Mercedes-Benz A45 AMG Review: Road And Track
MERCEDES-BENZ A 45 AMG REVIEW
What’s hot: Amazing race-car capability, crackling exhaust, surprising compliance.
What’s not: On road, nothing. Inside, the screen display looks a bit naff.
X-FACTOR: Signed, sealed and delivered: the world’s best hot-hatch – bar none; and equally at home on road or on track.
Vehicle style: Small premium hot hatch
Engine/trans: 265kW/450Nm 2.0 turbo | 7spd DCT
Fuel consumption listed: 6.9 l/100km | tested: 11.0 l/100km
OVERVIEW
If you’re going to build a hot hatch, why not build the world’s best?
This is what Mercedes Benz has done with the A 45 AMG. It’s not just better; it’s head and shoulders above all-comers.
Right now, it’s the Bob Beaman of ‘hot hatches’ (Google it, if you don’t know), that’s what it is.
Slide in behind the wheel, nail the accelerator “when safe to do so” (yes Nanny), and this is what 265kW and 450Nm feels like in a car the size of a sandshoe.
It’s fast, brother, very fast.
Add AWD grip, twin-scroll turbo, a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission that rifles off an F1-style whip-crack with each upshift, crackles and growls on downshifts, and you’ve got the ingredients for some serious high-performance alchemy.
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