Mercedes-Benz A-Class

Mercedes-Benz A-Class at a glance

A-Class generations and timeline

First generation W168 (1997–2004): the sandwich floor

Daimler-Benz showed the W168 at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1997. The German market launch followed on 18 October 1997 with the A 140 and A 160. At about 3.6 metres it was shorter than many superminis, yet the high roof and floor gave rear passengers a lot of room. The idea behind the floor was safety. The engine and gearbox sat low and at an angle in front of a sloping bulkhead. In a hard frontal impact the drive unit therefore slid underneath the passenger cell instead of into it. The price of that layout was a high seating position, strong body roll and sensitivity to crosswinds.

That body roll became headline news. On 21 October 1997, three days after the launch, the Swedish magazine Teknikens Värld drove the car through an unstandardised lane-change at about 65 km/h. The Mercedes-Benz A-Class rolled onto its side.

Mercedes first played the result down. It then recalled the 2,600 cars already sold and halted sales for three months, and the Rastatt line stood still from 11 November 1997 to 26 February 1998. Every car got electronic stability control (ESP) and a revised chassis with stiffer springs and dampers, and the tyres changed from 175/65 R 15 to 195/50 R 15. Wikipedia puts the cost of the fix at DM 300 million (1997–98), on top of a development budget of DM 2.5 billion.

The engines were M 166 four-cylinder petrol units from 1.4 to 2.1 litres and, from 1998, the OM 668 common-rail diesel with 1,689 cc. A facelift in 2001 added the long-wheelbase V168, 170 mm longer, with all the extra length given to the rear seats. The limited A 210 Evolution (2,629 units) was the fastest series version at 203 km/h. A second plant opened in Juiz de Fora, Brazil, on 17 February 1999. Sales reached about 1.1 million, with a European peak of 177,275 cars in 1999, although Daimler reportedly lost €1,440 on every W168 it built.

Second generation W169 (2004–2012): more room, same concept

The W169 went on sale in September 2004. It grew to 3,838 mm (3,883 mm after the 2008 update) on a 2,568 mm wheelbase, and the boot held 435 to 1,370 litres. For the first time there was a three-door body next to the five-door. Stability control, traction control and ABS were standard, and an "Autotronic" continuously variable transmission was offered alongside five- and six-speed manuals. The B-Class launched in 2005 used a sandwich floor derived from this A-Class.

Seven four-cylinder engines covered 60 to 142 kW. The A 200 Turbo, with 142 kW and 280 Nm, reached 100 km/h in 8.0 seconds and 218 km/h. At the other end, the A 160 CDI needed 15.0 seconds but used 4.9 l/100 km. The 2008 facelift brought new bumpers and lights and an optional stop-start system for the A 150 and A 170. Rastatt built the 750,000th W169 on 26 June 2009, and deliveries passed one million on 1 February 2012.

Two alternative-drive series were built in small numbers. The A-Class E-CELL of 2010 had a 36 kWh battery with about 4,000 lithium-ion cells, a 70 kW peak motor and about 200 km of range. Rastatt made 500 of them for leasing in Germany, France and the Netherlands. A fuel-cell F-Cell version with a 65 kW motor and about 160 km of range went to fleet customers from 2004.

Third generation W176 (2012–2018): a conventional hatchback

Shown at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show, the W176 abandoned the tall-car formula. It was a low five-door hatchback on the new front-wheel-drive MFA platform, which it shared with the B-Class and later with the Infiniti Q30. Series production began in Rastatt on 17 July 2012, and Valmet Automotive in Uusikaupunki, Finland, added capacity from 2013. At about 4,290 mm the car was some 400 mm longer than the W169 and about 160 mm lower, and the drag coefficient fell from 0.31 to 0.26.

Demand was strong: by mid-November 2012 Mercedes had 90,000 pre-orders, which Reuters reported as double the figure for the Volkswagen Golf Mk7. Petrol engines came from the M 270 family (75–155 kW). Diesels ranged from a 1.5-litre unit supplied by Renault (66–80 kW) to Mercedes' own 2.1 litres with 125 kW. A seven-speed dual-clutch 7G-DCT and 4MATIC all-wheel drive were available. The A 45 AMG, launched with 265 kW and raised to 280 kW at the 2015 facelift, was claimed to reach 100 km/h in 4.2 seconds. European registrations peaked at 143,550 in 2017.

Fourth generation W177 (since 2018): sedan, MBUX and AMG power

The W177 was shown to the press in Amsterdam in February 2018 and went on sale in March. It rides on the MFA2 platform and introduced the MBUX infotainment system with "Hey Mercedes" voice control. The hatchback is 4,419 mm long; the V177 sedan measures 4,549 mm and the Z177 for China stretches to 4,622 mm on a 60 mm longer wheelbase. In the United States only the sedan was sold.

The 1.3-litre M282 petrol engine was developed with the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance. The 2.0-litre M260 powers the A 220, A 250 and the Mercedes-AMG A 35, which has 225 kW and needs 4.7 seconds to 100 km/h. The A 45 and A 45 S use the M139 with 285 kW and 310 kW; the S version reaches 100 km/h in 3.9 seconds. The A 250 e plug-in hybrid combines the 1.3-litre engine with a 75 kW motor for 160 kW of system output and has a 15.6 kWh battery.

The facelift for model year 2023 added 48-volt mild-hybrid assistance to the petrol engines and dropped the manual gearbox. Europe took 198,926 cars in 2019, and in 2021 the A-Class was the fourth best-selling car in the UK with 30,710 registrations.

A-Class engines by generation

The jump from the first A 140 to the current A 45 S is more than fivefold in power: 60 kW against 310 kW. Our power converter turns any of these kW figures into PS or hp.

Safety and reliability record

In ANCAP's 2001 testing the first generation managed 11.26/16 for the offset frontal crash and full marks for the side impact. A 2008 Which? owner survey placed the 1998–2004 cars third from the bottom of 217 models. The W169 improved to 14.96 of 16 in the ANCAP offset test of 2005. The W176 earned five Euro NCAP stars, with 93 percent for adult occupants in the A 180 test. The W177 repeated five stars in 2018: 96 percent for adults, 91 percent for children and 92 percent for pedestrian protection. No earlier Mercedes-Benz A-Class scored as well in a crash-test programme.