help please

elantan

hey all ,

once again my car is doing my head in ... it has been a catalogue of problems ( some may remember me from previous posts)

we have a friend that is currently getting rid of their car it is a mercedes a170 automatic trip tronic diesel ... it is an old motor (12 years) it has 52,000 miles on the clock ( origonal ) it looks in good nick from the inside , i cant say about mechanically as i know nothing of these things

my friend had origonally bought it for his wife as a present for when she passes her test ... she has never passed her test in the time they have had it ( 3 and a half years ish) so it has barely moved ( they had bought it wil 49,000 miles on the clock )

my friend has spent a wee bit of money on it getting it checked over so that its safe for his kids to be in etc putting a mp3 player in the usual kinda things ... he also paid for the drivers side window button to be replaced and the loom as that was a problem for them

we are going to need to get a new car soonish as ours is just a money pit tbh... i cant afford to pay finance on anything and i will need to borrow from the bank of mum and dad to buy this car but i have seen other cars that have higher mileage ( 90,000 plus) going for £1400 or cars with lower mileage and newer going for £3,500 plus, i know about this car though ... i have visited our friends several times since they have bought the car themselves and i know the story behind it so i know my friends would never intentionally do me and are not looking to make money from the sale , they are just looking to not loose as much as they can ( they paid over £2,000 for the car) ... i know no one has a crystal ball and can only give advice ...which i really just al i am looking for

now this car is 12 years old , it has low mileage , seems ( although unsure) to be in good nick , he is letting us have it for £1500

can anyone give me advice on if that is ok or if i should check anything out etc


thanks in advance

elantan

fivetide

Those A-Class cars, especially the auto are not known for reliability.

Remember, no use can be as bad as too much use when it comes to cars.

I'd be very careful!

5t.

Zero_Gravitas

If you think your current car is a money pit, then just wait until you start running an A-class of that age. Your current car will start to look like the most money-saving vehicle on the planet

Seriously - avoid. You can do much, much better for your £1500.

Mrs ZG had a T-Reg A140 back in 2000. It cost as much to run in 2.5 years as its replacement (X-Reg Ford Cougar V6) did in the next 8 years...

Best Regards,

ZG.

s_b

buy that car and you will wear your fingers out on your keyboard moaning about it on here
do not buy it

verityboo

Honest John site is often useful for checking cars - it does warn of problems with diesels used for short journeys here

Road_Hog

£1500 is too much for it, it is 12 years old. The fact that it has been sitting around rotting for almost 4 years is not good. It's done less than 1,000 miles pa, it would have been better if it had done 5,000+ miles pa. Cars need to be run, to keep lubricated etc. they rot if left standing, unless of course they are drained and dry stored.

I personally don't have experience of this car (or the A Series), so I can't advise you on how good they are (however you seem to already have been given some answers in the previous posts), but I wouldn't be paying £1,500 for it, no more than a £1,000

elantan

thanks everone ... so that car is off the table ... can anyone recommend a type of car to go for ?

it does make common sense when i think about it ... not running a car can be as bad (if not worse) than running a car ... and i know this car has barely moved ... my friend has moaned about it everytime i met him ... i will phone him later and let him know ... now i need to think of a car to get ... i think it is becoming more needed every day

fivetide

what's your actual no borrowing budget?

Also, don't forget to check the insurance. Something like a MB A-class will attract a bit more of a premium than say a VW Golf. If you don't want to upset your friend too much you could use that as an excuse.

I use sites like moneysupermarket to get a rough quote first, then you can see if it's even worth looking at the car.

5t.

Road_Hog

elantan wrote: »

thanks everone ... so that car is off the table ... can anyone recommend a type of car to go for ?

Cars can be like clothes, everyone has a different opinion on what is good and you have different gear for different uses.

What are your main requirements? Cost, size, long or short journeys etc.

As you appear to have suggested that cost is a factor, I'd advise something run of the mill, like a Ford. Low cost, lots of choice, plenty of spare parts at reasonable prices and servicing is not expensive.

If it were me, I'd take the £1,500 and spend it on a petrol Mondeo or a cheaper option could be a Rover 75. But you may want a smaller car, especially if you drive/park in town a lot and don't do long journeys.

colino

The A Class, especially the auto, were not Mercedes finest hour. Buy that and lose a friend.

elantan

thanks both for that input ... sadly i told my friend today that the extra on our insurance would be £75 so i cant use that excuse ... i will need to think of something though

basically i am looking for reliabilty more than anything ... i work night shift and prefer to have a safe reliable car ( obviously the one i have just now is anything but grr)

also other things i would think about would be mpg ... i currently get 50.7 mpg (diesel 1.5 dci engine) tax ( currently pay £30 a year) and insurance ( currently pay £300 ish a year) the usual things i spose

we drive maybe 17,000 to 20,000 miles per year i do a fair bit of motorway/ A road driving to my work ... we also like a bit of boot space ( which i know the merc doesnt have but i was willing to have to put up with it till we could afford another car) as we like to go camping hillwalking etc

husband has a bad back so getting into cars can be a bit of a problem he needs something that sits up off the ground a wee bit

the car we have just now is a megane the size is ok, the amount of mpg is ok the tax and insurance is ok ... its fixing the darned thing ... we spend approx between £1,500 and £2,00 a year fixing it ( not including regular services etc ... we get them done as well) ... and have done since we bought it 7 years ago ... it seems to be one thing after another ... we just spent £500 in November last year and i fear we may be a good few hundred tomorrow ... we keep it as we cant afford to buy a new one ( i dont want to take on any credit) and everytime we get it fixed we think ok thats something else that's sorted now we need to keep it till we get atleast that amount of money back from fixing it ... then something else goes ... and we fix that ... it is becoming an ever decreasing circle of us spending money fixing things and then trying to get our moneys worth out of fixing it


we are very fortunate that we have the bank of mum and dad at 0% which although we dont want to have to access we can access should we need to ... we have approx £1500 saved ... but that would have to pay the extra insurance etc that we would need