So, as promised, a few thoughts on the W177 A220 after a couple of weeks.
In short, I can see why so many reviews are saying the new A-Class is the best of the current crop of premium hatches. It really is rather good.
The drivetrain is very refined in normal use with low noise levels and pretty much zero vibration or harshness. It does get a bit louder at full chat, but even then, it’s never raucous. In fact, the refinement is so good that I keep finding myself travelling quicker than I would have in the E63 in the same circumstances because I’m missing the aural cues – praise the Lord for the standard Speedtronic speed limiter. The 7-speed DCT ’box is seamless, changing swiftly and without any nasty clunks or thuds, but it’s a novel experience seeing it change down from 7th to 6th even when accelerating at a moderate rate from 65-70mph after years living with the torque of the 5.5 Biturbo. In Eco mode it has the “sailing” feature whereby when you lift off the throttle it disconnects the drive and the engine drops to idle speed as a fuel-saving measure. Which brings me on to fuel economy. Driving it in Comfort mode to BOTG from north Oxfordshire, including the drive out, and travelling at an indicated 75mph for much of the trip it returned 43mpg which I thought was quite creditable. Short runs around town predictably punish economy, but I suppose that’s to be expected. In terms of outright performance, with 190hp and 300Nm torque it’s best described as “lively”, with a sub-7 second sprint from standstill to 100kph which translates to quick enough in all but the most demanding conditions. The combination of forced induction and the fast-shifting ’box mean that it performs well at motorway speeds too making high-speed overtakes a realistic proposition, even if they can’t be accomplished as quickly as when you have 550+ bhp available. According to the spec it tops out at 149mph.
The ride / handling balance is good, but it’s definitely biased towards refined comfort than outright driver involvement. In Comfort mode the steering is light and a bit lacking in feedback, but I guess that’s the point of Comfort mode. In Sport mode it weights up nicely and gives a bit more feedback although it doesn’t have the precision of the E63, nor the level of feedback that car’s steering gives – but then it’s a cooking FWD hatch, not a high-performance RWD car. Ride quality on the standard 18-inch wheels is also good, with a well-judged balance between comfort and body roll, but I suspect they’re also the reason for much of the road noise at motorway speeds. The chassis has obviously been set up by Mercedes to be safe and predictable rather than ultimately entertaining, with a gentle transition to understeer once you reach the limit of grip, but that’s not a bad thing on a regular hatchback. If you want more driving involvement, buy the A35 or A45.
The interior is the bit that really sets this car apart from its peers. While MBUX (the Mercedes-Benz User eXperience) may seem a bit gimmicky at first, it works remarkably well and, indeed, much better than I expected. The ability to give the car verbal instructions that it accurately follows is quite a revelation and, I suspect, where most control interfaces are heading. It takes a little time to remember where the different functions are when using the touch-pads on the left and right spokes of the steering wheel, but once you have the start of a mental map of the system menus it’s quite intuitive. The multi-touch touch-pad on the centre console is light-years ahead of the touch controller on the original W205 and provides another easy-to-use control interface, and if you really want yet another way of interacting with the car, the widescreen displays are also touch screens. I’m still of the view that tactile controls are what you really need in a car rather than something that you have to look at to operate, but the voice control is very effective and, frankly, there wouldn’t be enough room on the whole dashboard to put all the buttons you’d need to operate every function. Overall, I’m warming to it although still not 100% convinced.
The seats are Dynamica with Artico bolsters and are both comfy and supportive. I did consider looking for a car with the Premium Plus pack which is the only way of getting memory seats, but in the end decided I couldn’t justify the price premium nor did I want a car in white, black or silver which seem to be the dealers’ default choice for demonstrators. The upper part of the door cards is also clad in Dynamica which I think is rather nicer than the cost-option brushed aluminium that to me looks a bit naff. The centre console is finished in piano black which looks wonderful for all of the first 30 seconds after you’ve cleaned it, but then dust and fingerprints make it look a mess. Why it can’t be a more forgiving material only Mercedes-Benz’s designers know. While the dash roll and upper part of the door cards are finished in nice soft-touch materials, the lower part of the door cards and the under-dash are rather harder and less luxurious to touch, but nevertheless visually they look fine so it’s a reasonable compromise. One odd cost saving measure is that the painted door window frames are visible from inside rather than covered which looks a bit cheap on a £30k car. The front door pockets are large and include the obligatory drink bottle holder towards the front, and a clever pocket towards the rear to store the fluoro vest that’s now mandatory and standard equipment in many continental European countries, but that MBUK choose not to supply.
So far, with almost 1400 miles on the clock there are no rattles or squeaks from the interior, but I know from reading the various interweb fora that some owners are being driven to distraction by them. Why MB can’t design and build cars that are reliably free of such irritations is beyond me and a major failing of the marque. If every bottom-of-the-range Kia or Hyundai can be squeak and rattle-free, it’s not asking much that a £30k Mercedes should achieve the same. That it doesn’t is, frankly, pathetic.
The ambient lighting has a plethora of options, including a bewildering choice of 64 colours(!) but it certainly gives a wow factor to the interior, especially at night, and with the Premium pack you also get that other “must have”: illuminated door sills. I know I’ll miss the fantastic Intelligent Light System that graced the front of the E63 and is another of the Premium Plus pack items on the A-Class, but the LED headlamps seem quite good and I won’t be commuting every day through the winter on unlit country roads anymore, so it’s not the end of the world.
And in deference to
@Peter103, here are a few photos (with apologies for the dust in the interior!):
Mercedes reckon that the aero changes they made over the old model are the equivalent to losing 100kg off the car's weight:
The interior is available in black, or, err... black. At least it has red stitching to break up the monotony
The widescreen instruments...
...are - just like the piano black console - a dust magnet, but also highly customisable. This is the "Classic" style:
..and this is the "Sport" style (that I prefer):
The speedo & tacho "dials" and centre of the display can all be customised. For example the Instantaneous Consumption meter in the centre of the "Classic" photo could have been the basic milometer and trip distance in the "Sport" photo, or can be the Navigation display in this photo...
...or a variety of other things, such as media info, radio station info, phone info, etc.
You can even do things like have the left-hand main screen set to Navigation with a North Up orientation and in 2D (which I prefer as it allows me to see which direction I'm going in) and also have the centre of the driver's display showing the same Navigation info but with Track Up orientation and in 3D which make interpretation of junction information easier. All very clever.
Overall, I'm rather pleased with it
