Mercedes-Benz A180 CDI 2008 Review

Mercedes-Benz A 180 CDI

What we liked
>> Stable cornering
>> 'Sporty' diesel
>> Packaging

Not so much
>> Reverse gear selection
>> Not quite entirely comfortable driving position
>> Seats a little flat

Overall rating: 3.0/5.0
Engine/Drivetrain/Chassis: 3.5/5.0
Price, Packaging and Practicality: 3.0/5.0
Safety: 3.5/5.0
Behind the wheel: 3.0/5.0
X-factor: 2.5/5.0

About our ratings

OVERVIEW
The latest version of the car that brought 'the moose test' to the attention of the world has arrived in Australia. Unlike that original controversial conveyance, there are no doubts about the safety credentials of the latest A-Class. It's been honed to a much more car-like machine and still manages to accommodate a lot in its (slightly) more svelte body.

For the 2009 upgrade, Mercedes-Benz has lightly revised the car's looks and introduced a couple of new features: Parking Assist and adaptive brake lights. Most importantly perhaps, the A-Class range is joined by the A 180 CDI, a turbodiesel variant.

The Parking Assist function is optional for all A-Class models, but the adaptive brake lights are standard for all variants. Basically, the system flashes the brake lights continuously, under heavy braking.

Visual changes for the revised A-Class include: a new headlight design, restyled tail lights, revised radiator grille (comprising additional chrome strips in the grille) and bumpers. Mirrors and wheels are also new, with C-Class-style larger mirrors finished in the body colour.

New fabrics are specified for the interior and Avantgarde variants gain new decorative trim. Along with the different radiator grilles, the new interior trim distinguishes the Avantgarde variants from the Elegance-grade cars.

Additional features for the upgraded A-Class comprise the options of a Logic7 surround-sound system and an interactive media interface for the coupling of external music sources for the audio system. The Comand APS facility, also an option, features a hard-disk drive, navigation with map display and Linguatronic voice control. New A-Class models gain larger storage bins also.

PRICE AND EQUIPMENT
Prices start from $35,500 for the A 170 three-door with five-speed manual, moving up to $37,900 for the same vehicle as a five-door. Only available in the five-door body, the A 180 CDI is priced at $39,900.

The naturally-aspirated A 200 is $45,900 for the three-door with the standard CVT or $47,900 for the five-door model. For $49,500, buyers can opt for the A 200 Turbo three-door with CVT.

Standard features for the entire A-Class range include: a multi-function steering wheel, electric windows front and rear (front only for the three-door models), reach-and-height adjustment for the steering column, climate control, front and rear fog lights, full-size spare wheel, auto-on/off headlights and rain-sensing wipers.

The A 170 and A 180 CDI are both fitted with the same seven-spoke design of 16-inch alloy wheels, while the five-door A 200 is also fitted with 16-inch alloys, but in a style featuring 10 paired spokes. For the A 200 three-door and the A 200 Turbo, the standard 17-inch alloys are a seven-spoke design.

Dual-zone climate control is a standard feature of the naturally-aspirated A 200 five-door variant.

While the Elegance and Avantgarde packages cost $6760 as options for the A 170 and A 180 CDI, the former is standard for the A 200 five-door and the latter is standard for the A 200 and A 200 Turbo three-door models. Buyers of the high-spec three-door models can opt for the Elegance pack at no extra charge and the A 200 five-door can be specified in the Avantgarde level of trim -- also free of charge.

For the Elegance pack, the features are: electrically-adjustable and heated front seats, dual-zone climate control, front-seat centre armrest, leather trim, myrtle wood decorative trim pieces, metallic paint, chrome exterior trim for handles and rubbing strips, metallic grey radiator grille louvres with chrome highlights and side skirts finished in body colour. Note that this pack also includes the 10-spoke 16-inch alloys already mentioned.

For the sportier Avantgarde pack, the additional features comprise: sports pedals, sports seats in a combination ARTICO/fabric trim, front-seat centre armrest, leather-bound sports steering wheel, leather-trimmed gear selector with alumimium trim, silver instrument backing, aluminium decorative trim, chrome exterior trim (as for the Elegance pack), body-colour side skirts and the radiator grille louvres finished in metallic iridium silver with chrome strips. The wheels for this level of trim are the 17-inch alloys already described. Sports suspension is also available for this grade, at no extra charge.

MECHANICAL
The newest addition to the A-Class range is the A 180 CDI five-door, powered by a turbodiesel four-cylinder engine producing 80kW of power and 250Nm of torque. In this spec, the A accelerates to 100km/h in 10.8 seconds and returns a fuel consumption figure of 5.2L/100km in combined-cycle testing. As per all A-Class cars, the diesel is mounted transversely and drives to the front wheels, in the turbodiesel's case, via a six-speed manual box.

That's what makes the A 180 CDI go. Stopping the car is a braking package consisting of ventilated front discs and solid discs at the rear. The electrically-assisted rack-and-pinion steering setup works in conjunction with the MacPherson strut suspension system at the front. At the rear, the A 180 CDI is suspended by a torsion beam.

Check out more on A-Class range via our coverage of the launch of the current 'generation' of A-Class here.

For the latest upgraded range, Benz has introduced a new driving aid in the A-Class -- the hill-holder function, which employs the car's stability control program to maintain brake pressure on an ascent with the vehicle at standstill. The driver only need lift the foot of the brake pedal and depress the accelerator for the vehicle to release the brakes progressively as the vehicle moves away off without rolling back.

PACKAGING
Legroom in the A-Class was a bit tight for payloads outside the parameters of four-average-sized adults and, in such circumstances, seating width was a little tight too. There's no argument with the headroom, but the firewall is too close for the front-seat passenger and taller passengers found their knees raised too high.

Having the opportunity to drive the A-Class and B-Class back to back, it's clear that the B-Class is a vehicle that young families could buy and they probably wouldn't out-grow, but with the legroom consideration in the A-Class, there will quickly come a time when the car will need to be traded for something larger.

That's the nature of the A-Class and it applies to family buyers only, of course. For empty-nesters or DINKs, the A-Class is the ideal inner urban runabout.

Is the current A-Class a little less upright than its high-profile predecessor? It feels that way and that might explain why it doesn't seem to offer the same degree of roominess that the original car did. Having said that, we'd take the current model with its better dynamics any day of the week.

SAFETY
Despite its inauspicious start, the A-Class is a very safe car. With the upgrade of the current generation car, the active safety has virtually caught up with the passive safety.

Every variant in the range packs the following safety features: Front-seat active head restraints, ABS, stability control, traction control, Brake Assist, electro-chromatic mirrors (internal and driver's side external), seatbelt force limiters and pre-tensioners for front and outboard rear seats, dual front airbags, side-impact (thorax) airbags for front and rear seats, plus side-window airbags.

Adaptive brake lights are the latest safety feature introduced with the facelifted A-Class. In the event of emergency braking from a speed above 50km/h, the lights blink rapidly to alert drivers behind of an impending collision.

COMPETITORS
Audi, coincidentally (?), has just introduced a new A3 Sportback range -- with Audi's version of Parking Assist. How curious -- small cars that are hard to park unless they're fitted with an automatic labour-saving device...

Wherever you stand on this point, there's little doubt that Audi sees the A3 and A3 Sportback as competitors to the A-Class. We're doubtful that Mercedes-Benz sees it that way though -- and we at the Carsales Network would see it as something of a logical leap to cross-shop these two cars. BMW's 1 Series is an even less likely competitor to the A-Class.

Nothing else in the VFACTS segment for small cars priced above $40,000 competes with the A-Class -- except for Benz's own B-Class.

Frankly, the B-Class is a more serious threat to the A-Class than any rival company's products. It's not a lot larger on the road, but just has that extra interior space. And there's a fair amount of overlap in price, between the high-spec A-Class and the low-spec B-Class. Price is, in fact, the only significant reason you might choose the A-Class over the B-Class -- that and/or you're seriously intimated by parking.

Don't get us wrong, both are good cars, but we'd probably find the extra money for the B-Class.

ON THE ROAD
Unlike the original W168 A-Class, this W169 model feels quite stable -- a function in part of the active damping system, which firms up the damping as the system detects body roll.

The electric-assisted steering is very light, but turn-in was good and feel was passable by the standards of such systems. However, the steering did mask the car's handling, which was neutral, but tending to understeer as the cornering loads increased. The ride soaked up smaller bumps, but was a bit firmer -- in the conventional Euro-style over patchy bitumen.

It's the electrically-assisted steering that facilitates Parking Assist -- a system we tried in a B-Class and found to be effective within its design limitations (see our review of the latest B-Class here).

It's not the fully automated system as offered in the Lexus LS600h, but it's not -- in our experience -- subject to that system's occasional lapses either. Parking Assist uses ultrasonic detection to measure a gap between two parked cars. If the system detects a gap that is at least the length of the A-Class plus 1.3 metres, it will prompt the driver to accept that spot, which the driver does by pressing an up-arrow button on the left spoke of the steering wheel.

The car must be travelling no faster than 18km/h and the nose of the A-Class must effectively pass the nose of the leading parked car to trigger the prompt. Once the driver has accepted the prompt, all that's required is to select reverse gear and feather the brake pedal as the car itself steers into the empty spot. Reverse parking acoustic guidance will inform the driver of when the car has travelled as far as it practically can in a reverse direction. The driver then selects Drive and the car straightens itself up with a final single tone to indicate the job is complete and the driver can select Park and switch off the engine.

We tried the system twice; once in the Mercedes-Benz dealership from where the drive program commenced and once more in a Victorian country town. On both occasions, the system worked acceptably well and was easy to use. It will, with familiarity, take all the pain out of parking and we would go so far as to suggest that like other Benz pioneering efforts (ABS and stability control), it will be one of those features that will trickle down to the $15,990 cheapies in about 20 years -- it's that good.

NVH in the A 180 CDI was low, although the engine could be heard working. Fuel consumption during our drive was 6.5L/100km, which has to be read in the context of a lot of open-road driving, but with a reasonable workout. The powerplant is a relatively peaky unit by diesel standards and needs more than 2000rpm to maintain momentum on steeper hills.

Having said that, the A 180 CDI did impress -- on the flat -- with the way it required little cog-swapping when three or four adults were onboard. The gearshift was easy to use and precise, but lifting the knob to select Reverse was less than ideal.

We found the seats to be comfortable and well designed for holding the occupant in place, but some might find them to be a little flat and hard.

The steering wheel has to be set fairly high for a clear view of the instruments and this detracts a little from the comfort of the driving position, but there were compensations. For example, the driver's footrest is deformable and soft, with plenty of room for the foot. On the other side of the ledger though, the handbrake felt like it's also mounted quite high and the driver needs to raise the elbow a long way to release it.

As with other MB models, the wand for the cruise control was located in a position more appropriate for the indicator stalk, which itself is too low, although the argument to refute that is the indicator stalk is located correctly for drivers with their hands at quarter-to-three position instead of the traditional 10-to-2 position.

One journalist on the launch felt that the new A-Class (the W169 model generally) lacked the focus and packaging of the original iconoclastic model, but the new car doesn't have the tippy-toe feeling of the W168 series and the minor changes -- in particular the Parking Assist -- make the car a worthwhile purchase for the right buyer.

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