I purchased my Merc A140 from Mercedes Direct in August 2004, it was a green one and had 17k on the clock, on an Avantgarde trim. Recently though I've sold it and now feel its appropriate to list the pros and cons of this particular model

Size & Space

For a start, I bought the long-wheel base version, this gave it approximately 20cm extra space, yeah I know doesn't sound like much but compared with the short-wheel base (which i also drove) there is a sense of more space. I'd recommend anyone to go for the long-base one. I easily managed to get 5 adults in the car (including me) numerous times and not one complained of space.
The boot was a good decent sized one and because it was a hatchback there was no trouble putting the shopping or occasional IKEA flatpack in it. The manual reckons all but the drivers seat is removable giving it acres of space, i can't comment because i never tried but the family in the brochure look pleased with this feature.
Parked up against the likes of Focus' and Golfs' the A140 doesn't look huge or out of place and one feels that mercedes had tried to cater this to that market.

Handling and Performance and safely

I think that overall it was about a C+, a good effort but could have been much better. The 1.4, i felt did, at times struggle with motorway speeds and overtaking on narrow lanes always proved to be a mission. I think the 1.6 would be better for the open road. In town the 1.4 coped fine, it kept pace with the traffic and could take the corners well enough. It was however letdown by the handling; i found it quite unresponsive and gave the feeling that you were never 100% in control, this was even the case at low speeds and in reverse. I just never kelt connected to the car and the road.
I'm not sure what the economy was like, I'd put a tenner in and it got me about 60-70miles - hard to say now that a tenner gets you so little petrol
Mine came with about 6 airbags, ABS and an alarm, the doors locked at 20mph so you're never worried. I never woke up in the moringing fearing that i was unsafe, the car is a solid build and worth paying a bit more for

The Rest

One thing i hated about my car was the visibility, it ranged from annoying to dangerous, the A-piller (right of the drivers side) is huge and coming up to junctions, you could easily miss a car or a person, same with the C-piller (?) - the back left, i mean parking on the wrong side of the road it was very difficult to see cars coming from behind. The visibility issue, i thing is huge and really should be sorted.
Not the most sporty of looking cars, more of a minibus, but it was n't catered for the youth and their body kits.
Of course being a Mercedes and less than 3yrs old, I followed the regime of main-dealer service, I know Ouch! It stung to the tune of several hundred pounds a go. But i'll give them this, the car never once even gave a hint that something was wrong and it always worked perfectly.

So there it is, my mercedes - poor visibility, high service costs, high driving position, reliable and safe.
So in a nutshell If you're thinking about buying one, please get the long-wheel version, if you're going to do many motorway miles get a bigger engine.