MERCEDES-BENZ A CLASS A150 Classic SE 5dr (2005)

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I wasn't sure about getting a people carrier, but when we had our third child something had to change. We looked around but all the real people carriers just seemed so huge and lumbering. We do a lot of London driving and it's just not practical to have anything all that big. The Mercedes A Class caught our eye because it turned out to be actually shorter overall than our previous car, and made so much smarter use of space.

The three seats in the back are a great size for the kids, and the lovely tall boot means we can get the two buggies and endless kids stuff in there, plus shopping, and occasionally the odd thing for mum and dad as well! I'm sure the Mercedes A150 Classic SE will do us proud as the kids get older too, if it keeps going as happily as it has done for the past five years.

As far as any actual problems are concerned, all we've had is the tiniest little patch of rust coming up on one of the rear wheel arches, I think the left but it was a while since I noticed it, and haven't caught sight of it since. There's also a very slight squeal of the tyres in our local Tesco car park, but it doesn't happen anywhere else so maybe it's just that surface.

The A150 Classic SE is ever so practical all in all, for example the glove box is a really nice big size, and it's air conditioned in there too so your drinks stay nice and cool. There are other clever little touches in the Mercedes A Class like you can change the height of the steering wheel up and down which is really handy for us.

We don't often need to flip the back seats down, but it's been a life saver on a couple of occasions, and it really makes it into a little van back there. I mean the boot is pretty big as it is, but you can get a sofa or a small bed in the back with the seats flipped forwards.