RE: Mercedes GLA45 AMG: UK Review

[Kolbenkopp]

Johnnytheboy said:

MonkeyMatt said:

When will the people arrive to claim that this car is pointless, or they would rather buy a second hand etc etc

They are on half term so won't be up yet.

Yep, sorry I'm late . But joking aside: can anyone explain what functional benefits this has over the standard A45 hatch?

[gumsie]

Meecedes are clearley after a different/bigger market segment these days. I don’t think I’m in it.
After years of buying Mercs I was in the dealer recently and of all the cars there, (they had everything except the R), and with the exception of the New CLS there was nothing I’d buy, even if I had the money to afford it.

The CLA AMG was right at the bottom of the list of cars that I’d want.

[chrispj]

Kolbenkopp said:

Yep, sorry I'm late . But joking aside: can anyone explain what functional benefits this has over the standard A45 hatch?

It's a tiny bit taller so has fractionally more comfortable suspension?

[Gorbyrev]

Tangent alert: the R63 - vague memories of a YKYWT (link please?) of this MB lunacy machine. Went for a look and none seem to be available but for the price of the first year's depreciation on the AMG 45 mini sort of SUV pudding you could have:

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/m...

Ta da - 306hp in a very different but capable package! As a dad of eight this almost makes sense.

[Ali_T]

LA167 said:

RSQ3 would be a better bet, just for the sound of that 5 pot engine!

And it only loses £20k in 3 years. Actually...that's still a HUGE amount and means it's only holding onto 50% before you add options...

[Johnnytheboy]

Gorbyrev said:

Tangent alert: the R63 - vague memories of a YKYWT (link please?) of this MB lunacy machine. Went for a look and none seem to be available but for the price of the first year's depreciation on the AMG 45 mini sort of SUV pudding you could have:

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/m...

Ta da - 306hp in a very different but capable package! As a dad of eight this almost makes sense.

Yes, but that's nine years old!

[ocrx8]

Gorbyrev said:

Tangent alert: the R63 - vague memories of a YKYWT (link please?) of this MB lunacy machine. Went for a look and none seem to be available but for the price of the first year's depreciation on the AMG 45 mini sort of SUV pudding you could have:

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/m...

Ta da - 306hp in a very different but capable package! As a dad of eight this almost makes sense.

http://www.pistonheads.com/regulars/ph-spottedykyw...

Saw one on Monday lunchtime, it quite literally roared past Barbican station.

Edited by ocrx8 on Wednesday 18th February 15:06

[justboxsters]

I saw my first GLA in the flesh a while back. I laughed out loud at how bad it looked. Then I thought to myself, someone has actually bought this, with money!

I'm enraged more that there are people out there who even want anything like this. It makes me loose faith in the human race.

Thats how bad a GLA is.

[Gorbyrev]

ocrx8 said:

Gorbyrev said:

Tangent alert: the R63 - vague memories of a YKYWT (link please?) of this MB lunacy machine. Went for a look and none seem to be available but for the price of the first year's depreciation on the AMG 45 mini sort of SUV pudding you could have:

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/m...

Ta da - 306hp in a very different but capable package! As a dad of eight this almost makes sense.

http://www.pistonheads.com/regulars/ph-spottedykyw...

Saw one on Monday lunchtime, it quite literally roared past Barbican station.

Edited by ocrx8 on Wednesday 18th February 15:06

Thanks for that, enjoyed reading the article again - utter bonkers.

[drpep]

Dog poop. Why do people buy dog poop. This is dog poop.

It's that crusty white kind you used to find in the late 80s when it wasn't fashionable to take your dog st home in a small plastic bag.

Making a car sporty involves more than:

a large gob of torque
red calipers
massive wheels
wky spoiler

Come on Mercedes. Responsible for so much good, they afforded this little turd so little.

Edited by drpep on Thursday 19th February 02:53

[pSyCoSiS]

As capable as this is, £50k+? No thanks!

On a separate note, there is a chap on eBay selling an A45 AMG complete engine with low miles for £5k. Now, putting that into a 190E or early C Class would be quite something!

[Maldini35]

Not my cup of tea but each to their own etc. but I do find it an odd combination.
A small turbo-charged engine in a sporty hatchback feels right but to me (e.g. A45) I can't help but think that fast crossovers/SUV's make more sense with bigger, torquier engines.
That said, it could be surprisingly fun to drive(like the RS3)so I should reserve judgement.
£50k is certainly punchy though

[W124]

Ali_T said:

Are they, though? There are those in the industry that wonder what's going to happen when the overinflated final values attached to most German manufacturer lease deals stop being underwritten by the banks in London and Germany. If they do pull the plug, and they've been threatening to, there's going to be a rude awakening.

The most interesting comment I've read on PH in a while.

You couldn't possibly elaborate on this could you? I find this extremely interesting. Because the final values are clearly overinflated. And, were the true figures used, I suspect the flow of easy credit would cease. The whole circus would grind to a halt. I have a feeling it might anyway as the lease/PCP/drip model is a kind of Red Shoes problem for the three big Germans. It's a nightmare scenario for them.

Please don't say anything you shouldn't on my account.

[Fast Bug]

W124 said:

Ali_T said:

Are they, though? There are those in the industry that wonder what's going to happen when the overinflated final values attached to most German manufacturer lease deals stop being underwritten by the banks in London and Germany. If they do pull the plug, and they've been threatening to, there's going to be a rude awakening.

The most interesting comment I've read on PH in a while.

You couldn't possibly elaborate on this could you? I find this extremely interesting. Because the final values are clearly overinflated. And, were the true figures used, I suspect the flow of easy credit would cease. The whole circus would grind to a halt. I have a feeling it might anyway as the lease/PCP/drip model is a kind of Red Shoes problem for the three big Germans. It's a nightmare scenario for them.

Please don't say anything you shouldn't on my account.

Except that the bulk of the finance is by the manufacturers themselves (VWFS/MB Finance etc etc), so the risk is with the manufacturer. And that's ignoring the size of the discounts that are available to non-manufacturer owned leasing companies, let alone what they 'sell' the vehicles to themselves at...

[W124]

It must by underwritten though, by somebody. Or must it? I've no idea to be honest. I've wondered about this for a while. Surely, the more cars they sell, the cheaper the deals, the less demand for secondhand cars? As you might as well just lease another - so how, aside from massaging the projected value, can the price of secondhand premium hatches be held up? So if there is a correction there, how can the cheap deals carry on and, if that happens, how will they sell any cars? Bring the new price down? But that will further knacker the used price? It's a bit of a mind vortex and no mistake. I'm just a simple musician - I hope somebody can explain this in clear terms that my addled mind might grasp!

[Fast Bug]

The percentage of people that take lease deals are very low in the private sector, and many people don't even consider leasing or know anything about it. A lot of retail sales people don't have much of an understanding of it, as manufacturers rarely push it (although Citroen were on the radio earlier) they aren't trained on it.

A lot of manufacturer finance arms are funded by the manufacturer themselves, some are underwritten elsewhere though. I think it's Ford that make more money from funding vehicles than making them....

[Sheepshanks]

Fast Bug said:

Except that the bulk of the finance is by the manufacturers themselves (VWFS/MB Finance etc etc), so the risk is with the manufacturer.

Well, the risk is with the finance arm of the manufacturer. But as the cars are transferred to them at typically 60% of the pre-tax list price, it's not much of a risk. That's why finance arms are such profit generators.

[FalconWood]

W124 said:

Ali_T said:

Are they, though? There are those in the industry that wonder what's going to happen when the overinflated final values attached to most German manufacturer lease deals stop being underwritten by the banks in London and Germany. If they do pull the plug, and they've been threatening to, there's going to be a rude awakening.

The most interesting comment I've read on PH in a while.

You couldn't possibly elaborate on this could you? I find this extremely interesting. Because the final values are clearly overinflated. And, were the true figures used, I suspect the flow of easy credit would cease. The whole circus would grind to a halt. I have a feeling it might anyway as the lease/PCP/drip model is a kind of Red Shoes problem for the three big Germans. It's a nightmare scenario for them.

Please don't say anything you shouldn't on my account.

This is not the first time!!! In 1998 the car leasing industry had the same problem. It is a disclosed fact that Lex Vehicle Leasing had 90,000 cars under lease at that time and took a £90m hit around that time. They had to write their fleet down to market value. Lex Vehicle Leasing took the hit, survived and are now part of a larger group still in the same business. It might happen again but they will get over it!! They don't do it for nowt you know and a hit every 15 years ago is just a simple correction!!

[FalconWood]

W124 said:

Ali_T said:

Are they, though? There are those in the industry that wonder what's going to happen when the overinflated final values attached to most German manufacturer lease deals stop being underwritten by the banks in London and Germany. If they do pull the plug, and they've been threatening to, there's going to be a rude awakening.

The most interesting comment I've read on PH in a while.

You couldn't possibly elaborate on this could you? I find this extremely interesting. Because the final values are clearly overinflated. And, were the true figures used, I suspect the flow of easy credit would cease. The whole circus would grind to a halt. I have a feeling it might anyway as the lease/PCP/drip model is a kind of Red Shoes problem for the three big Germans. It's a nightmare scenario for them.

Please don't say anything you shouldn't on my account.

This is not the first time!!! In 1998 the car leasing industry had the same problem. It is a disclosed fact that Lex Vehicle Leasing had 90,000 cars under lease at that time and took a £90m hit around that time. They had to write their fleet down to market value. Lex Vehicle Leasing took the hit, survived and are now part of a larger group still in the same business. It might happen again but they will get over it!! They don't do it for nowt you know and a hit every 15 years ago is just a simple correction!!