German here, The A-class was sort of a granny-car. It was really popular with older folk that came from nicer Mercedes' and needed a practical car to do shopping and get all your grandkids in the back. Parking in tight spaces with this is a blast with its great visibility.
It was my first car. It was certainly not build for the autobahn, but it is a great city car. The A160 was sufficiently powered (more was simply too much for the simple chassis. It has loads of space, you could remove the back seats easily and for a car the size of a Polo was amazing. The quality was appauling though, which finally split us...
Very much the same here in the U.K.. A car dealer I know described it as “a Honda Jazz for brand conscious oldies” (nothing else screams “retired” in the U.K. quite like a Honda Jazz in the drive of a bungalow).
Very much the same here in the U.K.. A car dealer I know described it as “a Honda Jazz for brand conscious oldies” (nothing else screams “retired” in the U.K. quite like a Honda Jazz in the drive of a bungalow).
I owned a total of 3 of these and I have to add some information to the Video. 1st of all: THE ELK TEST: As Doug mentioned after this test Mercedes fitted ESP (electronic stability program) to EVERY unit of these cars (even to those which were allready sold) and from this moment on they were within the top 5 of the safest subcompact cars of the time. Mercedes even made advertisements with the Elk-Test then and when I picked up my 1st new A-Class in November 2001 I bought a little stuffed animal Elk in the Mercedes-Benz Store (this guy is still sitting in my living room). 2nd: THE PRACTICALLITY: Doug missed to show you one of the most important features of this car: It's tremendous practicallity. The rear seats can be folded which increases the trunk space like in a normal car (but with a huge step from the trunk floor to the folded seat backs). BUT they can also be removed completely, which gives you a HUGE level floor and a trunk space almost like in a serious van. And if that wouldn't be enough you also could opt for an also removable and foldable front passenger seat (the seat right of the driver), which increases the level floor and the space even more. I NEVER owned a vehicle more practical than the 1st gen A-Class, even if I also owned several station wagons. 3rd: THE OPTIONS: Dougs exemplar is really basic almost without any options beside the A/C (btw from 2000 almost every sold A-Class was sold with an A/C - that no one opted for the A/C is only true for the very first model years. But there are a ton of (pricy) options you could get to increase luxury and experience. You could opt for the Elegance-line which is a more luxurious line and even a leather interior was available when you opted for this line. You could also opt for the Avantgarde-line which was a more sporty line and in this case a part-leather interior was standard. Also seat pockets on the back of the front seats were available as options as well as lots of other stuff which increased the usability and the practicallity of this car. From the drivers perspective you could also order things like automated speed control, a (very smooth an quick shifting) 5-gear automatic transmission, better engines (100hp, 123hp and from 2002 to 2004 also a 138hp "AMGish" engine as well as Diesel engines with 74hp and 94hp). It may be not the most beautiful car of the time (but also not the most ugly one...) but in my opinion the W168 never was a bad car, especially not for its time and especially not when you chose the options you wanted.
Thank you for expanding on the car's features. I was hoping he would explore the rear cargo area more. For example, did these come with spare tires or tool kits, etc.?
@@sleepyhollow783I think some came with a full-size spare while others had just a bottle of fix-a-flat. I had a 2001 A190L Avantgarde and while it wasn't a very aesthetically pleasing car, it was extremely practical, fun and unique car to own. Tons of space, easy to drive in town and definitely rises above the mocking some people give to it.
Safer maybe, because it was a Mercedes after all, but it wasn't stable even after adding the ESP... i remember the severe body roll in the unit of a friend, not unlike what you would get in a Chevrolet Aveo...
An important point to add: Like you said, they added stability control (ESP) to every A-Class during the recall. But during that time in 1997, stability control had only been available in the S-Class. Similar for other manufacturers, it was only offered in the top of the line models. By adding it to their base model as a standard option, Mercedes had to start offering it to their other models (ML, C-Class etc.). And other manufacturers had to quickly adapt and offer the same to their customers. So, while everyone has been laughing at the failed elk test, one could argue that it saved a lot of lives afterwards by pushing stability control at a much faster pace across the entire car market than it would have otherwise!
Unfortunatly they also reworked the suspension to stiffen it up making it less comfortable. The market for these were often older motorists who wanted to get round comfortably and safely. Unfortunatly journalists tend to want to go round corners ( and Elks) as quickly as possible. The result was the car was spoilt. Subsequent models have evolved into flatter and sportier journalist friendly cars much the same as other manufacturers offer.
@@HerrBrutal-bl2fk Why do I need good handling if I am driving 2km to my local shops at 50kmh ? I want comfort and safety. Comfort means high up enough that I can get in and out without getting a slipped disc ! If your trip to the shops involves high G cornering and a disregard for speed limits then you can buy a sports car. For many of a car like the original A class is ideal.
@@jonathanwebb8307 "journalists tend to want to go round corners ( and Elks) as quickly as possible". The speeds at where the evasive maneuver tests are done are completely normal speeds driven on rural roads around the globe. Anything from 70-80km/h is what people, even older people drive at. The idea is to find out how a car handles an evasive maneuver at those real world speeds. You can engineer a car to be comfrotable and safe in corners, but you cannot do it cheaply. There are a lot of modern car designs that wouldn't be safe at all without ESP systems in them.
@@SturbokSenseiAt the time, journalists presented that the failed moose test was something exceptional, while in reality, many other cars also failed. Even modern SUV's and pick-ups fail. The Mustang Mach-E - an EV - also failed. Not all of them rolled over, but they did fail.
I like how he says "to import it you gotta be weird and rich, i got those covered" while maniacally laughing behind the steering wheel of the short mercedes
As a Brit this makes me laugh because these cars were everywhere and still are very common and so many are in the scrapyard right now. That’s why we like Doug, he gets all excited by the most mundane crap 😂
What I love about Doug is that he can get really enthused about a small, under-powered car like this, because it's fun and quirky. A true car enthusiast. I respect him for that.
That car as much fun as a shit sandwich. Jesus, you buy this nonsense? I love Doug, I have been following him for years, but this one is really reaching.
Bah... under-powered? That 80 horsies was just fine for this thing, weighing merely a ton. I believe AMG had a version in the works with a top speed of 160 mph ... the little Autobahn-going monstrosity for those who did not just want to evade a moose but thoroughly outrun it. ;)
They still sell cars here with less power that go faster than you can legally go in the US. I mean it does 60mph in 13s and goes to over 100mph, would think that's enough, if it's enough for the Autobahn.
@@Levy7SI see you're new to Doug's channel and have never watched any of his videos. Because then you might have twigged that my comment is to be taken in context with this channel. This much on the subject of ignorance...
Steve Mattin actually got a “Design of the Year” industry award with this car, which got him into the “big league” of designers. He has a lot of stories about it and his later work at Volvo and LADA (where we’ve got acquainted). So Doug, if you ever doing an interview format - I can connect you two.
It's a perfectly reasonable choice for a lot of people in Europe. A small car that you can easily park in a tight spot, a practical car for families, to go shopping and so on. The fact that it was successful despite its weirdness shows that it's useful. Practical, compact economical. The french build a lot of cars like those A-Class.
I'm surprised you didn't bring up the A38 AMG that had two 1.9L engines in the front and back, powering both sets of wheels. Had an output of 250hp and did 0-100kmph in 5.9 seconds. Pretty rare car. Only 49 were imported here to Australia.
LMAO... everyone here is doubting you, including me and I've seen A class AMG before. Now I've just learned there're two different A class AMG, don't know which one I saw. If Doug only knew... lol
This car was for many in Europe the first opportunity to own a Mercedes. It was extremely popular and it's still a common sight in European roads. The one shown in the video is in really good condition.
The ASR button is not for the system that stopped the A class from rolling over, it's just for the traction control. The system they had to install after the failed moose test is a electronic stability control (ESC or ESP in Germany), which obviously you couldn't switch off. As a guy from Germany who was 12 or 13 years old when the moose test happened I remember that nearly instantly a lot of jokes occurred on that incident even by TV comedians.
@@madeinengland1296 I was proven that the three wheeled car on Top Gear had been modified like that to make it fall over for a fun show but why the heck would Mercedes sabotage its own car?
Like Doug is telling us, they had a technical issue in the beginning and added ESC to all cars after the first moose test. Btw: There is an interview on UA-cam with the director of global communications of Mercedes Benz who also invented the term "moose test". Kinderwagen test would probably have gone down worse. ;)
Most people don't know that the A-Class was engineered at first to be an EV. Hence the sandwich floor where the battery was supposed to go. When the EV plans were canned (because the time was not right yet), the double floor was communicated as a safety feature for side impact protection. The angled position of the transverse engine was also an afterthought. The more compact E-motor would have fit into the small space easily.
My dad an A160 of this exact year and color when we lived in Germany (which was ironic, because he was an American GM executive). This was the car I learned how to drive in after receiving my German Führerschein (drivers' license), and it was the ideal car for an 18-year-old high schooler. It had plenty of space for friends who wouldn't complain about the economy accommodations because they were high schoolers, it was easy to park in European cities, it had stability control and ABS, and it had enough but limited power. The fastest I could ever go was about 170 km/h on the Autobahn, and that was downhill with some help from the wind. This video brought back a lot of memories.
@@zeveroarerules still... why A-class?! Even Ford EU had better "hatchback" at those times. Focus mk1 with 2.0 130bhp or 1.8 tddi with 90bhp were waaay better option than any a-class. Even 1.6 with 100bhp did good.
@@mmllmmll22 Maybe an unpopular opinion, but I think more horse power isn't good for someone who just got his/her driving license. Too many beginners end up at the next tree, because they can't handle it. If you drive a car with lower horse power, you tend to drive slower (and safer)
I had one when I had a serious accident. To this day I know that thanks to its design, it saved my life. It was written off by the insurance company and I only broke a finger. The engine did indeed dive under me and the ASR/ABS setup worked perfectly. I immediately bought another one. I was doing quite a lot of mileage with a fifty fifty mix of town and main road travelling and mine were A170 CDI’s with automatic transmission and Tempomat. In the end I bought something else just for a change 😀
@@m3photo726 ESP ABS TCS -- one bad sensor and you flip the car because Electronic Stability Program will not work ... and the suspension was a bad design
@@m3photo726 he probably referred to the Elchtest. Yeah he might be right under the wrong circumstances and with broken ESP you can still flip your car. Maybe
Well, Doug lives in San Diego and there is a Mercedes Dealer in Tijuana just south of him ( The A class was sold in Mexico 🇲🇽 starting in 1999) so that would probably be his best bet if the SoCal Mercedes dealers can’t help him out. 😂
@@Happymali10 Exactly! Almost every service that was done needed an Engine drop to access typical spots, like the brake fluid, the air conditioning, the oil filter even!
This car is amazing, I had the pleasure to own 2 A Classes here in Brazil, both were 2004, A160 Classic and A190 Avantgarde. The Avantgarde was beyond amazing with all the car’s features and the 1.9 engine is tremendously powerful for this tiny car, it easily reaches 200km. Have a nice time with your Baby Benz and I hope more people get to buy it in the USA!
@@Niraola bit of an unfair comparison 😂 - also (I presume you mean) the W124 was a real old school MB(ie very very nice😁). The late 90s were bad for MB the W210 (contemporary E-class to this) had horrendous electronics and all MB at this time rusted so bad they had to change their warranty policies or go bankrupt.
Some additional context for the moose test: Mercedes couldn't reproduce that, so they've invited the driver who achieved that, they found out then, that the tarmac compound on the swedish test track was significantly grippier than on Mercedes' test centres. They've also changed the tires from originally 175/65R15 to 195/50R15 with stiffer sidewalls and stiffened the suspension. Another funny thing is that they've parked many A-Classes waiting for the upgrades nearby a village called "Kippenheim" and "kippen" is the German word for "to tip (over)" or "to tilt", so exactly at the right place. I don't really like the A-Class (but Mercedes-Benz in general isn't my favorite), but it's a nice small MPV and although I would prefer other body styles at the moment, I would still prefer MPVs over most SUVs. It's a shame that most EVs at the moment are SUVs, almost no wagons or MPVs (and most MPVs like the VW Touran don't even have a hybrid drivetrain available. Because of their upright postion such cars as the A-Class (first two generations), B-Class, Golf Plus/Sportsvan and Opel Meriva are/were very popular among elderly people in Europe.
Sorry to correct you, but the village is called Kuppenheim, not Kippenheim. This is very close to the Mercedes prodution plant of Rastatt, where the A-class was built and still is build until today..
One of the options not mentioned above are Fords C/S-Max, Renault Megane Scenic (later just Scenic). In S-Max you could have 2.5T similar to Focus Mk2 ST/Mondeo 2.5T, and in Scenic mk2 You could have 2.0T similar to Megane RS of that generation. Those are really good "Hot-MPV"
Local journalist Robert Collin did the test himself, a big story in the media, Mercedes needed an answer for that, and they did, electronic stabilization systems ! great marketing it was !
80 hp was more than enough in Europe in the late 90's. In fact little cars like this with 80-90hp was like a racecar for some of the owners, you know. We still have cars with 40-60 hp in most of the countries in Europe and those are the basic ones. Anyway, congrats Doug and have fun! I didn't expect you to buy one of these, it suits you really well.
Well that depends on where in europe you’re from. I guess these tiny cars are good for small roads in France and Italy, but at least here in Sweden we like big cars. We have big roads and tend to travel far due to the size of our country relative to our population. My daily commute is 130km~ to and from work, I can’t imagine driving anything other than my current 3.0L 5-series. Wanted to buy my colleague’s Volvo S80 D5 but he refuses to sell it!
@@jgripen969yes, but it's now ;) Back in 90's I think that almost everyone was happy about having a car that had AC and 100 HP... I had a car from 90's, it had exactly 100 HP and AC 🤣
@@jgripen969 did a roadtrip in Audi A3. Had to drive a lot more than I expected I would, but still didn't feel like I had a smaller car then everybody else. And yes Volvo would be a dream car to drive there. Loved the roadtrip btw, beautiful country. The most bizarre thing were these long stretches of road that were being built one layer at a time. I was driving for half an hour on gravel/rocks once. It felt like a major road soon-to-be, but I never thought anyone would let people drive there.
These were popular in Australia as a poor mans Merc but were quite handy as a city car. The sort of folks looking at them were not after performance and handling but a compact economical car with a badge and it worked.
Oi! Check the 2023 model. It's no longer a quick little city car. The first gen. failed and fell over in the driving tests. The Merc A-model today is very popular. Looks great, elegant.
I'm from Spain and my mom still owns this car. It was my grandmother's who bought it back in the day and now is my mom's daily driver. It runs perfectly without issues despite its age.
I mean, there’s plenty of common American econoboxes and land yachts that we find uninteresting and ridiculous, but I’m sure that some European finds them cool and interesting and has imported one over there so I see the appeal. There’s probably a bunch of fanatic Europeans who imported a Crown Vic or something for the same reason he imported an A Class lol
In Germany they also released a “A 210 evolution” version with a 140hp engine, which was actually quite beefy for its compact size. It also included a lot of AMG components such as a cool exhaust. It was not allowed to carry the AMG batch for some reason and was therefore renamed “evolution”.
I remember the TWIN-ENGINED A38 AMG! The second engine was placed below the cargo area by AMG to boost performance. 'Company cars' for Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard apparently. Only 4 were ever built.
80hp for a compact car was quite big actually. And I'm not even talking about the 100hp engine, that was a lot for this category. A Renault Twingo most often had a 60hp engine, a VW Lupo started at 50hp, and a Peugeot 106 had between 45 and 60hp in most versions. 80hp as a base engine, that's quite a robust engine.
Though the A-Class was more of a VW Golf, Renault Clio competitor. Yes it was shorter than the Golf but it had similar interior space, the cargo space being 330 and 350 l for the Golf and the A-Class, respectively. And the entry-level Golf also came with a 1.4 l engine with 75 hp*. They also both weighed roughly the same, 1050 kg for the cheapest Golf and 1020 kg# for the A140. * I’m ignoring the hp vs PS difference # You’ll find different value as they depended on the precise version
@@aphextwin5712 The Mk4 Golf is half a meter longer than the A-Class. So no, it's not a direct competitor. And the Renault Clio II Phase 1 mostly used engines making 55 to 75hp. Of course there are better, more powerful engines in the Clio lineup (there were also in the Twingo, 106/Saxo), but it's not the bulk of the engines sold.
I get your fascination about this car, even though it's not exotic in Germany at all. But it's distinctive and classic, with a story behind it. My grandma passed away few months ago ... leaving this car with low mileage among other things. Guess I'm able to drive this car from time to time ... primarily thinking of meemaw, but secondarily at Doug, driving the same car. :D
The funny thing is that instead of hip young people, this car quickly became a favorite with old people, to the extent that, driving in Germany, you would automatically assume upon seeing one of these that it was driven by an elderly person. What Doug did not mention is how incredibly reliable they were. I wouldn't know any other make and model older than 15 years of which you can still see so many on the streets in Germany. The other thing is that for a compact car it is incredibly roomy. We recently inherited one (2nd generation, 2007 model) as a driver for our kids and I don't know any other car that size where I (6' 5") can ride in the back fairly comfortably or even sit upright.
Doug, my Mom loved every single day with hers! Around 2002, she made the transition from a 1998 Fiat Panda to an A class in the exact same color of yours. It was comfortable, tossable, but yet with enough space to carry 3 kids and their stuff. Thank you for taking me back to those times (early 2000s in Northern Italy).
The Renault Clio still has 65 hp for the most basic version today… So 85 hp was actually quite good. Minivans in Europe in 2010 were mostly having 90 to 110-130 hp, especially in Diesel.
Having so little power in your car feels entirely alien to me.. Even my first car, a 1995 Opel (winner of the award for the most boring car in the world) had 180hp and top speed of 230. When people talk about downshifting for uphill my first though is about passing trucks when they slow down, not that the car needs it just to maintain speed 😅
@@Salesman9001 You do not need much power in EU these days, you have speed cameras everywhere and transport repression is getting worse and worse, so you can not really speed anywhere except some germany autobahns.. so 50-100hp car is all you need. I am pretty sure in few years there will be GPS in cars automatically giving you penalties automatically when speeding...
@@Spazik86 "You do not need much power in EU these days" It has never been about need, I don't need lot of stuff I have that requires licensing/registering to own like motorbike; but I want them and are legally allowed to have them. Lot's of backroads lack any kind of speed enforcement and the GPS thing probably won't happen thanks to privacy laws, but I might need to eat my words
By the way, it needs about 1500 g of coolant, which is about 3 times more than in other cars. Really expensive feature back in days and even more nowadays 😂
Nothing wrong with the good old window crank... less weight, hardly ever breaks and if it did, the repair costs were next to nothing. Ah, the good ole days. ;)
"I'm the crazy person who has enough money to bankroll this car" best Doug quote ever. I LOLed. The '5' in the Doug Score for "Cool Factor" I absolutely agree with, but is specific to North America. I predict that when you bring this to a Cars & Coffee it will get lots of attention. In Europe it would get none.
@@kha7705 Because it looks like he bought a mint example through an agent and shipped it. Maybe not Model 3 money but I wouldn't be surprised it was like 20k$ in total.. I imagine 5000$ for the car, 2000$ for agent and rest for shipping..
This A Klasse Mercedes Benz is JEWEL of the automotive design. I have an A190 code W168 Elegance with leather seats , CD charger , AC , Automatic with only 40,000 miles and I love it. Lucky you to have it , congratulations.
AMG also did a totally weird A38 AMG version of this A-Class and it had 2 engines from the A190. The second 1 was mounted underneath the cargo area so it actually had all wheel drive and 250hp. Unfortunately only 4 cars were produced I think😂
Greetings from Scotland! I had one of these 20 years ago and really enjoyed it. I can't help noticing you missed the fact the rear seats are all removeable to create a huge luggage area. I once brought home a large crate shipped accidently from Newfoundland to Dyce airport instead of Prestwick and I was glad of this feature!
15:37 Doug, you should definitely try to get an A2, it was such a great little car! Had mine for almost 10 years and 260.000 kilometres and i loved it! Totally underrated and unfortunately most people confuse "i don´t like how it looks" with "it is an awful car!".
I agree! It’s my first car, I have a 1.4. It drives very good, clutch and gear selector feel great and you can actually drive rather sporty with it. Of course the downside is the rather high center of gravity which makes it feel like the car is going to tip over when you’re driving too fast into corners
Audi made a better A class with the A2, in the right trim with the 16 inch rims ,it looks awesome. I stil have the 1.6 petrol in silver with the panorama as my second car.
Actually its power was not very low comparing it to other small cars on the European market at that time. In Germany that would particularly have been the Ford Fiesta, Opel Corsa or VW Polo being the most common ones. And they usually had a standard of 60-70 horsepower.
Fun fact: there where also the very special "Mika Hakkinen" and "David Coulthard" editions. completely in F1 livery and yes they where offered in the Mercedes dealerships back in the day. Quite rare though only 250 units ever build.
@@r3uvsgaming I could buy one couple of years ago, for a bargain price, I believe it was 4-5 grand that they where asking. The only thing that held me back was the stupid gearbox (manual without a clutch) really rare car never the less.
I don’t think Doug is a quirky car guy, I think he’s a car guy in the most wholistic way. He like SUVs, EVs, driver’s cars, weird cars, and others. Doug is the kind of guy who owns 2 of the greatest super cars, but would excited to talk to you about your $30,000 weird car.
9:29 Actually, the center control makes sense when it comes to a perspective of accommodations for both left and right-hand-drive markets. It makes it simpler to manufacture because it’s in the same location whether it’s left or right hand drive.
I didn't think of that. It probably saved them a lot of money. It's funny because I drive a RHD car at the moment (UK) and it's from 2013, but has noticeable things like the Start/Stop engine button is on the far left side of the center console and the whole center console leans left a little bit. Also the hood (bonnet) opening latch is on the left (passenger) side, but that's true of almost all cars in the UK.
I watched the whole video thinking all along Doug was gonna pull a Whistlin Diesel kinda thing, and flip this thing over, throw it down a ravine, drive through Vermont looking for a moose to cross the road and then floor it … you get the point! 🤦♂
When you drive around in Germny, you still see these cars. I would say on the Autobahn you see one of those every 1-2 hours, which is quite a lot actually regarding their age. They are very popular cars for people who don't change cars every few years and they seem to be very reliable too.
My parents took a trip to England in the early 2000s, and got one of these as their rental car. When they got home they were bragging to everyone about how they rented a Mercedes over there, apparently unaware that these were just ordinary cheap compact cars. They also kept calling it a "Mercedes Elegance". As best as I can tell, "Elegance" was actually the trim level, but they must have seen that badge and mistaken it for the model name.
You are right, there were 3 trim levels iirc, Elegance, Avantgarde & Classic. I owned one a year 2000 A190 Elegance and it was a great car with a 1.9L 125HP engine in a small, lightweight package, the A190 also had bigger wheels with low profile tires, bigger brakes and a stiffer, sportier suspension, My mother had a an A160 and my sister a long wheelbase A170 CDI (diesel) and the difference was abysmal (the A190 was in another league). The Elegance had A/C, leather steering wheel, rear power windows, storage behind the front seats & below them (drawers) and even a center armrest for the driver & copilot with adjustable height and more storage inside. The "classic" trim was the cheapest one by far and it shows in the video. The top model was the A190 gasoline and was offered only with the Avantgarde and Elegance until the restyling which offered an A200 version.
The 2009 A200 and the smaler engines had 'Elegance' trims and the quality of the trim was equal to some of the more expensive models. I have and 'Elegance' A200 and I am very pleased with it.
You got Classic, Elegance & Avantgarde. Mercedes used these trim levels for a while. Dougs is a classic, which is the lowest. You see it on the a-piller.
My late German grandmother had one of these in green and nicknamed it “Elch” (German for Elk.) when asked about it I recall her describing the Swedish road testers as “dramatic.” Even well into her 70s she would frequently take it up to its max speed on the autobahn 😂 God I miss her. Thanks for the review Doug.
@@maxmustermann5932 Passing through Germany; cruising at 150 mid lane. Some granny in her 70s in a Fiat passes me as if I was standing still in my BMW e39. Not sure how that car would even get to those speeds but I hope the lady got to her 100s. God, German ladies are scary; scarred me for life.
I really love how Doug is trying to live his every dream and wish, he doesn't know but he is also doing what a lot of people aspires to do but don't have the money . Love you Doug! , Also great to see you going back to you and your channel's roots, reviewing your own quirky and ridiculous cars!!! ❤❤❤❤❤❤
Doug, you will learn to love this car so deeply. I learned to drive in 2010 in my Mum’s 2000 A160 elegance in that blue. With the elegance you could get the leather interior in a very similarly crazy blue. It is such a practical car with its flat floor. You can take all the seats except the driver’s out and use it as a van. Plus the high rear seats and low belt line mean kids can see out the back window which they always love. It’s a cracking car, wish they made an EV one now
Fun fact: the original Citroen DS had a fairly similar safety arrangement for the engine sliding under the passenger compartment in case of an accident - in 1955!
European here - I'd never consider A class boring or crappy! They were always eye-catching and controversial and very much hete-or-love kind of cars. They are still quite popular and you can see them on streets from time to time. I think it's cool that Doug got one, although I still hope we can see a review of Doug-owned Multipla one day :)
@@LEGOiancu1 I think they're mom cars everywhere. Suburban middle class, not really rich enough to own multiple "real" Mercedes, but you want the Mercedes logo for your shopping trips.
We had two Merc A-Class's and we looovved them both. One was an A160 Elegance and the other was an A190 Avangard....both were incredibly reliable and super practical....I'd love another one as a second car for every day motoring ! All the talk about them rolling over was way over exaggerated....they were super safe when driven 'normally' and could be thrown around a bit with no worries whatsoever. We felt extremely safe in them and the interior was all gorgeous soft leather in both vehicles...a great comfortable little car and a tremendous work horse!
So glad to see Doug so excited about a small inexpensive car. This is exactly what I would have done, if I had the means. I hope Doug takes it to Cars & Coffee to see what people think. I was very lucky to go to Europe in Aug 1990 and I saw lots of interesting cars that we don't get here. So I get the attraction of having something very rare, that most people haven't seen before. Thank you.
9:33 The ASR (Anti Schlupf Regelung - Anti slip control) is not the stability control that prohibits the roll over. The ASR does only reduce the engine power, if the wheels start to slip, you can deactivate, because in the winter if you want to start on a slippery surface, the ASR would just not allow you to drive away. But even if you deactivate it, it switches back on if you reach a certain speed. The stability program that was introduced as a response to the rollover is the ESP (Eelktronisches Stabilitäts Programm - Electronic stability control), usually you cannot deactivate it. The only manufacturer that I know that lets you switch of ESC is BMW
Wow, this video brought back so many memories. I was born in '97 and my mum owned this exact car, same color and interior until i was like 7-8 years old. The whole video was a big deja vu for me, amazing little car this. Never thought i'd see it again on this channel, thanks Doug!
Hi Doug, I Used to own one of these (I drive the successor, the w169) now. And there are several quirks you missed (or maybe they were never present in the first buildyears). The rear seats flip over to create a larger booth, AND they are very easily removable to make it bigger still. The headlights are used in several Colani Aerotrucks. There is a 2 engined version, made for a rallydriver. There was a derivative car called the Vaneo, which was a subcompact MPV, which didn't last long. But the absolute gem you forgot to mention is... it was designed to be electrified. The floors have space between them to have batteries in them. The W169 had a test-version which used then-current Tesla batteries.
I mean, it's actually really impressive that they managed to give you 5 seats and a decent capacity cargo area in a car that small. It must have been a really interesting challenge for the Mercedes designers to actually do this. I suspect they probably enjoyed the challenge.
It was pretty normal in Europe for mid size hatchbacks like the a class to have this kind of dimensions. The VW Polo, the ford fiesta the Renault Clio Citroen saxo etc were all similar sized give or take 30-40mm and they all have 5 seats and a cargo area. Even in the class below the superminis like the VW lupo, daihatsu cuore (a kei car), Suzuki alto they all have 5 seats and very small cargo area but are like 2-300 mm less than the a class.
At the time, Mercedes promissed C Class space cheaper and smaller. Costumers didn't get that and its was a scandal because Mercedes brand was very highly rated. And the moose test did the rest to the poor reputation of this car. Driving feel was pretty crap for a Mercedes too.
@@gidd No, it is fairly tall. Giving you better view. Also, remember, it is shorter than the Mini Two-Door. It is extremely short for the volume it provides. It is a great car and definitively one of my favorites (outside of crazy cars that would make no sense to drive).
Fun fact: This A-Class together with its facelift in 2001, was also offered with a long wheel base variant (v168), which added considerable room at the back. Apart from that, the rear seats can be removed completely for increased practicality.
Fun fact: there were some versions of the A-Class which were actually very slightly interesting, as opposed to this one he's pretending is such. There were a few AMG versions, even a David Coulthard and Mika Häkkinen special edition. Absolutely horrible cars overall no matter what though. Doug also missed what is one of the main flaws in the design (for adults), just like so many EVs: they raised the floor but didn't raise the seat accordingly, so the seating position is absolutely ridiculous and horribly uncomfortable. You sit slammed to the ground with your knees in your mouth.
I live in Australia and had an A160 Avantgard upper call model. It was simply a great and flexible town car. What you don't seem to have found our yet was that you could remove the front passenger and full rear passenger seats for the car to become a single seater...!! It was like a mini mini van...you could carry so much stuff. I loved it...
My mother had an A class about 15 years ago, and my wife and I borrowed it and drove the A class and my Opel Corsa B (Barina) to IKEA and bought a whole kitchen, including dishwasher, oven and counter tops. With the seats out in the A class and the rear seats down in the Corsa, we managed to fit all of it in those two tiny cars. We had like 10 cabinets, and everything else that goes in a kitchen. That A class was almost like a little van with the seats out. Amazing feature. :)
I really loved my A140. Reliable cheap to run and the handling was awsome; not going to roll. My favourite thing was taking the seats out, creating a tiny van.
Front passenger seat had quick release and could be lifted out and back seats could also be lifted out (heavy). Flat loading space. Moved beds and wardrobes in our one, an A160 classic in blue as per the one featured. We had it 10 years, great motor, had slatted aluminium sunroof and integrated child seats.
My parents bought an A160 in 1998. One of the very first and, Being imported from Germany, it had a lot of extra-features such as alloy wheels, sunroof and metallic paint. Congratulations for your Channel and greetings from Italy 🇮🇹
So glad you mentioned the failed „Moose Test“😂 As a German Auto enthusiast, I still remember when this was all over the News! Seeing you now owning this stereotype senior citizen‘s German Dream Car brings back soooo much memories and shows how far MB has come with the A-Class since its original design😊
@@zsb707 When your back hurts with every move you make, you want a car with the seats high above the ground. Mind you, there were no crossover mini SUVs at the time.
The best car on the planet. I have it. 2003 year. long version. with 1.7 cdi diesel engine. 95 hp. consumption is 5 liters per 100 km. The car is wonderful to drive. Semi-automatic gearbox with regular manual gearbox and robotic clutch. I can't say enough about how good this car is for me. I've been driving it for 6 years and it has 250,000 km. maybe even more. there are more seats on the back bench than in the S class. :)
This is one of the best car designs of the last 50 years. It makes sense in every way. It could have perfectly evolved into a hybrid or an electrical car because of the construction.
@@motivasenope, but there had been a multitude of test vehicles with fuel cells. Especially the larger B-class (and succeeding generation) had been a pretty well designed fuel cell powered car. Well, the 90s and early 2000s hadn't been friendly to eco-friendly but unusually expensive cars, these things had been just 20years too early.
Me and my wife had the next generation A-class from 2006 and used to move from Eastern Europe to Spain, 2500km.When the backseats are folded is practically a small van because it's so tall, we managed to fit all our stuff to the sealing and added a roof rack and a top case, what a road trip lol Funny thing is that I always thought they were ugly but my wife loved it, after we got one I loved driving it instead of my car, it's a fun, comfortable little car great for cities as you sit high above others (this was before the SUV trend). The car is still in the family and back in Eastern Europe, passed it on to my grandpa.
My family had 3 of them. Extremely cheap and easy to drive in a city. It's actually one of the shortest semi-modern 5 door cars that you can buy. Really practical for its size.
The A-Class was far ahead in it's time in a certain view: The car designed to also be produced as an fully electric car. That's why the floor is relatively high up (just like modern electric vehicles) so there was room for batteries underneath!
Each time Doug talks about the Multipla and the A class, I can nostalgia from kicking back in. I used to see both cars parked in the street one in front of the other two blocks away from home. I think they were both owned by the same family. Probably our local Doug kind of guy. BTW: A-class were pretty popular in Argentina and finding good ones would probably be easy. Prices may be a bit more expensive than the 2k Doug mentioned, though.
Congrats to your 'Kassenmodell' (basic model). After the elk test they did not only put the stabilty programm (ESP) into the A class (which just debued in the CL and so it was fast going into all modern car models. Without that failure ESP would probably be later standard into cars) they also did an upgrade to the suspension. The ASR stands for Anti Schlupf Regelung (anti slippery).
If you ever find yourself trying to capture your opponent's Roquefort with your Queso, note that there's an easy way to tell your chess board from your cheese board: only one of the two rhymes with a German luxury car manufacturer.
Owned one of these in Iceland and will admit, I've been very scared in this car with side wind. Don't regret selling the car but I'm happy for you, because you seem to be happier than most with your A-Class
Haha it really is like Doug says it. Here in Germany these A classes are only driven by elderly people and we see them as old shitty cars. Nice seeing a car that I see every day being such a nice, rare thing for Doug👍🏻
When these launched in Australia, they immediately became very popular as a second or third family car for wealthy families in the inner suburbs of Melbourne, and it was probably the same in other major cities. My wife, daughter and I rented an A 180D (diesel with CVT) in 2005 to travel around Europe. It took our luggage, and was very usable on motorways, narrow city streets, and everything in between.
Americans wrongly associate Mercedes-Benz solely with the luxury segment. Just look at the many delivery vans/small two, three ...ton trucks and mini-buses in Europe. Many of them drive around under the sign of the three-pointed star. Yes, they are more expensive but solid and long-lasting.
The car I grew up in for the first few years of my life was a '99 A-Class in an identical spec to this one so this video brought back a ton of memories. Thank you Doug! I wish you many great days with this funky little car
A fantastic car. I had two A160 in a row when I worked for Mercedes Benz. Massive inside, very cheep to run, nice to drive and you can fit into any parking space you liked. I drove mine 4 up to with full luggage to Germany and back serveral times. This little car just lapped it up. 120mph (indicated) on the Autobahn, stable as you like. They felt like they would do that all day, every day.
The current A-class is a completely different car but it is still impressive how far it has developed. I drive my A 250 pretty often with a smooth 220 km/h on the Autobahn and it runs just super stable. Also ride quality on good streets is superb.
A klasse is shit. Didnt even make the moose test in sweden. Så MB was forced to install anti roll. In the test the turned over and the roof was on tha road.
The thing with Power Front windows and manual rear Windows was incredibly common in europe in the 90s and 2000s. If you had the base model, you had manual everywhere, if you have a better trim, Front was powered and powered rear Windows either meant you had like an S class or 7 series or sth or just opted for the highest trim Level (or got a Japanese car that had only one trim level, was also common, those were then usually loaded). Also, getting a lot/every option in europe was and isn't just as common as it is in the USA. Usually cause we drive shorter distances and also because how we finance stuff and how priorities are Set. So the thing about powered Front Windows and Manual rear Windows really isn't uncommon in europe and just seems completely normal fir sth like an early A class with good but not fully loaded trim (has AC, powered Windows etc... Not too bad imo)
In 98 we went to visit the Mercedes Plant in Bremen. Back then they told us, that the height comes from its "sandwich floor", which is supposed to house the Hardware for a fuel cell in the future...
Seeing how happy Doug is with such a common car here in Brazil makes me wonder what would happen if he got in touch with some Brazilian market exclusive cars. We had A LOT of bizarre creations through the 70s until mid 90s.
I owned one and LOVED it! Your version misses A LOT of options: my car had (half) leather interior, AC and Webasto, heated seats, panoramic moonroof, automatic transmission and what' most important: something similar to Honda's "magic seats" where you can fold or remove ALL seats except for driver's seat. It was super practical and I loved it so much!
I owned the same versuon as you!)) And i was very upset by the choice of doug, the car with all this options can be absolutely different from this cheap version, and i guess doug can have much more fun with options like a big sunroof, because it was really fun and impressive.
This car is underrated. A over 20 year old car with rain sensor, climate control, heated seats and more ... I love the 170 CDI fuel under 7 litres on 100 km. You can say what you want, but it's the perfect everyday car for europe. Also whats really ridiculous is the space on the passenger seats.
I'm from Brazil, and this car is indeed one of the first automotive memes. Here it had two trims, A160 and A190, and were 3x the value of a normal popular car, it was a premium compact car. I remember when I was younger and an HS Geography teacher had an A160 Elegance, at the moment we saw that car, my dad and I began to joke the car and the teacher, saying "woah, school is paying well its employees", since in Brazil teachers' salary are usually 3 min. salaries.
A Mercedes A160 in that funky green color was my first car😍 It was actually pretty cool, because in my car you could completely remove all seats (apart from the drivers seat of course). A 3.6 meters long car capable of transporting 2.6 meters long things quite easily! I could fit pretty much everything in there, bicycles, fridges, washing machines. And going on vacation I could even sleep in it, the floor was completely flat with all seats removed! Yes the driving experience was a little bit "special" but it was the perfect car for me back then, I loved it❤
I bought an A160 as my first car last month. Finding out how the seats work from the manual was a jackpot moment because whoa, I can possibly sleep in it if I'm thinking camping and it starts raining. And I absolutely love the short nose (I have better visibility around a corner this way.)
@@mirjam3553 I did exactly that, this car can be a really cool single person camper van! I drove across the Alps, most of the time I slept in the car, and I had tons of mountaineering gear and even a paraglider with me! You will have a lot of fun with it🙂
As a German i salute you not for buying a German car, but for buying a compact car in an environment where companies like ford stopped the production of smaller and economical cars and people buy SUV's, track toys and Pickup Trucks.
Doug, I think this information will make you love your A-class even more, 🙂 If I`m not totally wrong , I remembered reading some where that the A-Class vision was to be an electric car where the batteries would be located in the space between the “sandwich” floors. Mercedes predicted that by the time the A-class would launch, the batteries would have developed and be good enough. My personal opinion is that the lack of batteries from their initial design caused it to tip over due to the change of its central gravity without the weight from the batteries. They made a Mika Häkkinen special A-Class as gift to him with TWO engines, also known as the A38 AMG I owned a 2001 A160 Classic and a 2003 A160 LWB Elegance with 17 cm longer wheelbase.
Wait, there's a long wheel base model of the original A class? I also distinctly remember Mercedes talking about electrifying the A class back then, funny how long it took until we actually got electric cars with basically the same design idea of batteries in the "floor". Didn't they also use the A class as a test vehicle for their hydrogen powertrain in the 90s?
Audi also headed in this direction before the technology was ready, with the Audi A2 from around 2000/2001, and BMW waited long enough to make it work properly with the BMW i3
@@type17 the A2 was also special because of the aluminum used in the frame and chassis. Made it super light and quite efficient. A2s are still quite expensive for this reason.
Just the tiniest nitpick from me: "ASR" is not actually stability control (that would be called "ESP" in Germany*) but *traction control*. ASR stands for "Anti-Schlupf-Regelung" which would roughly translate to "Anti Slip Program". Other than that, great video! Really enjoying seeing you get into weird 90s european cars. You'd have so much fun with so many of these. Audi A2, Renault Twingo... but I don't need to tell you that, I'm sure you know all that already :) *Edit: also, if it's that important to the safety of the A-Class you shouldn't be able to turn it off that easily anyways, just like the driver's side airbag for example.
Exactly. The ESP was not deactivateable. So you couldn't test it without ESP. An A-Class without ESP was considered defective and couldn't enter into a test.
@@BPo75 Exactly. They introduced it so it could pass the Elktest. But after that introduction, it couldn't be turned off. Don't you remember all the memes about it? printed out Images of A-Classes with "training wheels" fixed to the side , were passed around in school &c... Fun times.
@@TremereTTyou could turn it off at a switch in the middle console (together with ASR) but it is automatically activated again if you reach 60 km/h. The only possibility to deactivate it permanently would be pulling the fuse
Just glad of having Doug as an example that years of work pay off eventually and yet remember our roots. Super excited for him to have the success he has and be able to continue sharing his passions with his viewers!
Doug, You state you're weird and rich, are you really Emo Phillips? :) Only kidding, I love your enthusiasm, it kept me watching your video the whole way through.
My uncle had one, exactly same color, 170CDI (diesel) avantgarde edition. Bought it new back in the day and kept it for 20 years until the transmission died with almost 300.000km 🕊 I've always wanted you to review one, finally!! What a GREAT car
Doug, I am watching you for almost 5 years now, and I am really shocked, that you not just reviewed but bought that car :) That is why - I leave in Europe, and I am thinking to buy this A-class for like a year, and I had doubts about if I really need it to have, but after this video - it's definitely YES :) Thanks for your videos, I really appreciate it!
Honestly, from my European perspective, 80hp is adequate. My dad's car has 60, and while that struggles on steep hills, we've pulled a trailer with a heavy motorcycle on it from Germany all the way to Croatia and back without issue.
German here, The A-class was sort of a granny-car. It was really popular with older folk that came from nicer Mercedes' and needed a practical car to do shopping and get all your grandkids in the back. Parking in tight spaces with this is a blast with its great visibility.
Also the high entry and seating helped them a lot, compared to the usual sedans at that time.
Yeah, really only with the new model from 2012, that the A-Class became a thing for younger people.
It was my first car. It was certainly not build for the autobahn, but it is a great city car. The A160 was sufficiently powered (more was simply too much for the simple chassis. It has loads of space, you could remove the back seats easily and for a car the size of a Polo was amazing.
The quality was appauling though, which finally split us...
Very much the same here in the U.K.. A car dealer I know described it as “a Honda Jazz for brand conscious oldies” (nothing else screams “retired” in the U.K. quite like a Honda Jazz in the drive of a bungalow).
Very much the same here in the U.K.. A car dealer I know described it as “a Honda Jazz for brand conscious oldies” (nothing else screams “retired” in the U.K. quite like a Honda Jazz in the drive of a bungalow).
I owned a total of 3 of these and I have to add some information to the Video.
1st of all: THE ELK TEST: As Doug mentioned after this test Mercedes fitted ESP (electronic stability program) to EVERY unit of these cars (even to those which were allready sold) and from this moment on they were within the top 5 of the safest subcompact cars of the time. Mercedes even made advertisements with the Elk-Test then and when I picked up my 1st new A-Class in November 2001 I bought a little stuffed animal Elk in the Mercedes-Benz Store (this guy is still sitting in my living room).
2nd: THE PRACTICALLITY: Doug missed to show you one of the most important features of this car: It's tremendous practicallity. The rear seats can be folded which increases the trunk space like in a normal car (but with a huge step from the trunk floor to the folded seat backs). BUT they can also be removed completely, which gives you a HUGE level floor and a trunk space almost like in a serious van. And if that wouldn't be enough you also could opt for an also removable and foldable front passenger seat (the seat right of the driver), which increases the level floor and the space even more. I NEVER owned a vehicle more practical than the 1st gen A-Class, even if I also owned several station wagons.
3rd: THE OPTIONS: Dougs exemplar is really basic almost without any options beside the A/C (btw from 2000 almost every sold A-Class was sold with an A/C - that no one opted for the A/C is only true for the very first model years. But there are a ton of (pricy) options you could get to increase luxury and experience. You could opt for the Elegance-line which is a more luxurious line and even a leather interior was available when you opted for this line. You could also opt for the Avantgarde-line which was a more sporty line and in this case a part-leather interior was standard. Also seat pockets on the back of the front seats were available as options as well as lots of other stuff which increased the usability and the practicallity of this car. From the drivers perspective you could also order things like automated speed control, a (very smooth an quick shifting) 5-gear automatic transmission, better engines (100hp, 123hp and from 2002 to 2004 also a 138hp "AMGish" engine as well as Diesel engines with 74hp and 94hp).
It may be not the most beautiful car of the time (but also not the most ugly one...) but in my opinion the W168 never was a bad car, especially not for its time and especially not when you chose the options you wanted.
Thank you for expanding on the car's features. I was hoping he would explore the rear cargo area more.
For example, did these come with spare tires or tool kits, etc.?
@@sleepyhollow783I think some came with a full-size spare while others had just a bottle of fix-a-flat. I had a 2001 A190L Avantgarde and while it wasn't a very aesthetically pleasing car, it was extremely practical, fun and unique car to own. Tons of space, easy to drive in town and definitely rises above the mocking some people give to it.
Okay that stuffed elk thing is actually so cute :D
Safer maybe, because it was a Mercedes after all, but it wasn't stable even after adding the ESP... i remember the severe body roll in the unit of a friend, not unlike what you would get in a Chevrolet Aveo...
I love that car. I got one pretty roughed up but still amazing.
You can never escape ur thirst for quirky euro cars, doug
Elle fût très populaire en Europe, existait en châssis long...
Une voiture de parisienne.😊
Amen
*Citroen, Peugeot, Renault, Skoda and SEAT left the chat*
We always want something we didn't get! In Europe happens the same thing with American cars
European cars are way better than American cars
An important point to add: Like you said, they added stability control (ESP) to every A-Class during the recall. But during that time in 1997, stability control had only been available in the S-Class. Similar for other manufacturers, it was only offered in the top of the line models.
By adding it to their base model as a standard option, Mercedes had to start offering it to their other models (ML, C-Class etc.). And other manufacturers had to quickly adapt and offer the same to their customers.
So, while everyone has been laughing at the failed elk test, one could argue that it saved a lot of lives afterwards by pushing stability control at a much faster pace across the entire car market than it would have otherwise!
Unfortunatly they also reworked the suspension to stiffen it up making it less comfortable. The market for these were often older motorists who wanted to get round comfortably and safely. Unfortunatly journalists tend to want to go round corners ( and Elks) as quickly as possible. The result was the car was spoilt. Subsequent models have evolved into flatter and sportier journalist friendly cars much the same as other manufacturers offer.
@@HerrBrutal-bl2fk Why do I need good handling if I am driving 2km to my local shops at 50kmh ? I want comfort and safety. Comfort means high up enough that I can get in and out without getting a slipped disc ! If your trip to the shops involves high G cornering and a disregard for speed limits then you can buy a sports car. For many of a car like the original A class is ideal.
@@jonathanwebb8307 "journalists tend to want to go round corners ( and Elks) as quickly as possible". The speeds at where the evasive maneuver tests are done are completely normal speeds driven on rural roads around the globe. Anything from 70-80km/h is what people, even older people drive at. The idea is to find out how a car handles an evasive maneuver at those real world speeds. You can engineer a car to be comfrotable and safe in corners, but you cannot do it cheaply. There are a lot of modern car designs that wouldn't be safe at all without ESP systems in them.
@@SturbokSenseiAt the time, journalists presented that the failed moose test was something exceptional, while in reality, many other cars also failed. Even modern SUV's and pick-ups fail. The Mustang Mach-E - an EV - also failed. Not all of them rolled over, but they did fail.
@@caleidoo Only one other car has flipped over in the elk test. And that was a Skoda in 1979.
I like how he says "to import it you gotta be weird and rich, i got those covered" while maniacally laughing behind the steering wheel of the short mercedes
thats the whole doug for you
As a Brit this makes me laugh because these cars were everywhere and still are very common and so many are in the scrapyard right now. That’s why we like Doug, he gets all excited by the most mundane crap 😂
I thought that. To me, this is just a normal looking shitty mpv, like a Multipla or Scenic.
I've only seen once in my 30 years, so I call this RARE. Don't be so dumb about cars unavailble to other countries.
To a European this video is like if someone imported a base model 1998 Ford F-150 and titled the video "I bought a RIDICULOUS Ford from America!"
Yup, here they are so common cars and in greece we call them "buckets" and they are one of the most embarrassing cars to drive
I haven’t seen these any where in my city. I only see the more latest models of the A class. I think you belong to a very poor city/county
You need to take this to a Mercedes dealership and ask them for a routine service and see how their mechanics react.
I was just thinking that
They hate it! I live in Romania and no mechanic wants to work on these. :)))))
And the ones that will do it will tax you heavily.
@@DanutPaul Că s niște hidoșenii care nu merită nici o atenție sincer
Maybe @carwizard could service it.
a true nightmare...
What I love about Doug is that he can get really enthused about a small, under-powered car like this, because it's fun and quirky.
A true car enthusiast. I respect him for that.
That car as much fun as a shit sandwich. Jesus, you buy this nonsense? I love Doug, I have been following him for years, but this one is really reaching.
Bah... under-powered? That 80 horsies was just fine for this thing, weighing merely a ton. I believe AMG had a version in the works with a top speed of 160 mph ... the little Autobahn-going monstrosity for those who did not just want to evade a moose but thoroughly outrun it. ;)
They still sell cars here with less power that go faster than you can legally go in the US. I mean it does 60mph in 13s and goes to over 100mph, would think that's enough, if it's enough for the Autobahn.
Underpowered! the 2CV had originally 9BHP. and Kei cars are limited to 69? HP. and that's enough, if you're not fat, or ignorant.. or both :)
@@Levy7SI see you're new to Doug's channel and have never watched any of his videos.
Because then you might have twigged that my comment is to be taken in context with this channel.
This much on the subject of ignorance...
Steve Mattin actually got a “Design of the Year” industry award with this car, which got him into the “big league” of designers. He has a lot of stories about it and his later work at Volvo and LADA (where we’ve got acquainted). So Doug, if you ever doing an interview format - I can connect you two.
Up
try to reach out the guy from big car
+
I kept reading that as Steve Martin and got confused
@@EdwindePaula hey Steve Mattin went LADA 😍 I owned a Lada Niva loved it
The thing with automatic windows in front and manual in the back is actually very common on european cars to this day
It actually makes sense from both, economical AND logical/rational reasons
@@k.r.99 also, as a kid i REALLY liked roling the windows up and down with a crank and i was surely not the only one.
I was going to say, very common!
I remember that you could still order the Golf VI with "manual" rear door windows, however the powered/electric window option was "free".
Mercedes w201 was sold at that time with 4 crank windows, so this A-class has extra equipment. Lot's of it.
Could this be a return of Doug purchasing quirky cars and making silly videos with them like the early days of his channel???
God I hope so
I hope he gets Filipo (however you spell it) back
I pretty sure that what he said In his channel update
I fucking hope so. Man it's cool to see what Doug does when he has a little money, who else would buy this after selling their company?
That would be amazing 😊
It's a perfectly reasonable choice for a lot of people in Europe. A small car that you can easily park in a tight spot, a practical car for families, to go shopping and so on. The fact that it was successful despite its weirdness shows that it's useful. Practical, compact economical. The french build a lot of cars like those A-Class.
I'm surprised you didn't bring up the A38 AMG that had two 1.9L engines in the front and back, powering both sets of wheels. Had an output of 250hp and did 0-100kmph in 5.9 seconds. Pretty rare car. Only 49 were imported here to Australia.
AMG thought about making it a Formula One Safety Car because the performance was not far to the SL.
That sounds insane. I have to assume like me, Doug didn't know it existed.
Holy shit it's real. I was like 93% sure you just made it up
LMAO... everyone here is doubting you, including me and I've seen A class AMG before. Now I've just learned there're two different A class AMG, don't know which one I saw. If Doug only knew... lol
Ha I was just thinking that. I remember those...
This car was for many in Europe the first opportunity to own a Mercedes. It was extremely popular and it's still a common sight in European roads. The one shown in the video is in really good condition.
Greece is full of these little fellas xD
The ASR button is not for the system that stopped the A class from rolling over, it's just for the traction control. The system they had to install after the failed moose test is a electronic stability control (ESC or ESP in Germany), which obviously you couldn't switch off.
As a guy from Germany who was 12 or 13 years old when the moose test happened I remember that nearly instantly a lot of jokes occurred on that incident even by TV comedians.
The moose test was faked. They used different sized wheels and tyres.
Do you also have a ridiculous theory about the reason why they “faked” the test ?
@@madeinengland1296why would they fake it?
@@madeinengland1296 I was proven that the three wheeled car on Top Gear had been modified like that to make it fall over for a fun show but why the heck would Mercedes sabotage its own car?
Like Doug is telling us, they had a technical issue in the beginning and added ESC to all cars after the first moose test.
Btw: There is an interview on UA-cam with the director of global communications of Mercedes Benz who also invented the term "moose test". Kinderwagen test would probably have gone down worse. ;)
Most people don't know that the A-Class was engineered at first to be an EV. Hence the sandwich floor where the battery was supposed to go. When the EV plans were canned (because the time was not right yet), the double floor was communicated as a safety feature for side impact protection. The angled position of the transverse engine was also an afterthought. The more compact E-motor would have fit into the small space easily.
@@1langeu that's true!!!
My dad an A160 of this exact year and color when we lived in Germany (which was ironic, because he was an American GM executive). This was the car I learned how to drive in after receiving my German Führerschein (drivers' license), and it was the ideal car for an 18-year-old high schooler. It had plenty of space for friends who wouldn't complain about the economy accommodations because they were high schoolers, it was easy to park in European cities, it had stability control and ABS, and it had enough but limited power. The fastest I could ever go was about 170 km/h on the Autobahn, and that was downhill with some help from the wind. This video brought back a lot of memories.
As a GM executive he knew american cars are crap, that's why he went European.
@@zeveroarerules still... why A-class?! Even Ford EU had better "hatchback" at those times. Focus mk1 with 2.0 130bhp or 1.8 tddi with 90bhp were waaay better option than any a-class. Even 1.6 with 100bhp did good.
@@mmllmmll22 Maybe an unpopular opinion, but I think more horse power isn't good for someone who just got his/her driving license. Too many beginners end up at the next tree, because they can't handle it. If you drive a car with lower horse power, you tend to drive slower (and safer)
I had one when I had a serious accident. To this day I know that thanks to its design, it saved my life. It was written off by the insurance company and I only broke a finger. The engine did indeed dive under me and the ASR/ABS setup worked perfectly. I immediately bought another one. I was doing quite a lot of mileage with a fifty fifty mix of town and main road travelling and mine were A170 CDI’s with automatic transmission and Tempomat. In the end I bought something else just for a change 😀
Now imagine broken ESP after the years killing more than the sandwitch design saved :)
@@MikeB4pl What?
@@m3photo726 ESP ABS TCS -- one bad sensor and you flip the car because
Electronic
Stability
Program
will not work ... and the suspension was a bad design
@@MikeB4pl Bad design. Oh, ok …
@@m3photo726 he probably referred to the Elchtest. Yeah he might be right under the wrong circumstances and with broken ESP you can still flip your car. Maybe
I think it would be hilarious to see how mechanics at a mercedes dealer would react to seeing this car roll in
Well, Doug lives in San Diego and there is a Mercedes Dealer in Tijuana just south of him ( The A class was sold in Mexico 🇲🇽 starting in 1999) so that would probably be his best bet if the SoCal Mercedes dealers can’t help him out. 😂
Literally
My friend here in Berlin had one of these, and the Mercedes mechanics IN EUROPE HATED them.
@@mahina1963 Makes sense, they're so crammed under the hood everything sucks to work on.
@@Happymali10 Exactly! Almost every service that was done needed an Engine drop to access typical spots, like the brake fluid, the air conditioning, the oil filter even!
This car is amazing, I had the pleasure to own 2 A Classes here in Brazil, both were 2004, A160 Classic and A190 Avantgarde. The Avantgarde was beyond amazing with all the car’s features and the 1.9 engine is tremendously powerful for this tiny car, it easily reaches 200km. Have a nice time with your Baby Benz and I hope more people get to buy it in the USA!
This car is actually the worst one Mercedes ever produced
@@mikoajradziemski475 not true
@@supremeleader8056 it is bro, ugly af, I drove one once and it was shiet compared to the E class 4 years older than it
@@Niraola bit of an unfair comparison 😂 - also (I presume you mean) the W124 was a real old school MB(ie very very nice😁). The late 90s were bad for MB the W210 (contemporary E-class to this) had horrendous electronics and all MB at this time rusted so bad they had to change their warranty policies or go bankrupt.
I own an imported 2000 A160 hatchback RHD it’s so much fun and fast!!
It’s for sale here in Alberta.
Some additional context for the moose test: Mercedes couldn't reproduce that, so they've invited the driver who achieved that, they found out then, that the tarmac compound on the swedish test track was significantly grippier than on Mercedes' test centres.
They've also changed the tires from originally 175/65R15 to 195/50R15 with stiffer sidewalls and stiffened the suspension.
Another funny thing is that they've parked many A-Classes waiting for the upgrades nearby a village called "Kippenheim" and "kippen" is the German word for "to tip (over)" or "to tilt", so exactly at the right place.
I don't really like the A-Class (but Mercedes-Benz in general isn't my favorite), but it's a nice small MPV and although I would prefer other body styles at the moment, I would still prefer MPVs over most SUVs.
It's a shame that most EVs at the moment are SUVs, almost no wagons or MPVs (and most MPVs like the VW Touran don't even have a hybrid drivetrain available.
Because of their upright postion such cars as the A-Class (first two generations), B-Class, Golf Plus/Sportsvan and Opel Meriva are/were very popular among elderly people in Europe.
I'm glad they were able to fix it -- that near-rollover footage from 4:57 was frightening to watch.
Sorry to correct you, but the village is called Kuppenheim, not Kippenheim. This is very close to the Mercedes prodution plant of Rastatt, where the A-class was built and still is build until today..
One of the options not mentioned above are Fords C/S-Max, Renault Megane Scenic (later just Scenic). In S-Max you could have 2.5T similar to Focus Mk2 ST/Mondeo 2.5T, and in Scenic mk2 You could have 2.0T similar to Megane RS of that generation. Those are really good "Hot-MPV"
And they didn't retrofit stability control to cars already sold. ASR stand for Anti-Slip Regulation, it's not ESP.
Local journalist Robert Collin did the test himself, a big story in the media, Mercedes needed an answer for that, and they did, electronic stabilization systems !
great marketing it was !
80 hp was more than enough in Europe in the late 90's. In fact little cars like this with 80-90hp was like a racecar for some of the owners, you know. We still have cars with 40-60 hp in most of the countries in Europe and those are the basic ones. Anyway, congrats Doug and have fun! I didn't expect you to buy one of these, it suits you really well.
My Polo has 70hp it's a 2009 and even up to the 2017 model they used the same 1.2 3 cylinder with the same power 😂😂😂
Well that depends on where in europe you’re from. I guess these tiny cars are good for small roads in France and Italy, but at least here in Sweden we like big cars. We have big roads and tend to travel far due to the size of our country relative to our population.
My daily commute is 130km~ to and from work, I can’t imagine driving anything other than my current 3.0L 5-series. Wanted to buy my colleague’s Volvo S80 D5 but he refuses to sell it!
@@jgripen969yes, but it's now ;) Back in 90's I think that almost everyone was happy about having a car that had AC and 100 HP... I had a car from 90's, it had exactly 100 HP and AC 🤣
@@jgripen969 did a roadtrip in Audi A3. Had to drive a lot more than I expected I would, but still didn't feel like I had a smaller car then everybody else. And yes Volvo would be a dream car to drive there. Loved the roadtrip btw, beautiful country.
The most bizarre thing were these long stretches of road that were being built one layer at a time. I was driving for half an hour on gravel/rocks once. It felt like a major road soon-to-be, but I never thought anyone would let people drive there.
@@Afraz_9n3 I've got the Polo 6n2 from 2001, 1.0 4 Cylinder with 50hp, painfully slow lol
These were popular in Australia as a poor mans Merc but were quite handy as a city car. The sort of folks looking at them were not after performance and handling but a compact economical car with a badge and it worked.
Australia didn't get the Yaris?
@@mikkokivisto4414 Yes...but the Yaris is obviously a Toyota. People bought the Merc for the badge despite the premium small car price.
Oi!
Check the 2023 model. It's no longer a quick little city car.
The first gen. failed and fell over in the driving tests.
The Merc A-model today is very popular. Looks great, elegant.
@@mikkokivisto4414 The Yaris didn't come into Australia until the mid 2000's, nearly a decade after this.
I'm from Spain and my mom still owns this car. It was my grandmother's who bought it back in the day and now is my mom's daily driver. It runs perfectly without issues despite its age.
As an european i find this ridiculous (in a good way)
In what way?
As a Brazilian I find this funny as hell (it was built here too)
Because there are so many of them and they are so ugly that i wouldnt even think of buying one.
@@_david_024 “as a European I find someone liking something I don’t like ridiculous” pompous much?
I mean, there’s plenty of common American econoboxes and land yachts that we find uninteresting and ridiculous, but I’m sure that some European finds them cool and interesting and has imported one over there so I see the appeal. There’s probably a bunch of fanatic Europeans who imported a Crown Vic or something for the same reason he imported an A Class lol
In Germany they also released a “A 210 evolution” version with a 140hp engine, which was actually quite beefy for its compact size. It also included a lot of AMG components such as a cool exhaust. It was not allowed to carry the AMG batch for some reason and was therefore renamed “evolution”.
I swear I remember seeing the AMG badging though? In the UK anyway. Maybe I dreamt it 😅
@@petayV8You've probably seen some bloke slap on fake AMG badges on an ordinary A class
Sounds like a blast, especially if able to have gotten in a stick
Remember the "Mika Häkkinen" Edition with the Formula 1 livery😂 love it😂
I remember the TWIN-ENGINED A38 AMG! The second engine was placed below the cargo area by AMG to boost performance. 'Company cars' for Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard apparently. Only 4 were ever built.
80hp for a compact car was quite big actually. And I'm not even talking about the 100hp engine, that was a lot for this category. A Renault Twingo most often had a 60hp engine, a VW Lupo started at 50hp, and a Peugeot 106 had between 45 and 60hp in most versions. 80hp as a base engine, that's quite a robust engine.
Not here.
Though the A-Class was more of a VW Golf, Renault Clio competitor. Yes it was shorter than the Golf but it had similar interior space, the cargo space being 330 and 350 l for the Golf and the A-Class, respectively. And the entry-level Golf also came with a 1.4 l engine with 75 hp*. They also both weighed roughly the same, 1050 kg for the cheapest Golf and 1020 kg# for the A140.
* I’m ignoring the hp vs PS difference
# You’ll find different value as they depended on the precise version
@@aphextwin5712 The Mk4 Golf is half a meter longer than the A-Class. So no, it's not a direct competitor. And the Renault Clio II Phase 1 mostly used engines making 55 to 75hp. Of course there are better, more powerful engines in the Clio lineup (there were also in the Twingo, 106/Saxo), but it's not the bulk of the engines sold.
@@hugolafhugolaf And... Who cares about what North America did at that time, since we are talking about a car never sold in NA? :)
@@gethplatform2392 Fair point.
I get your fascination about this car, even though it's not exotic in Germany at all. But it's distinctive and classic, with a story behind it. My grandma passed away few months ago ... leaving this car with low mileage among other things. Guess I'm able to drive this car from time to time ... primarily thinking of meemaw, but secondarily at Doug, driving the same car. :D
Ain’t no way you just said that seriously Lmao
@@grandhomme4183 whats your problem?
@@gamesmaster1060Cry me a river
The funny thing is that instead of hip young people, this car quickly became a favorite with old people, to the extent that, driving in Germany, you would automatically assume upon seeing one of these that it was driven by an elderly person. What Doug did not mention is how incredibly reliable they were. I wouldn't know any other make and model older than 15 years of which you can still see so many on the streets in Germany. The other thing is that for a compact car it is incredibly roomy. We recently inherited one (2nd generation, 2007 model) as a driver for our kids and I don't know any other car that size where I (6' 5") can ride in the back fairly comfortably or even sit upright.
ironically my dads gf has a 2008 a class that has had more issues than my 1987 230ce, 1999 audi a4 and 2000 vw golf 1.9tdi combined XD
IT's essentially the German version of the original Renault Twingo. Pretty much everything you said also applies to that small nugget of perfection.
I feel like even in germany there are more peugeot 206 on the streets
@@lisab7748 tons of problems also in the ones in italy
This is the most unexpected purchase I've ever encountered from Doug. Totally unexpected.
Not sure if this was sarcasm or not but If you follow Doug you know this was 100% expected lol
@@hellatightdude lmao yeah, Doug loves his weird cars
lol he has talked about it a lot before
Sarcasm, I'm guessing?
@@thealmightydoge5653 I hope he buys a Fiat Multipla after it becomes legal to import in the United States.
Doug, my Mom loved every single day with hers! Around 2002, she made the transition from a 1998 Fiat Panda to an A class in the exact same color of yours. It was comfortable, tossable, but yet with enough space to carry 3 kids and their stuff. Thank you for taking me back to those times (early 2000s in Northern Italy).
21:10 "you need to be both weird and rich, and I got those bases covered" loolol
The Renault Clio still has 65 hp for the most basic version today… So 85 hp was actually quite good. Minivans in Europe in 2010 were mostly having 90 to 110-130 hp, especially in Diesel.
Having so little power in your car feels entirely alien to me.. Even my first car, a 1995 Opel (winner of the award for the most boring car in the world) had 180hp and top speed of 230.
When people talk about downshifting for uphill my first though is about passing trucks when they slow down, not that the car needs it just to maintain speed 😅
@@Salesman9001 You do not need much power in EU these days, you have speed cameras everywhere and transport repression is getting worse and worse,
so you can not really speed anywhere except some germany autobahns.. so 50-100hp car is all you need.
I am pretty sure in few years there will be GPS in cars automatically giving you penalties automatically when speeding...
@@Spazik86we love to complain but Europe has higher speed limits than America across the board lol
@@Spazik86 Not being allowed to speed is 'transport repression', hilarious
@@Spazik86 "You do not need much power in EU these days" It has never been about need, I don't need lot of stuff I have that requires licensing/registering to own like motorbike; but I want them and are legally allowed to have them.
Lot's of backroads lack any kind of speed enforcement and the GPS thing probably won't happen thanks to privacy laws, but I might need to eat my words
Actually rear power windows was really a luxury option, rarely met on cars in the 90s in Europe. I had a 98 Audi A6, which had rear manual windows.
Friend of mine has 1995 BMW e34 with 2 zone air conditioning, but with rear manual window 😂 just ridiculous
By the way, it needs about 1500 g of coolant, which is about 3 times more than in other cars. Really expensive feature back in days and even more nowadays 😂
You could buy an E-class with manual rear windows at that time
Nothing wrong with the good old window crank... less weight, hardly ever breaks and if it did, the repair costs were next to nothing. Ah, the good ole days. ;)
Damn yall broke as hell
"I'm the crazy person who has enough money to bankroll this car" best Doug quote ever. I LOLed. The '5' in the Doug Score for "Cool Factor" I absolutely agree with, but is specific to North America. I predict that when you bring this to a Cars & Coffee it will get lots of attention. In Europe it would get none.
I didn't get to the end of the video yet, but I bet it cost like the price of a base Model 3 lol😂
@@rkan2how??? In Europe it costs as much as a bike?
@@kha7705 Because it looks like he bought a mint example through an agent and shipped it. Maybe not Model 3 money but I wouldn't be surprised it was like 20k$ in total.. I imagine 5000$ for the car, 2000$ for agent and rest for shipping..
19:30 he speaks about price.. Car was 2200€ but seemingly at least like 10k$ in making it nice, brokering and shipping.
@@rkan2 I understand good Sir. Still feels weird though knowing I can pick one up for less then my electric bicycle. 🙃
This A Klasse Mercedes Benz is JEWEL of the automotive design. I have an A190 code W168 Elegance with leather seats , CD charger , AC , Automatic with only 40,000 miles and I love it.
Lucky you to have it , congratulations.
AMG also did a totally weird A38 AMG version of this A-Class and it had 2 engines from the A190. The second 1 was mounted underneath the cargo area so it actually had all wheel drive and 250hp.
Unfortunately only 4 cars were produced I think😂
Puts a new twist on the “sandwich” engine design philosophy when you have the interior sandwiched between the engines.
I think Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard get one of these when they won the F1 championship
Greetings from Scotland! I had one of these 20 years ago and really enjoyed it. I can't help noticing you missed the fact the rear seats are all removeable to create a huge luggage area. I once brought home a large crate shipped accidently from Newfoundland to Dyce airport instead of Prestwick and I was glad of this feature!
Your smile once you fit the crate must had been 😅
I’m guessing you left the seats at home before you picked up the crate?
agreed - this was also one of the reasons I got one - still use it as a small cargo when needed :)
Those seats are quite heavy but the design is very useful, I agree.
Those seats are quite heavy but the design is very useful, I agree.
15:37 Doug, you should definitely try to get an A2, it was such a great little car! Had mine for almost 10 years and 260.000 kilometres and i loved it! Totally underrated and unfortunately most people confuse "i don´t like how it looks" with "it is an awful car!".
I agree! It’s my first car, I have a 1.4. It drives very good, clutch and gear selector feel great and you can actually drive rather sporty with it. Of course the downside is the rather high center of gravity which makes it feel like the car is going to tip over when you’re driving too fast into corners
Audi made a better A class with the A2, in the right trim with the 16 inch rims ,it looks awesome. I stil have the 1.6 petrol in silver with the panorama as my second car.
Actually its power was not very low comparing it to other small cars on the European market at that time. In Germany that would particularly have been the Ford Fiesta, Opel Corsa or VW Polo being the most common ones. And they usually had a standard of 60-70 horsepower.
Fun fact: there where also the very special "Mika Hakkinen" and "David Coulthard" editions. completely in F1 livery and yes they where offered in the Mercedes dealerships back in the day. Quite rare though only 250 units ever build.
its real what the fuck
@@r3uvsgaming I could buy one couple of years ago, for a bargain price, I believe it was 4-5 grand that they where asking. The only thing that held me back was the stupid gearbox (manual without a clutch) really rare car never the less.
And an AMG A210 LWB.
@@Dutch_Fluxmanual without a clutch? My gen z self has never heard of such a thing.
@@bryce4479 it has a clutch but without clutch pedal. ;)
As an European what a joy to see Doug be over the moon about the most basic of cars :D
I don’t think Doug is a quirky car guy, I think he’s a car guy in the most wholistic way. He like SUVs, EVs, driver’s cars, weird cars, and others. Doug is the kind of guy who owns 2 of the greatest super cars, but would excited to talk to you about your $30,000 weird car.
He was always the "actually passionate car journalist"
Doug is the kind of guy that sells his company for 80M and then purchases a second hand Mercedes A-class
9:29 Actually, the center control makes sense when it comes to a perspective of accommodations for both left and right-hand-drive markets. It makes it simpler to manufacture because it’s in the same location whether it’s left or right hand drive.
Yeah, these were sold in UK or Japan as well
I didn't think of that. It probably saved them a lot of money. It's funny because I drive a RHD car at the moment (UK) and it's from 2013, but has noticeable things like the Start/Stop engine button is on the far left side of the center console and the whole center console leans left a little bit. Also the hood (bonnet) opening latch is on the left (passenger) side, but that's true of almost all cars in the UK.
Doug is the kind of guy to describe himself as both weird, AND RICH! 🤣♥️
If you are wird but rich you are not wierd.
You are excentric :)
I laughed at that can’t help but to love this dude he’s literally all of our inner child only wealthy enough to carry out our thoughts hahah
Yes, that was good. 😁
It may not be quirky but it would be awesome to see 2023 chrysler 300c review
he is going to become THAT GUY.... oh dear...
Doug is the only person who can make me interested to watch a 26 minutes video for a ridiculous a class.
I watched the whole video thinking all along Doug was gonna pull a Whistlin Diesel kinda thing, and flip this thing over, throw it down a ravine, drive through Vermont looking for a moose to cross the road and then floor it … you get the point! 🤦♂
Don't give him idea's hahaha@@mikedemarchelier9090
When you drive around in Germny, you still see these cars. I would say on the Autobahn you see one of those every 1-2 hours, which is quite a lot actually regarding their age. They are very popular cars for people who don't change cars every few years and they seem to be very reliable too.
My parents took a trip to England in the early 2000s, and got one of these as their rental car. When they got home they were bragging to everyone about how they rented a Mercedes over there, apparently unaware that these were just ordinary cheap compact cars. They also kept calling it a "Mercedes Elegance". As best as I can tell, "Elegance" was actually the trim level, but they must have seen that badge and mistaken it for the model name.
You are right, there were 3 trim levels iirc, Elegance, Avantgarde & Classic. I owned one a year 2000 A190 Elegance and it was a great car with a 1.9L 125HP engine in a small, lightweight package, the A190 also had bigger wheels with low profile tires, bigger brakes and a stiffer, sportier suspension, My mother had a an A160 and my sister a long wheelbase A170 CDI (diesel) and the difference was abysmal (the A190 was in another league). The Elegance had A/C, leather steering wheel, rear power windows, storage behind the front seats & below them (drawers) and even a center armrest for the driver & copilot with adjustable height and more storage inside. The "classic" trim was the cheapest one by far and it shows in the video. The top model was the A190 gasoline and was offered only with the Avantgarde and Elegance until the restyling which offered an A200 version.
Not cheap at all
The 2009 A200 and the smaler engines had 'Elegance' trims and the quality of the trim was equal to some of the more expensive models. I have and 'Elegance' A200 and I am very pleased with it.
You got Classic, Elegance & Avantgarde. Mercedes used these trim levels for a while. Dougs is a classic, which is the lowest. You see it on the a-piller.
My late German grandmother had one of these in green and nicknamed it “Elch” (German for Elk.) when asked about it I recall her describing the Swedish road testers as “dramatic.” Even well into her 70s she would frequently take it up to its max speed on the autobahn 😂 God I miss her. Thanks for the review Doug.
My grandmother still drives hers
@@maxmustermann5932 Passing through Germany; cruising at 150 mid lane. Some granny in her 70s in a Fiat passes me as if I was standing still in my BMW e39. Not sure how that car would even get to those speeds but I hope the lady got to her 100s. God, German ladies are scary; scarred me for life.
Your grandmother naming her A-Class “Elch” is so ironically funny.
I really love how Doug is trying to live his every dream and wish, he doesn't know but he is also doing what a lot of people aspires to do but don't have the money . Love you Doug! , Also great to see you going back to you and your channel's roots, reviewing your own quirky and ridiculous cars!!! ❤❤❤❤❤❤
He does it in such a fun way!
Doug, you will learn to love this car so deeply. I learned to drive in 2010 in my Mum’s 2000 A160 elegance in that blue. With the elegance you could get the leather interior in a very similarly crazy blue. It is such a practical car with its flat floor. You can take all the seats except the driver’s out and use it as a van. Plus the high rear seats and low belt line mean kids can see out the back window which they always love. It’s a cracking car, wish they made an EV one now
21:00 "You need to be both weird and rich. I've got those bases covered!" You've got to love Doug!
Fun fact: the original Citroen DS had a fairly similar safety arrangement for the engine sliding under the passenger compartment in case of an accident - in 1955!
That car was so far ahead of its time... If i ever buy a classic car, i will a Déesse
Volvo did too before Mercedes, in the late 70s or earl/mid 80s iirc
European here - I'd never consider A class boring or crappy! They were always eye-catching and controversial and very much hete-or-love kind of cars. They are still quite popular and you can see them on streets from time to time. I think it's cool that Doug got one, although I still hope we can see a review of Doug-owned Multipla one day :)
Lmao hell no they are mom cars in Romania
They are ugly as balls and horrible to drive
@@LEGOiancu1 I think they're mom cars everywhere. Suburban middle class, not really rich enough to own multiple "real" Mercedes, but you want the Mercedes logo for your shopping trips.
It was always a turd. A Fiat Punto Mk2 from the same period was a far better car.
The A class was, and still is garbage. Even the latest ones are not much better than a Focus or Astra.
We had two Merc A-Class's and we looovved them both. One was an A160 Elegance and the other was an A190 Avangard....both were incredibly reliable and super practical....I'd love another one as a second car for every day motoring ! All the talk about them rolling over was way over exaggerated....they were super safe when driven 'normally' and could be thrown around a bit with no worries whatsoever. We felt extremely safe in them and the interior was all gorgeous soft leather in both vehicles...a great comfortable little car and a tremendous work horse!
So glad to see Doug so excited about a small inexpensive car. This is exactly what I would have done, if I had the means. I hope Doug takes it to Cars & Coffee to see what people think. I was very lucky to go to Europe in Aug 1990 and I saw lots of interesting cars that we don't get here. So I get the attraction of having something very rare, that most people haven't seen before. Thank you.
You americans are so not of this world…
9:33 The ASR (Anti Schlupf Regelung - Anti slip control) is not the stability control that prohibits the roll over. The ASR does only reduce the engine power, if the wheels start to slip, you can deactivate, because in the winter if you want to start on a slippery surface, the ASR would just not allow you to drive away. But even if you deactivate it, it switches back on if you reach a certain speed. The stability program that was introduced as a response to the rollover is the ESP (Eelktronisches Stabilitäts Programm - Electronic stability control), usually you cannot deactivate it. The only manufacturer that I know that lets you switch of ESC is BMW
ESP: Elch Swerve Protection? 😂
Correct!
They even had A class models with ESP badge on the trunk lid
Wow, this video brought back so many memories. I was born in '97 and my mum owned this exact car, same color and interior until i was like 7-8 years old. The whole video was a big deja vu for me, amazing little car this. Never thought i'd see it again on this channel, thanks Doug!
Hi Doug, I Used to own one of these (I drive the successor, the w169) now. And there are several quirks you missed (or maybe they were never present in the first buildyears). The rear seats flip over to create a larger booth, AND they are very easily removable to make it bigger still. The headlights are used in several Colani Aerotrucks. There is a 2 engined version, made for a rallydriver. There was a derivative car called the Vaneo, which was a subcompact MPV, which didn't last long. But the absolute gem you forgot to mention is... it was designed to be electrified. The floors have space between them to have batteries in them. The W169 had a test-version which used then-current Tesla batteries.
An EV should be called an AA class 😊
PS Vaneo is quite nice.
He often miss stuff. As exaple, the A class used to be sold in the french part of Canada (Quebec)
I mean, it's actually really impressive that they managed to give you 5 seats and a decent capacity cargo area in a car that small. It must have been a really interesting challenge for the Mercedes designers to actually do this. I suspect they probably enjoyed the challenge.
It was pretty normal in Europe for mid size hatchbacks like the a class to have this kind of dimensions. The VW Polo, the ford fiesta the Renault Clio Citroen saxo etc were all similar sized give or take 30-40mm and they all have 5 seats and a cargo area. Even in the class below the superminis like the VW lupo, daihatsu cuore (a kei car), Suzuki alto they all have 5 seats and very small cargo area but are like 2-300 mm less than the a class.
At the time, Mercedes promissed C Class space cheaper and smaller. Costumers didn't get that and its was a scandal because Mercedes brand was very highly rated. And the moose test did the rest to the poor reputation of this car. Driving feel was pretty crap for a Mercedes too.
This is a standard hatchback
@@giddno it’s not a standard hatchback
@@gidd No, it is fairly tall. Giving you better view. Also, remember, it is shorter than the Mini Two-Door. It is extremely short for the volume it provides. It is a great car and definitively one of my favorites (outside of crazy cars that would make no sense to drive).
Fun fact: This A-Class together with its facelift in 2001, was also offered with a long wheel base variant (v168), which added considerable room at the back. Apart from that, the rear seats can be removed completely for increased practicality.
wasnt lwb available only after the lift?
@@jedrzejgorski5437 yes that’s what I also have mentioned
Fun fact: there were some versions of the A-Class which were actually very slightly interesting, as opposed to this one he's pretending is such. There were a few AMG versions, even a David Coulthard and Mika Häkkinen special edition.
Absolutely horrible cars overall no matter what though.
Doug also missed what is one of the main flaws in the design (for adults), just like so many EVs: they raised the floor but didn't raise the seat accordingly, so the seating position is absolutely ridiculous and horribly uncomfortable. You sit slammed to the ground with your knees in your mouth.
This was actually my first car as an A 210 AMG😂 such a meme car haha
The LWB version was offered only after the 2001 restyling.
I live in Australia and had an A160 Avantgard upper call model. It was simply a great and flexible town car. What you don't seem to have found our yet was that you could remove the front passenger and full rear passenger seats for the car to become a single seater...!! It was like a mini mini van...you could carry so much stuff. I loved it...
My mother had an A class about 15 years ago, and my wife and I borrowed it and drove the A class and my Opel Corsa B (Barina) to IKEA and bought a whole kitchen, including dishwasher, oven and counter tops. With the seats out in the A class and the rear seats down in the Corsa, we managed to fit all of it in those two tiny cars. We had like 10 cabinets, and everything else that goes in a kitchen. That A class was almost like a little van with the seats out. Amazing feature. :)
I really loved my A140. Reliable cheap to run and the handling was awsome; not going to roll. My favourite thing was taking the seats out, creating a tiny van.
Front passenger seat had quick release and could be lifted out and back seats could also be lifted out (heavy). Flat loading space. Moved beds and wardrobes in our one, an A160 classic in blue as per the one featured. We had it 10 years, great motor, had slatted aluminium sunroof and integrated child seats.
He is one step away from importing a Fiat Multipla from Europe, and that would be incredible.
No. Burn it with fire.
Dont give him ideas ahhaha
Probably on Dougcember, he will import a Fiat Multipla. And the next few years, I am hoping for a Tata Nano.
Im pretty sure that after so many years there’s propably like only a 100 left in Europe! They are more rare than a Ferrari at this point😅
@@Mark-vn7et you're clearly not from Europe
My parents bought an A160 in 1998. One of the very first and, Being imported from Germany, it had a lot of extra-features such as alloy wheels, sunroof and metallic paint. Congratulations for your Channel and greetings from Italy 🇮🇹
Hola! I love Italy. Viva Italia!
So glad you mentioned the failed „Moose Test“😂 As a German Auto enthusiast, I still remember when this was all over the News! Seeing you now owning this stereotype senior citizen‘s German Dream Car brings back soooo much memories and shows how far MB has come with the A-Class since its original design😊
@@zsb707 When your back hurts with every move you make, you want a car with the seats high above the ground. Mind you, there were no crossover mini SUVs at the time.
@@andreasu.3546the a class is better than suvs
Yeah, and he still gives it a 3 for handling in Doug Score 😂
The best car on the planet. I have it. 2003 year. long version. with 1.7 cdi diesel engine. 95 hp. consumption is 5 liters per 100 km. The car is wonderful to drive. Semi-automatic gearbox with regular manual gearbox and robotic clutch. I can't say enough about how good this car is for me. I've been driving it for 6 years and it has 250,000 km. maybe even more. there are more seats on the back bench than in the S class. :)
This is one of the best car designs of the last 50 years. It makes sense in every way. It could have perfectly evolved into a hybrid or an electrical car because of the construction.
That's because that's what the A-Class should've become originally. However M-B execs decided against that.
@@yuroichi6418 Which was reasonable since it would not have LiIon Batteries but NiMH. So Range would have been a complete joke!
@@motivasenope, but there had been a multitude of test vehicles with fuel cells. Especially the larger B-class (and succeeding generation) had been a pretty well designed fuel cell powered car.
Well, the 90s and early 2000s hadn't been friendly to eco-friendly but unusually expensive cars, these things had been just 20years too early.
Me and my wife had the next generation A-class from 2006 and used to move from Eastern Europe to Spain, 2500km.When the backseats are folded is practically a small van because it's so tall, we managed to fit all our stuff to the sealing and added a roof rack and a top case, what a road trip lol
Funny thing is that I always thought they were ugly but my wife loved it, after we got one I loved driving it instead of my car, it's a fun, comfortable little car great for cities as you sit high above others (this was before the SUV trend). The car is still in the family and back in Eastern Europe, passed it on to my grandpa.
My family had 3 of them. Extremely cheap and easy to drive in a city. It's actually one of the shortest semi-modern 5 door cars that you can buy. Really practical for its size.
Thanks for buying this Doug it's like taking one for the team but you get a cool car that no one in America ever heard of
The A-Class was far ahead in it's time in a certain view: The car designed to also be produced as an fully electric car. That's why the floor is relatively high up (just like modern electric vehicles) so there was room for batteries underneath!
Mercedes used double floor to stiffen the chassis. And it moved it's weight so high that it was able to rollover in moose test.
And the low center of gravity from the battery pack would help the tipping over tremendously.
Each time Doug talks about the Multipla and the A class, I can nostalgia from kicking back in. I used to see both cars parked in the street one in front of the other two blocks away from home. I think they were both owned by the same family. Probably our local Doug kind of guy. BTW: A-class were pretty popular in Argentina and finding good ones would probably be easy. Prices may be a bit more expensive than the 2k Doug mentioned, though.
Congrats to your 'Kassenmodell' (basic model). After the elk test they did not only put the stabilty programm (ESP) into the A class (which just debued in the CL and so it was fast going into all modern car models. Without that failure ESP would probably be later standard into cars) they also did an upgrade to the suspension.
The ASR stands for Anti Schlupf Regelung (anti slippery).
If you ever find yourself trying to capture your opponent's Roquefort with your Queso, note that there's an easy way to tell your chess board from your cheese board: only one of the two rhymes with a German luxury car manufacturer.
Owned one of these in Iceland and will admit, I've been very scared in this car with side wind. Don't regret selling the car but I'm happy for you, because you seem to be happier than most with your A-Class
Haha it really is like Doug says it. Here in Germany these A classes are only driven by elderly people and we see them as old shitty cars. Nice seeing a car that I see every day being such a nice, rare thing for Doug👍🏻
If you want a car to buy in Europe, buy it in Germany, because people value their cars there and give them proper service... :)
they were driven by high school students also
@@Spazik86 That depends. There are plenty of shitboxes here in Germany as well
When these launched in Australia, they immediately became very popular as a second or third family car for wealthy families in the inner suburbs of Melbourne, and it was probably the same in other major cities.
My wife, daughter and I rented an A 180D (diesel with CVT) in 2005 to travel around Europe. It took our luggage, and was very usable on motorways, narrow city streets, and everything in between.
I still see them pretty regularly in Brisbane. Must be great little cars!
@Brian_Eugene_Lee The CVT in the A class was much better to drive than what I have experienced in a Nissan (X-Trail)
Americans wrongly associate Mercedes-Benz solely with the luxury segment. Just look at the many delivery vans/small two, three ...ton trucks and mini-buses in Europe. Many of them drive around under the sign of the three-pointed star. Yes, they are more expensive but solid and long-lasting.
The car I grew up in for the first few years of my life was a '99 A-Class in an identical spec to this one so this video brought back a ton of memories. Thank you Doug! I wish you many great days with this funky little car
A fantastic car. I had two A160 in a row when I worked for Mercedes Benz. Massive inside, very cheep to run, nice to drive and you can fit into any parking space you liked. I drove mine 4 up to with full luggage to Germany and back serveral times. This little car just lapped it up. 120mph (indicated) on the Autobahn, stable as you like. They felt like they would do that all day, every day.
cheep
And you forgot the part where they brake down
The current A-class is a completely different car but it is still impressive how far it has developed. I drive my A 250 pretty often with a smooth 220 km/h on the Autobahn and it runs just super stable. Also ride quality on good streets is superb.
A klasse is shit. Didnt even make the moose test in sweden. Så MB was forced to install anti roll.
In the test the turned over and the roof was on tha road.
@@martinisaksson5562 And not forget how unreliable it is. My dad had one and it was the worst car we had.
The thing with Power Front windows and manual rear Windows was incredibly common in europe in the 90s and 2000s. If you had the base model, you had manual everywhere, if you have a better trim, Front was powered and powered rear Windows either meant you had like an S class or 7 series or sth or just opted for the highest trim Level (or got a Japanese car that had only one trim level, was also common, those were then usually loaded).
Also, getting a lot/every option in europe was and isn't just as common as it is in the USA. Usually cause we drive shorter distances and also because how we finance stuff and how priorities are Set.
So the thing about powered Front Windows and Manual rear Windows really isn't uncommon in europe and just seems completely normal fir sth like an early A class with good but not fully loaded trim (has AC, powered Windows etc... Not too bad imo)
When he reviewed the dodge neon SRT he made the same comment about the manual windows even though it was common
My 2009 focus has got manual rear windows lol
You even had to pay for a 5th gear in a manual 90s E-Class 😉
@@AUTOdidact77 i know, the 1991 200D in my Garage has only 4
I once sat in a 2007 Audi A4 in the back. Manual windows :)
"europoor"
In 98 we went to visit the Mercedes Plant in Bremen. Back then they told us, that the height comes from its "sandwich floor", which is supposed to house the Hardware for a fuel cell in the future...
Seeing how happy Doug is with such a common car here in Brazil makes me wonder what would happen if he got in touch with some Brazilian market exclusive cars. We had A LOT of bizarre creations through the 70s until mid 90s.
Doug NEEDS to review a Tropical Ford F-Series, any squarebody VW Gol, a Puma and a Santa Matilde
The VW Gol, Saveiro, parati. All the Opels disguised as Chevys. The Fiat 128, 147, Uno and Marea. And a lot more to choose frommmm.
Imagina se ele ver um Gurgel BR 800, ele vai pirar!! 😂😂
HUE HUE BR BR JUNTA AE GALERA!!!
DOUG COME TO BRAZIL AND REVIEW UNO WITH STARIS!!!
He needs to review a VW GOL haha.
I owned one and LOVED it! Your version misses A LOT of options: my car had (half) leather interior, AC and Webasto, heated seats, panoramic moonroof, automatic transmission and what' most important: something similar to Honda's "magic seats" where you can fold or remove ALL seats except for driver's seat. It was super practical and I loved it so much!
Sounds hilarious and fun
I owned the same versuon as you!)) And i was very upset by the choice of doug, the car with all this options can be absolutely different from this cheap version, and i guess doug can have much more fun with options like a big sunroof, because it was really fun and impressive.
I drove this model A-Class before Doug did, feeling pretty proud of myself.
This car is underrated. A over 20 year old car with rain sensor, climate control, heated seats and more ... I love the 170 CDI fuel under 7 litres on 100 km. You can say what you want, but it's the perfect everyday car for europe. Also whats really ridiculous is the space on the passenger seats.
Epic purchase. 80hp was not underpowered. The 207 my parents bought after their A class put out 75!
Definitely not in 1997
I'm from Brazil, and this car is indeed one of the first automotive memes. Here it had two trims, A160 and A190, and were 3x the value of a normal popular car, it was a premium compact car. I remember when I was younger and an HS Geography teacher had an A160 Elegance, at the moment we saw that car, my dad and I began to joke the car and the teacher, saying "woah, school is paying well its employees", since in Brazil teachers' salary are usually 3 min. salaries.
A Mercedes A160 in that funky green color was my first car😍 It was actually pretty cool, because in my car you could completely remove all seats (apart from the drivers seat of course). A 3.6 meters long car capable of transporting 2.6 meters long things quite easily! I could fit pretty much everything in there, bicycles, fridges, washing machines. And going on vacation I could even sleep in it, the floor was completely flat with all seats removed!
Yes the driving experience was a little bit "special" but it was the perfect car for me back then, I loved it❤
I lived in Bremen at that time and because of the Werk and Werder a lot of people got it in Green
I bought an A160 as my first car last month. Finding out how the seats work from the manual was a jackpot moment because whoa, I can possibly sleep in it if I'm thinking camping and it starts raining. And I absolutely love the short nose (I have better visibility around a corner this way.)
I do the same thing today with my 98 a140! Best camping car for one person ever! :)
@@mirjam3553 I did exactly that, this car can be a really cool single person camper van! I drove across the Alps, most of the time I slept in the car, and I had tons of mountaineering gear and even a paraglider with me! You will have a lot of fun with it🙂
As a German i salute you not for buying a German car, but for buying a compact car in an environment where companies like ford stopped the production of smaller and economical cars and people buy SUV's, track toys and Pickup Trucks.
Doug, I think this information will make you love your A-class even more, 🙂
If I`m not totally wrong , I remembered reading some where that the A-Class vision was to be an electric car where the batteries would be located in the space between the “sandwich” floors. Mercedes predicted that by the time the A-class would launch, the batteries would have developed and be good enough. My personal opinion is that the lack of batteries from their initial design caused it to tip over due to the change of its central gravity without the weight from the batteries.
They made a Mika Häkkinen special A-Class as gift to him with TWO engines, also known as the A38 AMG
I owned a 2001 A160 Classic and a 2003 A160 LWB Elegance with 17 cm longer wheelbase.
Funny i exactly remember the floor being unusually high up
Wait, there's a long wheel base model of the original A class?
I also distinctly remember Mercedes talking about electrifying the A class back then, funny how long it took until we actually got electric cars with basically the same design idea of batteries in the "floor". Didn't they also use the A class as a test vehicle for their hydrogen powertrain in the 90s?
@@h3nn1 They sure did! But it was the new version.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-Benz_F-Cell
Audi also headed in this direction before the technology was ready, with the Audi A2 from around 2000/2001, and BMW waited long enough to make it work properly with the BMW i3
@@type17 the A2 was also special because of the aluminum used in the frame and chassis. Made it super light and quite efficient. A2s are still quite expensive for this reason.
Just the tiniest nitpick from me: "ASR" is not actually stability control (that would be called "ESP" in Germany*) but *traction control*. ASR stands for "Anti-Schlupf-Regelung" which would roughly translate to "Anti Slip Program".
Other than that, great video! Really enjoying seeing you get into weird 90s european cars. You'd have so much fun with so many of these. Audi A2, Renault Twingo... but I don't need to tell you that, I'm sure you know all that already :)
*Edit: also, if it's that important to the safety of the A-Class you shouldn't be able to turn it off that easily anyways, just like the driver's side airbag for example.
Exactly. The ESP was not deactivateable. So you couldn't test it without ESP. An A-Class without ESP was considered defective and couldn't enter into a test.
@@TremereTT It did enter the Swedish Elk-avoidance test without ESR, hence why it became mandatory ;)
Oh... he brought it up in the video in 4:04
@@BPo75 Exactly. They introduced it so it could pass the Elktest. But after that introduction, it couldn't be turned off. Don't you remember all the memes about it? printed out Images of A-Classes with "training wheels" fixed to the side , were passed around in school &c...
Fun times.
You are right, the ESP (stability control) was not deactivable
@@TremereTTyou could turn it off at a switch in the middle console (together with ASR) but it is automatically activated again if you reach 60 km/h.
The only possibility to deactivate it permanently would be pulling the fuse
Just glad of having Doug as an example that years of work pay off eventually and yet remember our roots. Super excited for him to have the success he has and be able to continue sharing his passions with his viewers!
Doug, You state you're weird and rich, are you really Emo Phillips? :) Only kidding, I love your enthusiasm, it kept me watching your video the whole way through.
Dear Doug,
Please never change, it's ao great to see such different purchases, very authentic and fun
My uncle had one, exactly same color, 170CDI (diesel) avantgarde edition. Bought it new back in the day and kept it for 20 years until the transmission died with almost 300.000km 🕊 I've always wanted you to review one, finally!! What a GREAT car
Doug, I am watching you for almost 5 years now, and I am really shocked, that you not just reviewed but bought that car :)
That is why - I leave in Europe, and I am thinking to buy this A-class for like a year, and I had doubts about if I really need it to have, but after this video - it's definitely YES :)
Thanks for your videos, I really appreciate it!
Honestly, from my European perspective, 80hp is adequate. My dad's car has 60, and while that struggles on steep hills, we've pulled a trailer with a heavy motorcycle on it from Germany all the way to Croatia and back without issue.
That’s the normal perspective