Mercedes-Benz Class A Review: The improvements can not justify the payment of a premium

Because magazine, with which I grew up, as if a parent, has long had a guide at the back called "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly".

It was a very clever idea – as well as many esoteric columns of LJK Setright and Ronald "Steady" Barker, and big tests, towards the end of the mag, a pithy verdict on every new car on the market From Hillman Imp to Panther 6 So the magazine was always complete.

Each product was abstracted in the spirit of the modern tweet. So, in tribute, let me do the same thing, which will save us time, for the new Mercedes A Class:

For: Beautiful large screens, improved interiors, a "predatory" grille

Against: Cost, Renault engines,

Verdict: l & # 39; Audi A3 is still a challenge, but A

In fact, they changed the format a bit now to Car and they like Class A a bit more than me, but you'll have to go read all this for you.

There are many more cars of charm than the new A-Class. These are elegant and solid and charismatic, the essential qualities to persuade you to pay for a vehicle – even if you know very well that you are stupid and that you would be fine with a Jaguar, an Audi or a Volvo. (Or a Vauxhall, to be honest, and car snobbery was somehow magically banished.)

The CLS, for example, the G-Wagen (and it's worth for the old or the new version), the Mercedes-Maybach. Pretty special, everyone.

Unfortunately, class A is not so special that you would like to spend twice as much on one as you could on a roughly equivalent Volkswagen Golf, let's say. He does not like it, impresses as much or, for the most part, looks so awesome. Nothing serious with that, much to praise; but not quite coveted.

20 years ago, Mercedes-Benz became small, very small, with its class A sedan. There were three remarkable things about this novel, straight, striking design. The first was engineering, with the engine "sandwiched" between layers in the floor, which freed up space and gave the car a lot of space for passengers and luggage .

The second characteristic of the original of 1997 was how much, to tell the truth, the filling was cheap. "Baby Benz" perhaps, but with regard to plastics, it was more like a Renault Clio than a narrowed S-Class limousine.

Thirdly, Class A failed to fail the "momentum test", a standard hurdle used by a Swedish automotive magazine to gauge how a car makes an emergency gap. Poor little class A has been overthrown.

The new generation could not be farther from the old car, (well, this side of a Bentley Bentayga), which is good and bad. Now in his fourth generation, he has clearly lost the inventiveness and flair of old cars. It's more beautiful though, especially in the front where the stylists have done a superb job;

Anterior wings, it is rather blobby and amorphous, although aerodynamic, and the back sneaks, as if they were fed up. The new Class A is so low and smooth that the first two generations were straight and slightly unsightly, an athlete where the ancestors looked like young children learning to walk.

The new model is also lower and wider than its immediate predecessor, who also broke with the old radicalism and reinvented the Class A as a classic five-door front-drive hatch. (As there were not enough, only the outgoing BMW 1 Series offers traditional rear-wheel drive, but even that one is becoming FWD, the Subaru Impreza is as weird as it is. It is now, indeed, so large public has grown this Mercedes that shares engines with the Renault-Nissan alliance, including Dacia cars and Renault vans (also badged as Mercedes vans these days). There is nothing wrong with that, because it is the only way for the modern automotive industry to remain viable, by sharing vast development costs. , 3 liter in the A200 offers adequate performance and sounds a little tense when you push it hard, but usually it happens with the job quietly. (There is a diesel option, plus a more powerful gasoline model and a hot AMG version on the way.)

A Renault / Nissan / Dacia engine is all simp Not the kind of things that Mercedes-Benz owners would like, I would say. (I also wonder what will happen to the legendary image of Mercedes when all these small Citan vans, based on the Renault Kangoo, will start to become rusty and shabby.) Scabby is not a "prestige" look.)

The spec

In other words, it is quite difficult to justify the "premium" price attached to the car, both on the list price and the monthly rental fee. The best chance for the Mercedes-Benz seller is to move the consumer from the awesome "face" of the car and into the cabin as quickly as possible. Here, with the "premium" and other packs, you'll be dazzled by the sleek modernity of a 1.25-inch screen in landscape format, not one but two,

these, as Mercedes catches up with the rest of the market, touch screen. You can also access your computer's leisure, navigation and navigation via the buttons on the steering wheel, a kind of mini mouse pad between the front seats, other buttons on the center console and saying "Hello Mercedes "

The control system is impressive in theory, but not flawless. It took too many attempts to listen to her on BBC Radio 5, and she tried to take me to an acupuncture clinic when I asked her to take me to work (he was tempting to make an "honest mistake")

If it is artificial intelligence that I am happy with the real thing. Alexa has nothing to fear from Mercedes. I do not know what could happen if someone called Mercedes in the car. Mercedes, by the way, was the name of the daughter of an Edwardian car dealership who named her Benz racing after her – Mercedes Jellinek. In a way, you say hello to his mind. A little disturbing.

The Class A cabin is generally in line with the standards of its older brothers and sisters, and the "turbojet" look of the vents is particularly cool. The ambient lighting that changes with your mood and your driving style is also fun, but I must say that it does not quite have this blood pressure reducing effect that flows in an E-Class or a CLS gives you

Everything is done, then, it's about twice the price of a Ford Focus, a Golf or a Vauxhall Astra, but with an air of first quality, a more beautiful face and beautiful screens. Is it worth it?

Verdict: No.

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