Fugly. Compare that grotesque baby with the grand old '66 in DOTS. For shame.

I'll bet those Amercians are pretty disappointed.

Looks like a developmentally handicapped S-Class.

No likely.

My view is screw Smartcar. Tool up a North American plant to build these and you'll get them into the mid/high $20s and capture the "I've outgrown VW but still want eco-cred and style points" crowd. A little late now, but whatever. Mercedes is already deathly afraid of being perceived as low-end here.

It's not too bad. If it were priced reasonably it could really steal a lot from the competition in this size range. Great for a semi-luxe city car.

I'll wait for the AMG version with a supercharged 5.5 liter in it

If you had one here people would just think you got a mercedes grill custom fitted for your yaris.

Honda. Fit. Extra money for LeMons.

It isn't cost effective, when a diesel Jetta can get about 50mpg and it costs about $22k new.

However, if they move the production to North America, the A-class could be produced at significantly cheaper cost. I would get one if they can bring the price down to about $25k or so.

@ash78: And they're right. There's a reason why Lexus never marketed anything smaller than an ES250 or the early IS. The G20 and the Integra (although a great little car) never did any favors for the Infiniti or Acura brands' prestige.

Plus it's as ugly as one of those smashed-face kitties.

My sister has one, it's alright for what it is. It's well built, the handling is surprisingly okay for such as a tall car and there's loads of room in it. The controls are horribly light, it feels like you're driving a cloud.

Why is Mercedes marketing a car with an engine output of 52.5 HP/L? I thought their cars demanded a permium price because of all of the brilliant engineering they contained. Where is the brilliance of 52.5 HP/L?

Instead of lowering their standards, Mercedes should take an arrogant stand: if you can't afford $32K for a C-Class, then you are not quite Mercedes material.

@goatrope: They are perceived very differently in Europe. The name/quality prestige is there, but they sell across more ranges.

Here, it IS a $32k entry barrier like you said. They played with the high-$20k C-coupe several years ago, but it was sort of a flop.

Besides, hp/liter doesn't really count when you're talking about diesels tuned for efficiency.

If you're going to build a tiny car, you're pretty much stuck with cute. This is not cute. Not at all.

I rented an A160 for a week last summer.

The good: the interior is excellent, visibility is good, it handled Scotland's rural and rough roads with a plushness not experienced in any other small car. It averaged 35.6MPG (US gallons), which was pretty good considering that most of the time it was above 3000RPM and in tourist mode. It felt comfortable and solid once it got up to reasonable highway speeds.

The bad: I went for the automatic because shifting was one less thing I'd have to deal with while adjusting to RHD, bad idea. the combination of the 1.6 and the auto lead to underwhelming acceleration that felt like a rubber band was winding up before allowing the car to ease forward. Despite my best efforts, the little car simply would not take off from a dead stop and passing on a dual carriageway had to be carefully planned. The turning radius is absolutely terrible for such a small car. I found myself not making U-turns I could've made in my MKIV VW.

Different powerplants and a manual would probably yield much better results, but at what pricepoint if it were brought to the US? Anything over $25k and the Golf/Rabbit would eat it for brunch.

I have one! It's the previous generation but living in central London its diminutive size and capacious interior make it an ideal inner-city car if you have more than one friend (which is all the Smart is good for) and the removable rear seats mean that I can turn it into a small van when the need arises (which it seems to quite regularly). I take it out of town too and it copes remarkably well with motorway conditions and the tall driving position means you get a panoramic view down the road. OK it's not a great drive and the ride can be harsh but I'd definitely trade up to the new model if I were in a position to.

@ash78: I was the market for the C230 Coupe and I really liked the car, but it was priced far too high given the trim and the competition. I could get a C230 for $24k bone stock or a fully loaded VW for $20k. To get the C230c with the same trim as the VW would've put the C230 at nearly $30k.

Performance and car-size being similar, it is difficult not to buy the cheapest car with the most goodies. And maybe this is why MB can't go down-market in the US. I might pay as much as $3000 more to buy into the brand, but give me a competative product.

But there's no way this would sell for $40k US - the slightly larger B-Class starts at $30K CDN.

The B-Class isn't much more than a Civic Wagovan with the three-pointed star, which I can appreciate on some level. It drives like, well, a car. I wish I had more to say about it than that.

Well, there is/was a white 5 door A160 CDI in Columbus, Ohio two weeks ago with Mexico plates. I followed it around downtown one morning trying to get a good look at it. It blew me away, I didn't know MB made a little car other than the Smart. I was never able to get a picture with my cell phone since I was driving in morning traffic, but I did pull up beside it and tried to get the driver to talk to me. No luck, it is as small as the Honda Fit, it looked pretty good. But the price is stupid expensive.

Yeah, there's one of these in my building, the family is from Ontario. Nice to look at, but I sure wouldn't want to buy it.

@Maymar: I hadn't even read the prices that were being supposed on here. Those numbers are way off and are based on solely on exchange rate. Does that include VAT? Does it account for the fact that cars cost more in the UK than nearly anywhere else?

In the rest of Europe a 4 door A200 is about €25,000 - that would be roughly $35,000USD at the current exchange rate, which is still higher than what MSRP would be if it were actually sold here.

I had a manual A180 CDI as a rental last week and drove 2,500 km in four countries with it. Upsides are the huge windows, the excellent seats, the nice 6-speed box and the enormous interior space.
Downsides were the mushy handling, too-light steering and the outdated CD-based satav.

I averaged 41 mpg on my trip, with about 50% of it being in germany and driving fast on the Autobahn.
The A-class has the soul of a 1980s Mercedes sedan. It has the interior space, the ride and the pillowy soft suspension. It's a great long distance cruiser, but not that much fun in the city.

This was my rental car a couple of years ago. The interior was nothing special but I still dream about that gearbox and wake up all sticky.

So the basic idea behind this is a big comfy leather sofa wrapped by as little car as possible? I think I could live with that.

No, im afraid I woulden't buy it. Its far over priced, with out factoring in the massive Euro-GBP-USD exchange whole, and interior is not the best. I would buy a larger used Merc before this. I can see buying it used as a good, stylish city car, but not at such a price goudge. Hopefully the next one will be an improvement

whole=hole

US drivers will not subscribe to vehicles this size, save for the few who ponyed up for a Smart ForTwo, thank mainly to the 'logic' larger is safer, and the fact there are a slew of F-250's, 350's, Ram 2500/3500's, and the Chevy/GMC monsters roaming the streets, piloted by those thinking they are driving the physics equivalent of a 911 (which they've never been in, much less driven).

I like the concept, and think this is what every commuter should have, and it's on the large side for one person.

That said, I have an '89 S-class 'cause it was inexpensive and is a tank. Plus, I like lead sleds.

I swear I saw one of these on the road the other day. Or at least a last generation A class. Definitely not a Prius nor Smart Car. Had a Mercedes emblem on the grill.

We get alot of cars from Mexico here in Reno, could be from there. A guy up at a community college has a VW Polo.

The occasional A-Class pops up on this side of the pond. I have no clue in hell how it happends, or why (as they aren't really that good) or if they drive them at all (they dont meat DOT standards, so i think not)

[cgi.ebay.com]

The 2nd one ive seen in 3 months

I've seen one in Copperas Cove Texas. It was parked along US 190. Almost mistook it for a Smart fortwo since there's a dealership at Round Rock. Don't think it was that generation though.

@1300ccsoffury: I'm definitely disappointed. I still remember the first time I saw an A-class in London. I've wanted one ever since.

The A class is a great car, competes well with VW Golf and Opel Astra, but better resale value, on my second and hoping to get my third in October, after the facelift....