Never owned a German car, only American, Japanese and Swedish. Fell in love with the new Mercedes A220 in 2019, did some research and figured out what all you know. Before I complain too much, there is a great deal to be said about how wonderful my car is (A220), it is genuinely the first car in my life that I felt a real attachment to and the mileage is incredible (getting around 35 city/highway average). Ok:

- High maintenance costs, expensive oil changes though less frequent
- Very high depreciation
- Leasing the norm, not buying
- Less reliable than Japanese cars (well who isn't)

A few things that I hadn't expected:

Build quality - Not that good, fix one squeak/rattle, another one comes. It's a new model but my new model Toyota was flawless.

Servicing - This one really surprised me. Every issue is measured not in hours but in days, indeed almost in weeks. A simple thing like an errant warning on the dash (no actual problem). At any other dealership or repair shop it's a fix done within a few hours at the very most. Mercedes? They hope to get it done within a week. Is it that dealership? Nope, other one took almost a week to fix one small rattle behind glove compartment, now B pillar is rattling. The other question mark I have is cost on their side, I get a loaner car (and yes that's a nice feature although somewhat expected if your car is brand new and repair/diagnostic times are so long), isn't this processing time for Mercedes killing them on profit? How much does a loaner set them back per day?

Maybe cars increased vastly in complexity since I bought my last Toyota in 2012? Is it a poorly run shop or is this the new normal? I suspect the former as I have looked up non-dealer venues with fantastic ratings, based on their reviews the turnaround times are much faster.

Thoughts?

 

Make sure your expectations are in-line with what you purchased. It sounds like that might not be the case. An A-class is an entry-level economy car in the Benz lineup. You bought (leased/rented?) a sirloin not a filet, but you're eating at the same restaurant. Build quality is subjective. Some A-classes are built in Mexico. (check your door jamb sticker)
It's a brand new car to the USA market. Expect some growing pains. Dealership technical personnel are not familiar with them just yet, and they may never be. It's a low volume seller so far. MB is cranking out so many new models, so fast, that nobody can keep up with it, and by the time the bugs are worked out, there's a new model to replace it and start all over again. A-class is not a bad car, like the CLA/GLA was. It's much improved over that platform, just be realistic about what it is, and you will be mostly happy with it.

Maintenance is a huge profit maker for the dealership. Consider buying the MB prepaid maintenance program, it's a good value for the customer, even though the technician working on your car gets screwed by MB.


Manufacturer's want everyone in a lease, forever. They don't make money when your car is owned and paid for. Most any MB built after 2014 can be considered a cell phone with wheels. Once it becomes obsolete (and the warranty is over) the next major repair will exceed the value of the car. Throw it away and buy another.

 

Everything Greasemonkey said is correct...

 

I agree with the comments. I also hold the view that Mercedes' new vehicle as-delivered quality is sub-par, and lifetime reliability is sub-par. And the dealer sales-parts-service experience is sub-par.

Why are we doing this to ourselves?

 

One thing I didn't comment on. All "luxury" vehicles depreciate significantly the more expensive the higher the depreciation. Luckily given todays market, my 5y/o e43 still had over 50% value. Another thing that kills particularly European cars is options. An S class can be 100k however you can balloon the price to almost double! All those options aside from a bigger engine dont amount to peanuts when seling the car. Lets face it a car is a consumable, not an investment.

 

Dealerships make most of their profits from financing, loading up dealer installed options, and especially service. The way to avoid a $400 A-Service invoice is to spend $50 on an oil filter and jug of 0W-40, and do it yourself. Spend the $350 you saved on an espresso maker and make believe your garage is a cushy customer lounge.

 

honestly A classes are garbage fig what you pay.