[Turbo_Charger]

Originally Posted by rohanjf

K9K in A-class is available only with manual transmission. I believe the heavy turbo lag is the reason that Mercedes (or Renault) are not able to mate the K9K 110PS engine with a dual clutch automatic transmission.

The K9K in 110PS Tune is available with the 6 Speed Dual Clutch Transmission for Renault Fluence. ACI has even reported that Renualt will bring it in India soon. So that's not the reason for not fitting the K9K in the A Class and upcoming B-Class Diesel. Must be something else.

Link : http://www.autocarindia.com/News/328...ming-soon.aspx

[9thsphinx]

Originally Posted by nik_kapur

Just wondering if they had made this beaut of a machine slightly taller like a X1, they may have had a stampede at their showrooms. India loves boots and India looooves tall (er!!) wannabe SUVs.

Mercedes already has plans to cater to your requirement. Enter the GLA class! (Expected launch 2014).

[eq24]

Good pricing I must say, Gives them a lot of leeway for discounts in six months time, which inevitably they will give.

The diesel equipment disparity is beyond me, yet these guys usually know what they are doing so time will tell about this move. I think they want to create a corporate edition of sorts but how many corporate's will jump for this offing, only time will tell.

I have a strong feeling that this will mostly be picked up by folks who have experienced the 30 Lac + club and want a second everyday type car. I will be surprised if they find a lot of takers in the first time 20+ lac entrants. Usually people like these want more car for their money. No wonder the B - class is not setting the charts on fire.

I attended the unveiling at T&T motors in Gurgaon last Saturday and what I could gather from the people present was that it was a nice car and all but they still wanted to know the offers on the C and the E. One guy mentioned a certain trim of the E with a discount of over 9 Lac, effectively bringing it to a cost of around 32 on road Gurgaon. Now that is an excellent price for a excellent car.

More over the rich in Gurgaon mostly comprises the Land owners, builders, developers and the industrial leaders in the Manesar belt. Folk like those as was apparent in the launch wanted a vehicle to announce to the world that they have made it. A sentiment the A-class can not convey, again this was according to them.

I thus concluded that the competition for the A-class is not from any other car but with the mentality of the every day Indian. For him to justify 25 lac for what is essentially a hatchback will be difficult. The X1 was more in tune with this mentality and although was a similar product had a more apt design and positioning. The A4 too sells for this very reason, for around 29 with discounts you can get a proper car. And deep down I feel this is the reason for the Fortuners success as well.


Some pics from the night.

[F150]

Originally Posted by 9thsphinx

Launch Prices:

A-180 Sport (Petrol): 22.73L

A-180 Style (Diesel): 21.93L

Poor pricing.

Could have priced it easily at 18 - 19 L. The pricing is off by 2 to 3 Lacs.

What is the target segment ?

[Maky]

Originally Posted by F150

Poor pricing.

Could have priced it easily at 18 - 19 L. The pricing is off by 2 to 3 Lacs.

Now that I've had time to let it sink it, I agree completely.
They could have however I think they have priced it such either because they think their prestige/exclusivity/image might get harmed should they have a sub-20L price for one of their cars OR because of the upcoming CLA class after which they may reduce the price of the A-Class post it's launch and price the CLA around what A is going for.
I personally like the exteriors of the vehicle but I can't say I have read very many reviews online(youtube mostly) where they are all praising it. The Volvo V40 on the other hand...

[sgiitk]

I think it was both the image as well the fact that it is a CBU!

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by kbk_75

...The petrol version comes with some decent kit, but is still missing some options that really ought to be standard at a 25 lakh price-point (Park sensors anyone?).

Seriously??

The test drive cars do have front and rear parking sensors. Do you think its possible the car you saw didn't have them, but the cars on sale will?

Originally Posted by kbk_75

...Also the car I played with did not have any Sat Nav,

Once again, press/demo cars have sat-nav (though the map data hasn't been loaded on one of the cars). Was this the case on the car you saw? Was the car you saw a customer car, or dealership demo car, or something else?

Originally Posted by kbk_75

...The same engine has 168 hp in Europe and 350 nm torque. Here it's down 100 nm and 59 hp!

Wonder if they're saving a higher tune to differentiate the CLA??

The optimist might say that "at least there's a lot of potential for a re-tune"!

cya
R

[kbk_75]

Originally Posted by Maky

I think they have priced it such either because they think their prestige/exclusivity/image might get harmed should they have a sub-20L price for one of their cars

Personally I think putting a really low spec engine into the car will do more to harm their image than pricing it more competitively.

Originally Posted by sgiitk

I think it was both the image as well the fact that it is a CBU!

CBU certainly does not help the showroom price or the on-road price. What was the rush? They don't have cars to sell as it is, they should have imported the kits from Europe and assembled them locally and added more features, to make their smallest offering feel truly special.

Originally Posted by Rehaan

Seriously??

The test drive cars do have front and rear parking sensors. Do you think its possible the car you saw didn't have them, but the cars on sale will?



Once again, press/demo cars have sat-nav (though the map data hasn't been loaded on one of the cars). Was this the case on the car you saw? Was the car you saw a customer car, or dealership demo car, or something else?



Wonder if they're saving a higher tune to differentiate the CLA??

The optimist might say that "at least there's a lot of potential for a re-tune"!

cya
R

Sales person told me that rear park sensors could be added as a dealer option for around 40,000. No front sensors possible. No optical viewing system either for the rear sensors. Also I saw a B class that had the rear sensors fitted as an option and they had rubber bungs around the sensors that marred the look of the bumper, IMO.

The car at the dealership was their display car and it said "No Navigation" when I pressed the Navi button. Salesperson confirmed that sat nav would not be offered. What's more, the Bluetooth pairing repeatedly failed and the screen went blank each time as though the system was crashing. Had to turn the car off and back on each time to re initialise. After four attempts the salesperson said we should start the engine and try. Then it paired with a Sony Android phone but failed to pair with my iPhone 5. It pulls up your contact list on the screen but does not show audio file names on the screen when streaming via Bluetooth.

As for re-tuning, I'm really not a fan of paying full price for a detuned car with warranty, only to then pay more to retune it and lose my warranty in the process. It's just so pointless.

Lastly, I'm hoping to test drive the car at some point before I have a final opinion on the model, but on paper, the diesel especially, has left me a bit disappointed. Maybe that will change if the car drives exceptionally well. Time will tell.

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by kbk_75

Sales person told me that rear park sensors could be added as a dealer option for around 40,000. No front sensors possible. No optical viewing system either for the rear sensors.

What about the rear view camera? Did it have that?

cya
R

[vij]

Will the OTR price be more bloated than normal because this is CBU? If so, by how much?

[Maky]

Originally Posted by kbk_75

What really soured the entire visit to the dealership was taking a look at the spec sheet for the diesel version. Is MB REALLY offering us a car with 109 hp? The same engine has 168 hp in Europe and 350 nm torque. Here it's down 100 nm and 59 hp! Frankly, I don't care WHAT price they are selling it at, a FWD Merc that puts out 109 hp is a complete joke and whoever gave that detune the green light for India ought to get the boot!

In this months AUTOCAR magazine the man states that they have brought a low spec diesel engine because it better suits the poor quality of diesel available in our country and is why they did not bring the "Euro V" diesel engine.
I think the engine you may have seen is the same Renault one and not the one by MB perhaps? I'm not sure of the displacement figures as it was not mentioned in the article in the magazine, Else it would have helped to identify.
Once I'll get home from work I'll have a read again & post back.

[thesilentone]

Does anyone have an idea about the ground clearance? It looks disconcertingly low. Recently I saw a C class scraping the ground while trying to come down a slope in front of a restaurant and the sound was . . . . . and the C class generally looks to have decent clearance.

[kbk_75]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

What about the rear view camera? Did it have that?

cya
R

No rear view camera.

Originally Posted by vij

Will the OTR price be more bloated than normal because this is CBU? If so, by how much?

I believe OTT will be 20%, can someone else confirm please?

Originally Posted by Maky

In this months AUTOCAR magazine the man states that they have brought a low spec diesel engine because it better suits the poor quality of diesel available in our country and is why they did not bring the "Euro V" diesel engine.
I think the engine you may have seen is the same Renault one and not the one by MB perhaps? I'm not sure of the displacement figures as it was not mentioned in the article in the magazine, Else it would have helped to identify.
Once I'll get home from work I'll have a read again & post back.

So then how come the Indian made E220 CDI makes the full 170 BHP and 400 NM torque? That car also runs on the same rubbish diesel, right? I cannot stand it when people offer idiotic excuses for things. This is PR spin, pure and simple. The bottom line is the engine in the diesel A class being offered here is desperately low rated for a 2.2 litre CRDI engine. It might still drive fairly well, I dunno, haven't had a chance to drive it, but 108 BHP out of a 2.2 CRDI is a joke!

[vinj14]

In chennai the ex showroom price if the diesel version is 24 lakhs and the on road price is 29.2 lakhs. Petrol would be more. This was the info I got from a trusted salesman from whom I purchased my c200 last yr.

25 lakhs on road would have been decent. This is way too much IMHO. Sad to see such good cars being priced so badly.

[Bluebeem]

Originally Posted by Maky

In this months AUTOCAR magazine the man states that they have brought a low spec diesel engine because it better suits the poor quality of diesel available in our country and is why they did not bring the "Euro V" diesel engine.
I think the engine you may have seen is the same Renault one and not the one by MB perhaps? I'm not sure of the displacement figures as it was not mentioned in the article in the magazine, Else it would have helped to identify.
Once I'll get home from work I'll have a read again & post back.

What absolute rubbish ?

So here's a company that has made it to record books for being the largest investor in R&D in the world (in the auto industry). The figure was $1 million per day about 5 years back when it made that record. Should be substantially higher now. Yet they refuse to get a better tuned engine to india and blame it on the diesel.

This is the same company that happily imports all its other variants (all AMG models, S500,S600 etc) ditto as their European versions. This is the same company that has the same 2.2 engine tuned for india in the C class variants E220 and E250.

Yet they choose to use none of the above options and bring a totally new underpowered Diesel engine in our country and expect us to believe them when they say its because of the poor quality of diesel?

Shame on you MBIL! No wonder you are losing sales to competition every passing year.