Cars and Bikes

1. I know the seller, and the car condition was very good
2. Low mileage
3. Perfect for as my wife's car, most of the time for drop and pick-up my daughter at school
4. Compact size, still have enough room for baggage
5. We likes the model and style.
6. Prestige, even small the A140 still bring Mercedes image
7. Quality and safety.
   

I pick-up the car at Jakarta and immediately brought the car to Bandung (approximately 165 km from Jakarta) through hilly road. The journey is perfect, no problem at all with the new car. Within four years using this car, not to much modification I made. I changed the original 15" wheel with 16" size, and the car gain 2 cm additional high. This higher wheel not reduced the car handling, is good to pass stop bump without scratch the bottom. I also added a new power amplifier to get better sound system quality.

During four years, I have no problem with its engine, even though the engine was small and produce rough sound, its powerful enough to get 140-150 km/h with three peoples and baggage on it. The engine was durable and bullet proof. I did regular maintenance every 10.000km (usually only once a year). Some peoples complain have with A140 performance, they said that they have lot of problems with the engine. Fortunately, my A140 was always in good condition (especially the engine). I like to do "italian tune-up", bring the car to the toll road and drove it with high speed and quite high rev (around 3000rpm) for 100km, at least once every two months. The only major problem was the key tumbler, its broken-prone after several clicks. The tumbler construction is poor, made by plastic. To get a new one, you should wait for a month and paid more than Rp 1M (more than US$ 120).

Comment for my Mercedes A140

1. Key tumbler problem, broken every year. I installed a cheap automatic central lock system with a remote to prevented the tumbler key problem


2. Tie rod and stabilizer link should be change after 20k km, however if you drive always in smooth asphalt road, this two gear will working much longer.
   
3. ABS light on and off, check the brake pad first, if the brake pad still thick and in good condition, check the battery. Low battery supply also can ignite the ABS light on.


4. Squeaking noise from the dashboard started occurred after 5 years, this cause by the plastic screw become weak, replace with metal screw.
   
5. The interior quality (especially the leather seat) were good
   
6. The air condition was good, I'd never have a problem with the A140 AC.


7. The highlight is bright enough especially if I turn on the fog light.
   
8. Steering column problem, This happen because of the conversion system from LHD to RHD, there are 3 knuckle joins in RHD version. And the weakness point is the first join which is located very close to the steering wheel. The solution is tightened the metal spee in that knuckle join, no part needed, only cost of labour for dismantling and re-install the dashboard.
   
9. Steering respond is not so good, no feeling. But its ok, what do you expect for small and cheap (not really cheap actually) merc like this.
   
10. Good fuel consumption, 1 liter for 10km in the city and 1:14 for extra urban road.