Tuesday 28th January 2014

A45 AMG in the desert: Time For Tea?

Dakar 2015 practice is starting very early!

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So it turns out the Mercedes A45 AMG is an absolute hoot on ice. Of course it skids, but it's the fantastic responsiveness to driver inputs that left the strongest impression. It was brilliant.

But for serious off-roading you would need the imminent GLA45, right? Not so, it would appear. This video from French channel Option Auto shows an A-Class taking on (and clearing) a fair few dunes in an unnamed West African desert. And there's no crawling around or nursing it along here; it looks fast and surely sets a new bar for ultimate press car abuse.

Of course we can't see the unedited video so it could have been far less impressive in reality. Maybe it struggled and needed loads of attempts. And we would hate to see how the car looks. But for now it remains a cool video and poses one very relevant question; who does need a GLA45?

Watch it here

[scubadude]

Journalist returning keys- "I just ran over a little sand on the edge of the road, I didn't get close to the limiter either... Cheers"

[FlavaDave]

Is that the sound of tarmac at 1:03?

[G0ldfysh]

Shame there is squealing tyres 35seconds into the video.

[abbotsmike]

I picked up tyre squeal a couple of times. I think the footage is real, just with a dubbed over soundtrack, the noises seemed to bear no relation to what the car was doing!!

[Ved]

I'd have been more impressed if it was a single shot but not bad.

[4lf4-155]

Entirely pointless and didn't even appear to be fun.

Is this cool in a hipster way? I don't understand such things.

[GTiRuss]

G0ldfysh said:

Shame there is squealing tyres 35seconds into the video.

That's the sound of the BOV/wastegate flutter, not tyre squeal

[Madkat]

Ahhh i was looking forward to something exciting........

[Toymad]

Looks like Erg Chebbi to me.

[Dave Hedgehog]

crappy bloody haldex

[Ved]

£500 Forester can do it Nothing to see here!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXl71XOt5eA

[shake n bake]

Another video on youtube ruined by stupid music!

[Vladimir]

My three tonne van would do better than that.

[si_xsi]

looks like fun, if a little pointless, imagine the air filter was a little restricted after that...

[BlimeyCharlie]

Driven by Sandy from Crossroads?

Wheelspins, skids and engine noise does not really work for me. No standing (or sanding) start? Lots of downhill footage?
A mild triumph of momentum disguised as agility, rather like a portly celebrity ice skating.

Terrible video, aimed at people who like pointing at things.

[braddo]

How many videos exist in the whole entire, like, infinite, like, universe, of hot hatches being thrashed around gigantic Saharan sand dunes? My educated guess (that is to say, with no education at all) is that I can count them on one hand.

For this reason, I award this video 10/10 and thank the AMG folk for making such a mad hyperhatch*.

(* don't get me wrong, I wouldn't fking buy one)

[BricktopST205]

4WD 4 banger in Africa. Lets go back 20 years.

http://youtu.be/7mS0XIovgeY

Thats how its done boys.

[ttthilvester]

I prefer a bit more spectacle with my off-roading....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzKshx36h1g

[TotalControl]

GTiRuss said:

G0ldfysh said:

Shame there is squealing tyres 35seconds into the video.

That's the sound of the BOV/wastegate flutter, not tyre squeal

Excellent lurking.

[PascalBuyens]

BricktopST205 said:

4WD 4 banger in Africa. Lets go back 20 years.

http://youtu.be/7mS0XIovgeY

Thats how its done boys.

A few years earlier you had something called an Opel Manta 400 doing the Paris Dakar rally. 2WD in the sand... Was one of my childhood favourites

Can't seem to find any vids online..