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Mercedes-Benz models, news & reviews
3
Handling
Performance
2
Usability
4
Feelgood factor
Readers' rating
2.5
By Guy Bird
First Drives
30 May 2008 09:10
Luckily for the Mercedes A-class, its otherwise dull 2008 facelift has been saved from obscurity by interesting new engine and powertrain developments. Ignore the forgettable visual exterior and interior tweaks – a rubbing strip going body coloured here, an aerial getting shorter to be more ‘carwash compatible’ there – and hear this genuine first: from October 2008, the Mercedes A-class range will offer the cleanest ever production car to wear the three-pointed star, qualifying for all manner of low taxes in the process.
The A160 CDI ‘Blue Efficiency’ FE three-door manual introduces Mercedes’ answer to BMW’s Efficient Dynamics and will offer 62.8mpg and 119g/km of CO2 by utilising a package of improvements in engine efficiency, rolling resistance, aerodynamics and weight reduction. Those figures equate to 8 percent less fuel use compared to the previous model. Even the five-door will manage 57.6mpg and 128g/km.
Yes. From autumn 2008, both the A- and B-class petrol engine models – the 150 and 170 units – will become the first within the Mercedes range to get fuel-saving ECO ‘stop/start’ technology. Driving the A170 in suitably ‘stop and go’ Berlin traffic and given prior experience of BMW and other makers’ systems, we thought we knew what to expect. We were wrong.
Unlike BMW’s system that cuts out when the car is put into neutral at low-speed coasting, Merc’s version requires the driver to keep a foot on the brake. It starts again when the clutch is pressed or the brake pedal released. The technology will become standard on the two models in the UK and can, Mercedes says, reduce fuel consumption by 9 percent – or about 3.5mpg – giving the A170 ECO stop/start a 46.3mpg rating.
But keeping a foot on the brake when stuck in traffic for a minute or more feels weird and a little uncomfortable – especially for a manual gearbox car – and as soon as you take your foot off the brake the engine fires up again. Merc won’t offer it on diesel versions just yet as the firm says diesel stop/start is trickier to engineer on its system while still reaching meaningful emission and economy gains. But haven’t BMW and Mini managed it on their systems?
Click 'Next' to read more about the new Merc A-class
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Mercedes A170 ECO Stop/start 5dr (2008) CAR review
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RedYaris56 says
Re: Mercedes A170 ECO Stop/start Avantgarde SE 5dr CAR review
giromondo said: Interesting! It is illegal to sit waiting with your brake lights on constantly - obviously it is acceptable if you are the last in the queue and warning other traffic. Therefore this system is totally useless in the UK for law abiding drivers. The UK production version of the "Blue Efficiency" stop/start system now does not need the driver to sit with a foot on the brake The engine is now restarted when the clutch pedal is depressed.
giromondo said: Interesting! It is illegal to sit waiting with your brake lights on constantly - obviously it is acceptable if you are the last in the queue and warning other traffic. Therefore this system is totally useless in the UK for law abiding drivers.
The UK production version of the "Blue Efficiency" stop/start system now does not need the driver to sit with a foot on the brake
The engine is now restarted when the clutch pedal is depressed.
04 December 2010 12:22
comment8 says
RE: Mercedes A170 ECO Stop/start 5dr CAR review
I simply referred to the fuel figures quoted by Mini on it's OZ and UK web sites. From what I remember of CARs musing on the Mini stop-start system, this requires the driver to be in neutral and the handbrake to be engaged before the engine cuts out. Legal but requires a substantial shift in a driver behaviour. Perhaps that is why CARs Mini is struggling to return 34 mpg (it's not even city based). The Mercedes system sounds more pratical if illegal in every day use and MAY have more of an impact than the Mini effort. As to the A class itself, it is the only truly original product to come out of Germany for years and though poorly executed and expensive to buy it is much more than a truncated hatchback. I owned one of the original SWB cars and found it perfect for life in London. I was constantly amazed at how much could be shoved in and the engineering of the rear seat was truly impressive. The later model has become far more bland to try and appeaze the "not a real Mercedes" crowd.
05 June 2008 04:06
kkirkou says
Yeah, yeah, yeah, ok. We've got it. I'm going to buy a W124 now, if you don't mind.
02 June 2008 22:31
Brand0 says
I don't know if it's illegal or not (to sit with your foot on the brake)- I do know though that the majority of UK drivers do it, so it shouldn't really harm sales success, even if it may encourage bad habits at the wheel. Comment8 - I don't know what you are driving at with your OZ figures, but common sense will tell you that if you do a journey, especially in town, and the engine is off while sitting at junctions and in traffic, the car will drink less fuel for any given journey compaired with the same car that does the same journey but is running the whole time. It's a nonsense to sugest otherwise, regardless of official figures. Back to this Mercedes, the problem that this car has always had is that as a truncated hatchback, it lack prestige, and a Mercedes without prestige is no Mercedes at all. Only morons who see the badge buy them because the car offers nothing that the marque actually represents, apart from decent crash performance.
02 June 2008 17:26
giromondo says
Interesting! It is illegal to sit waiting with your brake lights on constantly - obviously it is acceptable if you are the last in the queue and warning other traffic. Therefore this system is totally useless in the UK for law abiding drivers.
02 June 2008 16:21
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