Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum, but I just fancied a good rant about my little a-class. She's a 1997 A140 Elegance in Jungle green. I love her to pieces, but i've had nothing but bad luck since I got her. I'd like to modify her a bit (like GPReyes!), but it's all cost.
I've had her since last December. When I got her she had 60,000 miles on the clock, was sparkling, not a single mark on her, and the guy that I brought her from was a mot tester for Mercedes and had had her since birth. I was SO pleased with her, then...
First of all there was insurance, being 19 at the time, and having only 1 years no claims, the cheapest insurance I could get was bordering on £1000. Hvaing sorted my insurance over the phone (pre-arranged), I drove off happy as larry. Got to my Uncles house, parked up outside, and called him out, he wanted to go for a spin in her, so we jumped in, went to start her and, nothing. Completely dead. I was in fits of tears all night, and come the morning we were making phone calls to get her towed back home. But, having found the fuse box, we discovered that the fuse for the instrument cluster had blown, replaced it and she was absolutely fine. This has happened about 4 times since and I still don't know what the cause is...?
Then, less than 2 weeks after getting her, a bus drove straight into the back of me. luckily I didn't shunt into the car in front because I had my handbrake on. But I had to get a new back bumper (£400 excess to pay), and the bus company are still denying it being their fault (don't ask me how they can deny it...) and I'm still waiting for my compensation.
Then, new tyres, fine, I needed them. But hey, I'm a student, I don't like paying for things! Then of course my road tax, a nice service, new headlight bulbs, new wipers. I know that this lot is all part of car ownership, and I accept that. along with the constantly rising petrol prices... grr.
One day i was parked in town and came back to my car, and some *bleep* in a white van (guessing it was a van) had driven past me at clearly a far too close range, and scraped half my paint off, dented her, left her covered in white paint. The mark is about 5 inches by 20 inches down the passenger side. Less than a week later another *bleep* left a deep parking ding as well. My car looked fine from the drivers side, the passenger side was a whole other story.
The other day my brake pad light came on on the dashboard, so I booked her in to get them replaced. Yesterday came around and the guy calls me (he's got Huey down at the garage),
and he says, "i can't find your locking wheel nut, I've rooted right through the car."
I said "It's definitely in there, have you tried the glove compartment?"
"Yep," he says, "i'll bash these ones off and put some new ones on for you instead"
I said, "No, please don't do that, leave it for today, I'll find the locking wheel nut, and we'll get it sorted another day"
he says, "it's ok, leave it with me, i'll have another look for it and sort something out"
So there ya go. I come home from work at 4pm, to find my poor little car sitting in the driveway, bashed up alloys, new locking wheel nuts that stick out an extra 5mm or more, with a bright yellow plastic ring around them. They look rubbish, as do my alloys now (which will only get worse, thanks to matey the paint is flaking off them). and, just to complete it, a bill for £75 quid on my passenger seat. £55 for the new brake pads, £20 for the new locking wheel nuts.
Guess what I found almost immediately? The locking wheel nut remover. I officially hate the guy for doing that to my car. I gave her a good wash today though and tried to cheer her up, but just realised that I need a new rear wiper blade
Sorry for this enormous rant, but I can talk on here, unsuprisingly the other students couldn't really care less!
If anyone can help me work out what the fuse problem is then I would really appreciate any comments. I can cope with buying a little bag of 7.5 fuses at £1.30 once a year, but it's just a pain! I'm also having an issue with the little rectangle on the instrument cluster, and following a guide I found on here (thank you Lofty), I'm going to attempt a bulb replacement (not something i'd normally do myself, but i'm not trusting my mechanic ever again, I'll end up with the panel facing outwards or something...)
Anyway, if you've managed to read all of this without falling asleep then thank you, I appreciate it!
Jodie (Hueys owner)
A good old fashioned rant. Although I love my car... A-Class A140, rock on! 
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