SpecB
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Mercedes A150 Blue EfficiencyI was greeted with bedlam at Aeropuerto de Palma de Mallorca a couple of weeks ago. It took an hour to get the luggage and I was relived that my Hertz Gold Card enabled me to go straight to the garage and get the car and be on our way.
This was not to be, as the car wasn't available when I arrived. A very harassed lady apologised profusely then told me she would upgrade me to save some time. This resulted in the jump from group D to group F.
I've had an A Class before in the 170 CDI and although it was a nice enough car there was not an awful lot to say about it apart from it being very front heavy and a bit roly-poly in the bends.
I had to look up the Blue Efficiency thing to see what it does and couldn't find an awful lot on it so I still have no real clue.
The new car is an improvement over the old one certainly. The interior is well made although some plastics are still nasty in places, especially on the doors. It came with a decent stereo with aux input and bluetooth phone which promptly refused to work - I could hear people through the speakers but they couldn't here me through the mike which doesn't bode well on a car with less that 2000 kms on the clock. The seats were quite large and trimmed in half cloth and leather. The seats being large didn't hamper rear legroom and the boot took two cases and other bits and pieces quite happily although the retractable blind wouldn't shut as it is tied onto runners along the side.
The (I presume) 1.5 petrol was horrible. There was nothing low down and it had to be thrashed to within an inch of its life to get anything but a snail's pace of progress from it. There was a little button with a light marked "ECO" on the dash and even switching this off made hardly any difference but at least the engine seemed to rev a bit more freely.
It was still a bit roly-poly in the bends but the front was much lighter than the diesel so you could corner quite enthusiastically with no drama. There was no steering feel and I imagine a lot of this is down to the special low resistance tyres but it was light and the gearchange was OK.
In conclusion, it's a nice enough little car but I still wouldn't have one - especially with that engine.
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Frank Bullitt
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Re: Mercedes A150 Blue Efficiency | SpecB wrote: | | The (I presume) 1.5 petrol was horrible. There was nothing low down and it had to be thrashed to within an inch of its life to get anything but a snail's pace of progress from it. There was a little button with a light marked "ECO" on the dash and even switching this off made hardly any difference but at least the engine seemed to rev a bit more freely |
A few years ago a friend looked at swapping his wife's new Beetle 1.6 for an A150 - he worked at a Merc dealership and could get an A150 all-in for £99pcm, all he had to buy was fuel. He borrowed one on the Friday night for the weekend but took it back Saturday morning reckoning it was dangerously underpowered.
I think Blueefficiency has lower viscosity oil, air inlets that close at speed and such-alike.
Rather think the current 'A' is nice but seems to be hindered by lousy engines (gutless petrols and racketty diesels) and not sure about the facelift. A pre-facelift A200 turbo would probably be a giggle.
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Dr. Hfuhruhurr
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The A Class seems to have become a bit of an orphan, in that you get the sense even Mercedes aren't that interested in it any more. It's a shame, because the concept was excellent, and way ahead of its time given the current need to package the mechanicals more cleverly to meet pedestrian safety rules; note how the A Class does without the gargoyle-like front end of most modern FWD cars. But the next model will have a conventional FWD layout ...
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TimR
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As far as I can make out Blue Efficiency simply means :-
1) Stick a bodykit on your base model
2) Fill in as many 'holes' at the front end to improve airflow
3) Low rolling resistance tyres
4) Lengthen the gearing as far as reasonably possible. Then add 20%
In a short test of the Polo Blue E whichever mag it was said they'd filled in the grille as it wasn't necessary anyway.
Why not do that for all the Polo models
The net result - with the Polo at least - reminds me of those limited edition Mk2 Fiestas that were based on the 990 Popular Plus and had a full XR2 bodykit but standard Pop Plus ultra skinny wheels.
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Dr. Hfuhruhurr
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| TimR wrote: | | In a short test of the Polo Blue E whichever mag it was said they'd filled in the grille as it wasn't necessary anyway. Why not do that for all the Polo models. |
I was thinking the same thing - lower and without a front grille would be the way to go throughout the range. In fact I remember Ford saying in the early 1980s that a "formal" grille above the bumper wasn't the best way to get air into the engine, which is why the Sierra didn't have one. I blame the Rover 800 facelift for popularising them again.
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TimR
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Passat Mk2 did without as well (when was the last time you saw one of them on UK roads).
The Rover facelift was awful.
I much preferred the original with the 2 slat grille.
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Dr. Hfuhruhurr
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| TimR wrote: | | Passat Mk2 did without as well (when was the last time you saw one of them on UK roads). |
So it did, until they facelifted it and added a grille ...
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DaveGibson
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The 'grille' on the IS250 is just a solid panel, with no holes in it. I suspect the one on the IS-F might let air through, though.
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Dr. Hfuhruhurr
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The concept for the IS didn't have a grille either. I wish manufacturers would get away from this idea of using a grille as the sole means of distinguishing their cars from others.
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Blarno
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Isn't the Blue Efficiency (Bleh, horrible marketing bullshit speak) thing the one with 'piss injection'?
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Frank Bullitt
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| Blarno wrote: | | Isn't the Blue Efficiency (Bleh, horrible marketing bullshit speak) thing the one with 'piss injection'? |
Blue-Tec; Urea!
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Martin
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Blue Efficiency doesn't always mean super long gearing and no performance.
The new E250 CDI has the Blue Efficiency tag, I was alongside one in traffic this evening.
The original A Class was well ahead of its time. OK it was a marmite car (something we like!) and had van plastics inside, but the interior space was superb for a car of its size and with ABS, ESP and the double floor, it ticked all the safety boxes when we bought one.
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Jasper
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| Frank Bullitt wrote: | | Blarno wrote: | | Isn't the Blue Efficiency (Bleh, horrible marketing bullshit speak) thing the one with 'piss injection'? |
Blue-Tec; Urea! |
The latest Crafters have an Adblue fitted as standard. What a lot of shite but interestingly Adblue is clear.
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Dr. Hfuhruhurr
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| Jasper wrote: | | What a lot of shite ... |
Not exactly ...
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PG
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| Martin wrote: | | The original A Class was well ahead of its time. OK it was a marmite car (something we like!) and had van plastics inside, but the interior space was superb for a car of its size and with ABS, ESP and the double floor, it ticked all the safety boxes when we bought one. |
It's a shame that both the two smaller cars that broke from type - the A2 and the A class - were not successful enough in the eyes of the manufactuer to be repeated or improved upon.
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Giant
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| PG wrote: | | Martin wrote: | | The original A Class was well ahead of its time. OK it was a marmite car (something we like!) and had van plastics inside, but the interior space was superb for a car of its size and with ABS, ESP and the double floor, it ticked all the safety boxes when we bought one. |
It's a shame that both the two smaller cars that broke from type - the A2 and the A class - were not successful enough in the eyes of the manufactuer to be repeated or improved upon. |
I saw a very clean 53plate A2 last week. It looked so 'right' it made me wonder if it was launched today rather than 10(?) years ago how much more popular it might be...
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SpecB
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| PG wrote: | | Martin wrote: | | The original A Class was well ahead of its time. OK it was a marmite car (something we like!) and had van plastics inside, but the interior space was superb for a car of its size and with ABS, ESP and the double floor, it ticked all the safety boxes when we bought one. |
It's a shame that both the two smaller cars that broke from type - the A2 and the A class - were not successful enough in the eyes of the manufactuer to be repeated or improved upon. |
Those are my thoughts as well. There is nothing inherently wrong with the car but there is nothing great that stands out other than the above mentioned safety bits. I have a feeling it would have so much more enjoyable with a better engine and that I may have been a touch unfair.
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Blarno
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I take it Blue is the new Green?
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TimR
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One of the articles I read alluded to there being an agreement among car manufacturers not to use the word green but it didn't say why.
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SpecB
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| TimR wrote: | | One of the articles I read alluded to there being an agreement among car manufacturers not to use the word green but it didn't say why. |
Green is unlucky in the automotive world or so I have been told. Some manufacturers don't even offer green as a colour.
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