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Mercedes-Benz A160 1999 Problems

Are you having problems with your 1999 Mercedes-Benz A160? Let our team of motoring experts keep you up to date with all of the latest 1999 Mercedes-Benz A160 issues & faults. We have gathered all of the most frequently asked questions and problems relating to the 1999 Mercedes-Benz A160 in one spot to help you decide if it's a smart buy.

Unlocked A160 fuel cap?

The fuel filler cap itself can't be locked, but the outer flap locks automatically to provide security when the car is locked.

Used Mercedes A-Class review: 1997-2013

Two distinctively different Mercedes-Benz A-Class models have been sold. The first generation, launched in 1997, was a radically new design aimed very much at being used in extremely crowded European cities. The second generation, introduced in May 2005 was slightly toned down in appearance, but still followed the same theme as the original. 

Mercedes-Benz A-Class was temporarily discontinued in Australia midway through 2010 as the B-Class (a sort of stretched A-Class) was stealing many sales from it. 

The third generation A-Class, sold downunder from the start of 2013, is far more conventional in its style than its ancestors. We won't cover it in this used-car feature as it's still relatively rare.

Interior space in the original A-Class is reasonably good provided those in the front are willing to move their seats forward to share legroom with those in the back. An extended-wheelbase version arrived in September 2001 and has superb legroom, indeed it can challenge full-size family cars for space back there. 

The gen-two A-Class is longer, being almost the same length as the previous long-wheelbase versions. However, the interior was repackaged and some of the huge legroom in the back seat was given up to make for a much larger boot. 

Headroom is good in both versions of the body, but less than you might expect because the floor has been raised to provide for a fuel-cell powertrain that never did reach reality. 

Boot space is impressive for a car of this size and there are numerous permutations of seat folding and/or removal to further increase space. It's even possible to take out everything except the driver's seat to turn the A-class into a small van.

The second generation A-Class saw the introduction of a three-door hatch to complement the five-door that had been used since day one.  Mercedes-Benz A-class is safer than most cars of its age and class, both in handling and protection during a crash. 

It attracted bad publicity in its earliest days following extreme testing by magazine journalists - the infamous 'Moose Test'. This led to changes to the suspension, steering and traction control that dulled its appeal to the keen driver but made it virtually foolproof for the average person.

Ride comfort isn't as refined as you would expect from a Mercedes-Benz, but remember it's in a completely different class to the more expensive Mercedes models. The tall stance makes for relatively large body-roll angles if you drive it in a spirited manner.

There are petrol and diesel engines of various sizes, depending on age and model. The engine capacity is indicated by the model name: A160 is 1.6-litre, and so on. The A140 may not have enough power for some, the other powerplants are good, with the A200 having a sporty feel.

The gen-one A-Class had a choice between a five-speed automated manual gearbox that required you to shift the gear lever while the clutch looked after itself, or a conventional five-speed automatic with tiptronic function. The slightly crude automated manual gearbox was replaced by a continuously variable transmission in the new model of 2005.

Spare parts and servicing can be either regarded as expensive for a small car, or well-priced for an upmarket European one. The Mercedes network in Australia is very well established and efficient in its operation.

Insurance charges are a little higher than average for a car in this price range, but not seriously so.

It's smart to have an A-Class checked out by either a qualified Mercedes dealer or a senior engineer from your motoring association as the early models have an unusual design. 

Some specialist mechanics who were originally factory trained at Mercedes dealerships may also be happy to do an inspection. The grapevine is a great way of finding the best people in the latter category.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

Front tyres seem to be wearing a lot faster than rear ones, not an unusual problem in front-drive cars. Uneven front tyre wear could either mean the suspension has been bent against a kerb, or the car has been driven hard - or both.

Look for signs of crash repairs such as those which cars used in tight inner-city areas can suffer. Check for ripples in the panels, most easily spotted by looking at them end on; tiny spots of paint on non-painted surfaces; colours that don't match exactly from panel to panel.

Check for interior wear, most likely in the driver's seat before anywhere else, but also have a look over the back seat and in the boot, especially if you think the seats have been pulled out to carry bulky loads.

If there's the slightest doubt about the mechanical condition be sure to get a quote for repairs. Make sure the engine starts easily and is reasonably smooth in operation. Any hesitation is a cause for concern.

Manual gearboxes are rare and may have been initially chosen by those who like to drive hard and fast. Make sure the 'box is smooth and quiet.

CAR BUYING TIP

Upmarket small cars may have originally been bought by those with aspirations to a high-image marque - but who couldn't afford the hight cost of routine servicing.

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Used Mercedes-Benz A-Class review: 1998-2009

When Mercedes-Benz decided to enter the small-car scene in 1997 it threw away just about every pre-conceived design idea. The result was an exceptionally practical car that’s easy to drive and park. 

While the stubby 3.6 metre long car was a huge hit in Europe - where parking is feral in the cities - parking in tiny spots isn’t the norm in Australia so the A-Class didn’t sell as well as anticipated. Those who did buy it loved the styling and the fact it was something right out of the ordinary.

Many A-Classes were bought by families who already had a Merc (or two) in the garage, so may have done little work and be in excellent condition on the used-car market. Interior space in the original A-Class is good unless the front seats are set all the way rearwards, then the back is really only suited to children.

An extended-wheelbase version arrived in September 2001 and has far more rear legroom, indeed there’s more leg space back there than in most large family cars. Headroom is good in both versions of the body, but less than you might expect because the floor has been raised almost as much as the roof to provide for a fuel-cell powertrain that didn’t reach reality.

Boot space is impressive for a car of this size and there are numerous permutations of seat folding and/or removal to further increase space. It’s even possible to take out everything except the driver’s seat to turn the A-class into a small van.

The little A-class is an extremely safe handling car. It was vilified somewhat unfairly in its early days following some extreme testing by magazine journalists. This led to changes to the suspension, steering and traction control that dulled its appeal to the sporting driver but made it virtually foolproof for the average person.

Ride comfort isn't as refined as you would expect given the car’s pedigree. The seats support reasonably well but there's a fair bit of interior noise for a car in this price range and the tall stance makes for relatively large body-roll angles. Petrol and diesel engines of various sizes, depending on age and model. The engine capacity is indicated by the model name: A160 is 1.6-litre, and so on.

The A140 may not have enough power for some, the other powerplants are good, with the A200 having a sporty feel. The gen-one A-Class had a choice between a five-speed automated manual gearbox that required you to shift the gear lever, or a conventional five-speed automatic with tiptronic function. The full auto is the better bet. The Mercedes-Benz A-Class moved to its second generation in May 2005 and was slightly more conventional in appearance than the original.

All models were longer, being almost the same length as the previous long-wheelbase versions. However, the interior was repackaged and some of the huge legroom in the back seat was given up to make for a much larger boot. While there's still a good amount of rear space, the old stretch-out feeling was gone. The biggest news in the gen-two A-Class was the introduction of a three-door hatch to complement the five-door.

Rather than taking its own route, the interior design is similar to that of the Mercedes C-Class, particularly in the dashboard and instrument areas. The slightly crude automated manual gearbox of the old model has gone, replaced by a clever continuously variable transmission. This gives good fuel economy and endows the car with a smoother feel than its predecessor. If you don’t feel the CVT has selected the correct ratio, you can use a tiptronic style override to select one of seven forward ‘gears’.

Spare parts and servicing can be either regarded as expensive for a small car, or well-priced for an upmarket European. The Mercedes network in Australia is well established and efficient in its operation. Insurance charges are a little higher than average for a car in this price range, but not seriously so. Mercedes-Benz A-Class was discontinued in Australia in 2009 as the B-Class (which is based on the A-Class, but longer) was stealing so many sales from it. The third generation Mercedes-Benz A-Class is due late in 2012 and takes a more mainstream approach, with sleeker styling than its predecessors and will be heavily marketed in Australia.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

It’s smart to have an A-Class checked out by either a qualified Mercedes dealer or an engineer from your motoring association as it’s an unusual design. Front tyres seem to be wearing a lot faster than rear ones, not an unusual problem in front-drive cars. Uneven front tyre wear could either mean the suspension has been bent against a kerb, or the car has been driven hard - or both.

Look for signs of crash repairs such as those which cars used in tight inner-city areas can suffer. Check for ripples in the panels, most easily spotted by looking at them end on; tiny spots of paint on non-painted surfaces; colours that don't match exactly from panel to panel. Check for interior wear, most likely in the driver’s seat before anywhere else, but also have a look over the back seat and in the boot, especially if you think the seats have been pulled out to carry bulky loads.

CAR BUYING TIP

Cars designed for city use often run cold most of the time and this can accelerate mechanical wear. Buy on the condition of the mechanical components - not on the kilometres on the odometer.
 

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Used Mercedes-Benz A-Class review: 1998-2003

At the beginning of the 1990s whenever conversations turned to cars the issue of their styling always seemed to come to the surface. The general thrust of the argument over looks was that all cars looked alike, as though they’d been tipped from the same jelly mould, but it was much harder to mount that argument as the decade came to an end when cars like Mercedes A-Class had become a regular sight on our roads.

There was no way you could mistake an A-Class for any other car on the road, it stood out like a beacon of individuality in a bland sea of sameness.

It was also a serious break from tradition for Mercedes-Benz who’d specialised in building medium to big rear-drive cars for most of its long history. The A-Class was a small car, the smallest in the Benz range, and it was front-wheel drive.

The concept was simple, built around efficiency of packaging, using an east-west mounted four-cylinder engine driving the front wheels and placing a wheel at each corner leaving a roomy interior. In effect it was building on the brilliant concept developed 30 years earlier by Sir Alec Issigonis who conceived the Mini.

While the Mercedes idea was a great one it was almost brought undone by a moose in a Scandinavian backwater. A motoring magazine in the wilds of Sweden had a standard test that was meant to simulate a situation in which you had to avoid a moose on the road. In local terms it was like encountering a kangaroo bounding across the road in front of you, pretty much a standard emergency lane change manoeuvre in the rest of the world.

Anyway the A-Class tipped on its side when the magazine put it through its paces against the mythical moose and then proclaimed it unstable in such moves.

Not surprisingly Mercedes went into a tail spin, at first denying there was a problem, but then revising the suspension to improve its stability.

It was an unfortunate start for what was an innovative new look at motoring.

The A-Class was conceived as a town car. It used a well founded concept of packaging with the engine, gearbox and driveline in a compact package at the front of the vehicle and a wheel at each corner which left the interior free of intrusion from the mechanics like suspension and tail shafts and the like.

On top of that platform ’Benz built a tall wagon style body with a deep sloping front that offered great visibility and good interior space for such a small car.

At launch Mercedes offered two models, the Classic entry level model and the better equipped Avantgarde.

Initially power came from a 1.6-litre single overhead camshaft fuel-injected four cylinder engine that boasted 75 kW at 5250 revs and 150 Nm of torque.

Buyers could choose from a five-speed auto or a quirky five-speed sequential-shift manual. The latter was an early example of a sequential shift manual, which was a normal manual but allowed you to shift gears simply by moving the lever without the need to operate the clutch.

At the time it was considered quite an advance, a manual gearbox that had the benefits of an auto. The problem was that it wasn’t as smooth as an auto, it drove like a manual so there was a lull in performance as the gearbox shifted gears. There are a number of sequential-shift manual gearboxes available now, and most are smoother and easier to drive than the A-Class was at launch.

The suspension was a blend of MacPherson Struts at the front and a five-link beam with coil springs at the rear, which endowed it with a comfortable ride and balanced handling. Changes made following the magazine moose test made it more responsive to the power rack and pinion steering.

Brakes were a combination of disc front and drum rear, with ABS, electronic brake proportioning, and brake assist standard.

Add to that electronic stability control and there’s quite an array of electronic wizardry helping to keep drivers out of trouble.

The Classic provided entry to A-Class motoring and came with plenty of fruit, including air-conditioning, central locking, cloth trim, power windows, immobiliser, fog lights, dual frontal and front side airbags and six-speaker sound with a CD player.

Tick the Avantgarde box and you received alloy wheels, a cargo cover, leather steering wheel and gear lever, an adjustable steering column, remote central locking, and cloth and leather trim.

A year after launch Mercedes added the A190 Avantgarde, which was an A160 Avantgarde fitted with a 1.9-litre version of the SOHC four-cylinder engine. Power jumped to 92 kW at 5500 revs and torque climbed to 180 Nm.

That was followed in 2000 by the A140, which was identical to the A160 Classic, except for its 60 kW 1.4-litre engine.

An update in 2001 saw the styling freshened with new front-end looks and a revised specification list.

The same update saw the arrival of a longer version, which added 170 mm between to the wheelbase and made the interior even roomier.

Generally the A-Class has been reliable with little trouble reported by mechanics and owners.

It’s important to make sure of a service record, one by an acknowledged Mercedes specialist or dealer. If you find a service record from another outlet, check their competence on Benz cars.

Like all Mercedes-Benz cars the A-Class is usually looked after by caring owners who appreciate the value of the investment they’ve made so you’re less likely to find any problems of neglect.

Take careful note of any knocks or clunks you might here on a road test, and observe the transmission for smooth operation without any hesitation in shifting up or down.

Be particularly careful about the sequential manual gearbox, and only consider buying one if you’re into quirky gadgets. The driving experience in my view is less than rewarding and certainly less smooth than a regular auto which I believe is the better choice.

Robert Leach and his wife Jenny purchased a new A-Class in 2002, and it has now travelled 19,000 km. This was the first new car for Jenny who had previously driven Robert’s hand-me-downs after he’d driven them for several years.

They looked at a number of cars, particularly the Holden Astra (too squeezy for Robert’s big frame) and the Holden Vectra V6 hatchback (too large to run as a second car) and various Honda, Mazda and Volkswagen models, but Jenny was taken by the A-Class and they have been able to enjoy its attributes over the past three years.

The quality of the materials and fit and finish is evident when compared with other cars and the A-Class contains all the features one expects from European manufacturers.

They were also very taken with the safety of the cabin design and its obvious safety aspects. The list of equipment is very impressive with Traction Control, Stability Control, several airbags, power windows, efficient heating/air conditioning, good sound system and an excellent five-speed automatic transmission.

Given Mercedes' emphasis on safety Robert was surprised to note the rear brakes were only drums although they have not experienced any braking problems. Similarly, the tuning knob for the radio is quite fiddly and hardly adds to safety when tuning on the go and they would have upgraded to push button tuning if they’d thought of it at the time of purchase.

Performance is very good and the A-Class can hold its own on the freeway and on country running. However, Robert says he would not like to be in the seat behind him if they were driving to Sydney as it can be a little cramped in the back if the driver is tall. They also say the fuel economy is excellent.

Entry and exit is terrific as is the slightly elevated view from the front seat. This is one of the best features of the car together with its all-round quality.

Reliability has been good apart from the alternator giving out at 2000 km, but the Mercedes on-road service was very helpful and it was quickly fixed under warranty.

Service from their dealer has been excellent and service costs are not considered too expensive.

The A Class is not a pretty car, they say, but is very practical and has a tremendous character of its own. They love it and would consider buying another one.

The A-Class is a nifty handler with plenty of on-board electronics to keep it upright and on the road. Couple that with an array of frontal and side airbags and you have quite an impressive safety picture.

• adventurous styling stands out a decade after launch

• roomy interior for five

• zippy performance and with good economy

• quirky sequential shift manual a let down

• admirable reliability

Comfortable and well equipped small car makes sense for family transport around town.

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Used Mercedes-Benz A-Class review: 1998-2003

The A-Class was a serious break from tradition for Mercedes-Benz, which specialised in medium to big rear-drive cars for most of its long history. This was a small car, and it was front-wheel drive. 

But it was a great one, albeit almost brought undone by a moose. A motoring magazine in Sweden had a standard test which was meant to simulate a situation in which you had to avoid a moose on the road.

The A-Class tipped on its side when the magazine put it through its paces against the mythical moose and then proclaimed it unstable in such moves.  It was an unfortunate start for what was an innovative new look at motoring.

MODEL WATCH

At launch Mercedes offered two models, the Classic entry level model and the better equipped Avantgarde. Initially power came from a 1.6-litre single overhead camshaft fuel-injected four cylinder engine which boasted 75kW at 5250rpm and 150Nm of torque.

Buyers could choose from a five-speed auto or a quirky five-speed sequential-shift manual. The latter was an early example of a sequential shift manual that was a normal manual but allowed you to shift gears simply by moving the lever without the need to operate the clutch. At the time it was considered quite an advance, a manual gearbox that had the benefits of an auto.

The problem was that it wasn't as smooth as an auto. It drove like a manual so there was a lull in performance.  The suspension was a blend of MacPherson Struts at the front and a five-link beam with coil springs at the rear which endowed it with a comfortable ride and balanced handling.

Changes made following the magazine moose test made it more responsive to the power rack-and-pinion steering.  Brakes were a combination of disc front and drum rear, with ABS, electronic brake proportioning, and brake assist standard.  Add to that electronic stability control and there's quite an array of electronic wizardry helping to keep drivers out of trouble.

A year after launch, Mercedes added the A190 Avantgarde which was an A160 Avantgarde fitted with a 1.9-litre version of the SOHC four cylinder engine. Power jumped to 92kW at 5500rpm and torque climbed to 180Nm.  That was followed in 2000 by the A140 which was identical to the A160 Classic, except for its 60kW 1.4-litre engine.

An update in 2001 saw the styling freshened with new front-end looks and a revised specification list. The same update brought a longer version which added 170mm to the wheelbase and made the interior even roomier.

IN THE SHOP

Generally the A-Class has been reliable, with little trouble reported by mechanics and owners. It's important to make sure of a service record, one by an acknowledged Mercedes specialist or dealer. If you find a service record from another outlet, check its competence on Benz cars. Like all Mercedes-Benz cars, the A-Class is usually looked after by caring owners so you're less likely to find any problems of neglect. Take careful note of any knocks or clunks you might hear on a road test and observe the transmission for smooth operation. Be particularly careful about the sequential manual gearbox – and only consider one if you're into quirky gadgets.

CRUNCH TIME

The A-Class is a nifty handler with plenty of on-board electronics to keep it upright and on the road. Couple that with an array of frontal and side airbags and you have quite an impressive safety picture.

RATING

14/20 Comfortable and well equipped small car makes sense for family transport around town.

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Complete guide to Mercedes-Benz A160 1999
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