kia cee'd?

[Apok]

Alright my sister got her drivers license about a year ago.
So now that she successful made a few dents in my dads BMW 5 series (E39)
She is ready to buy her first car.
She is now deciding between a kia cee'd, which she would buy new.
And a Mercedes a class (used).
I don't really know what a class she wanted but i think you guys can tell me some pluses and minuses about these cars.
Personally i think the Mercedes looks very very ugly , but I am very interested in what you guys think.

Help much appreciated

 

[Jondot]

Are those the only two she's interested in? And how old are we talking for the A class - the current model or the one that falls over if you shout 'MOOSE'?

Both of them are fine I suppose. The C'eeeeeed will come with a nice shiny 7 year warranty and is arguably the more attractive of the two, but it's also fairly mundane compared to a Merc. And the A Class... well, it's got a Mercedes badge on the front. That's about the only plus point as far as I can see.

 

[homeforsummer]

The C'eed: Perfectly good car, and as Jon says, has a massive warranty. It's the first Kia that's genuinely a better buy than most (but not all) of the stuff in the same class.

The A Class is quite a good car too, really. Very clever, as much room inside as an S-Class despite being shorter than Jondot's SportKa! Pre-production ones did fall over, so they changed a bunch of chassis settings and now they don't - though they don't handle particularly well either. Styling isn't too all tastes, but I quite like it. It's distinctive.

(Ironically that image is hotlinked from a site called "fuglyrides.com"

The only real trouble with the Merc is whether you get one that won't go wrong all the time. The A-Class is from a period in Mercedes' history where they didn't concentrate too hard on build quality and reliable electrical gadgets.

Oh, and they aren't good in sidewinds. High sides = wanders over the road.

 

[Murcie_LP640]

I think she needs to Google some more. I don't really particularly care for Kia's massive warranty, it's still a Kia and it's therefore still crap.

And the A-Class? Seriously?

 

[slidesquad#1]

The A Class is quite a good car too, really. Very clever, as much room inside as an S-Class despite being shorter than Jondot's SportKa!

Really? I've only been in the back of an A-class for about 10 minutes, but that was close to the most uncomfortable I've been in a car. The fancy sandwichy floor means that the actual floor surface was pretty high, and I was pretty well wedged in. Maybe the front seats were all the way back or something, but I distinctly remember it being pretty horrible. I would never ever have believed that the interiors space, especially in terms of rear legroom, would be anywhere close to the S, let alone match it.

 

[homeforsummer]

I think she needs to Google some more. I don't really particularly care for Kia's massive warranty, it's still a Kia and it's therefore still crap.

And the A-Class? Seriously?

The two comments highlighted in bold show that you clearly know nothing about either car. Perhaps she does need to look beyond these two cars but both are easily good enough for a first car.

Really? I've only been in the back of an A-class for about 10 minutes, but that was close to the most uncomfortable I've been in a car. The fancy sandwichy floor means that the actual floor surface was pretty high, and I was pretty well wedged in. Maybe the front seats were all the way back or something, but I distinctly remember it being pretty horrible. I would never ever have believed that the interiors space, especially in terms of rear legroom, would be anywhere close to the S, let alone match it.

Perhaps I'm thinking of the A-Class LWB. Either way, I found a hell of a lot of space in there. How tall are you? I'm about 5'10" roughly and found more than enough space in the back of the A when my mum had one for a while, though none of my family is particularly tall so the front seats weren't too far back either. I don't remember the floor being too high - I've sat in double-cab pickups where the floor was significantly higher in comparison.

But yeah, it's a car shorter than a Ford Ka and has a hell of a lot of space inside. I'd call that quite a clever design.

 

[slidesquad#1]

Perhaps I'm thinking of the A-Class LWB. Either way, I found a hell of a lot of space in there. How tall are you? I'm about 5'10" roughly and found more than enough space in the back of the A when my mum had one for a while, though none of my family is particularly tall so the front seats weren't too far back either. I don't remember the floor being too high - I've sat in double-cab pickups where the floor was significantly higher in comparison.

But yeah, it's a car shorter than a Ford Ka and has a hell of a lot of space inside. I'd call that quite a clever design.

I'm about the same height as you, so yeah...I dunno, this was a while ago, but I wasn't comfortable AT ALL. Maybe it was just the seats all the way back.

With respect to the floor height, again, I just remember thinking that the seats were quite low in comparison with the floor, so my thighs had pretty much no support . But again this might well have been because the seat was all the way back.


But I would have to go with the Kia. I don't believe the A-class significantly outshines it any respect, and you get the new car smell plus a warranty.

 

[TheCracker]

The only two people i know who've had A-classes, one a bloke and one a girl, both absolutely hated them. They may have a three-pointed star on the bonnet and stacks of rear legroom, in the LWB version anyway, but from what i gather that's all they have going for them.

Kias, like other Korean cars, have a certain honesty about them. They maybe dull and boring, but they're reliable, cheap and get the job done (as long as the job is getting from A to B). In the UK at least, they have a massive warranty which makes them the ideal car for someone who just wants to buy and use a car as a form of transport and nothing else.

 

[homeforsummer]

But I would have to go with the Kia. I don't believe the A-class significantly outshines it any respect, and you get the new car smell plus a warranty.

Personally, I'd go with the Kia too. Though we still aren't sure (as the OP hasn't responded yet) as to whether the current version of the A-Class is within price range, as that's supposed to be a much better car than the original. If the current A is within range, it might be a better bet than the Kia.

Incidentally, I never realised how cheap original As are going for now. You can get them over here for £1500...

The only two people i know who've had A-classes, one a bloke and one a girl, both absolutely hated them. They may have a three-pointed star on the bonnet and stacks of rear legroom, in the LWB version anyway, but from what i gather that's all they have going for them.

As a first car I'm sure one would be more than acceptable, though. As mentioned we've had one in a family and the only real problems it had were that it didn't like crosswinds (no narrow, tall car does) and that the dealers were shockingly bad, as most Merc dealers are far enough up their own backsides to look down on anyone driving an A as if it's not a real Merc.

A girl I knew at school had one too as her first car and loved it.

I'd still go for the Kia though - I just disagree that the original A is a bad car.