RE: Mercedes-AMG A45 facelift: Review

RE: Mercedes-AMG A45 facelift: Review

Author
Discussion

QuattroDave

1,461 posts

127 months

Tuesday 4th October 2016
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ben5575 said:
More like 22mpg in my experience... 17mpg if you're making progress.
that's horrific, my v10 rs6 managed to average over 19mpg over 4,000 miles!

texr2000

59 posts

108 months

Tuesday 4th October 2016
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For me the odd time i drive one it is a blast BUT the price of them kills it for me. Also without a lot of options it is just a A220d with a better engine and seat. Without options it feels a expensive poorly spec-ed A Class, with options is a VERY expensive hatchback. I am quite surprised with how little comes on a 'base' A45.

The dash in the pre facelift is cheap looking IMO, but is a little better in the new on but needs the Command upgrade over the crap small Garmin nav screen. Another thing, I dunno why they put the shifter where it is on the A45, thought it was a AMG thing but the new C63 has the normal one.

Edited by texr2000 on Tuesday 4th October 23:30

Tiggsy

10,261 posts

251 months

Tuesday 4th October 2016
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Have a white facelift with full aero kit and sports exhaust. 6 months in it's still a hoot to drive. Stupid quick, ignores rain like the road is still dry and fits shopping in the boot. And my kids think the pops are cool. Love it. Albeit mental.

PhilEvo

9 posts

112 months

Wednesday 5th October 2016
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ben5575 said:
More like 22mpg in my experience... 17mpg if you're making progress.
Pretty dependent on the roads and driving style as with anything? I've averaged just over 30mpg nearly 35k miles in - mixture of roads and 'making swift progress' on a daily basis - very thirsty the first 5 or so miles in the morning so I'd say they are not made for constant short trips if you want economy. But then again, I didn't buy a 360bhp 4WD turbo nutter hatch to save fuel....

Dan Trent

1,866 posts

167 months

Wednesday 5th October 2016
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Hello!

To belatedly answer the question this is NOT an additional facelift over the one announced last year and on sale for some months now, as explained in the story...

article said:
The A45 hasn't rested on its laurels though, a range-wide A-Class update last year including surprisingly extensive additions to the AMG version as detailed in our launch drive.


Previous stories:
Facelift news story (June 2015)
Facelift launch drive story (Sept 2015)

I realise this car has been in the market for a bit but it was a case of holding out for Mercedes UK to get one with the Dynamic Plus pack on the fleet for us to book in - the first batch of facelift cars they had didn't have this fitted and there didn't seem much point testing one without the diff or dampers. Hope that makes sense! Interested to hear the comments from those who've run them though, appreciate you joining the conversation. I like the car a lot, even with the niggles. Certainly not a dull car to be around!

Cheers,

Dan

SuperVM

1,098 posts

160 months

Wednesday 5th October 2016
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daemon said:
I dont think by any stretch of the imagination its "laggy".

Certainly in the 30+ mins test drive we had covering cross country routes, and into urban driving we never noticed it to any degree.

Reviews by EVO etc of the revised car mention minor lag around town which they said was in line with their expectations of a heavily turbocharged car, but i dont think anyone who has driven, reviewed or owns an A45 has ever described it as "laggy".

Will update on that in a couple of weeks driving

Totally agree RE: the four pot though - even though it produces mental BHP, and given AMG have form in sticking disproportinately large engines into Mercedes cars, you'd have thought they could have stuck something bigger in there. The v6 twin turbo engine from the new C43 springs to mind...

Edited by daemon on Tuesday 4th October 22:08
Probably a bit of an issue going from a longitudinally mounted engine to a transversely mounted engine if I had to guess.

Dave Hedgehog

14,541 posts

203 months

Wednesday 5th October 2016
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Dan Trent said:
I realise this car has been in the market for a bit but it was a case of holding out for Mercedes UK to get one with the Dynamic Plus pack on the fleet for us to book in - the first batch of facelift cars they had didn't have this fitted and there didn't seem much point testing one without the diff or dampers. Hope that makes sense! Interested to hear the comments from those who've run them though, appreciate you joining the conversation. I like the car a lot, even with the niggles. Certainly not a dull car to be around!

Cheers,

Dan
i couldn't find one at a dealers with them spec'd either, which is odd as they make a huge difference to the car

Dave Hedgehog

14,541 posts

203 months

Wednesday 5th October 2016
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slk 32 said:
Seems odd mbuk would spec this car so highly yet omit the aerokit?
one of the big pluses of the A45's over the RS3, merc will let you have it as a subtle/dull stock car or you can spec the aero pack for the bonkers wing/canyards/splitter look, and they let you pick which body style you like

audi let you have one body in dull styling frown

anonymous-user

53 months

Wednesday 5th October 2016
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My A45 is due this month after testing all the competitors - for me it came out on top.
Best standard spec, bespoke seats engine and performance exhaust sounds awesome.
I wonder how many of the comments on this topic are from people who have actually driven this car or those who just reiterate boring cliches they have read?

Tiggsy

10,261 posts

251 months

Wednesday 5th October 2016
quotequote all
jsd14 said:
My A45 is due this month after testing all the competitors - for me it came out on top.
Best standard spec, bespoke seats engine and performance exhaust sounds awesome.
I wonder how many of the comments on this topic are from people who have actually driven this car or those who just reiterate boring cliches they have read?
Exhaust is epic - drop my kids off at school and all their mates love it!!! (sure many parents think "tt"...but hey, if 15 year old boys think your car is awesome....it probably is smile )

FN2TypeR

7,091 posts

92 months

Wednesday 5th October 2016
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daemon said:
FN2TypeR said:
Still, you should have gotten the spoiler jester

I hear it's mega costly though, £1600 or so eek
But it does include the tiny plastic bits on the front wing corners too though!

It seemed a crazy amount of money for something that looked like a stuck on afterthough. All IMHO of course.

Then there was the carbon fibre mirrors @ £1230 which we passed on too.....
eek good call!

Dan Trent

1,866 posts

167 months

Wednesday 5th October 2016
quotequote all
Tiggsy said:
Exhaust is epic - drop my kids off at school and all their mates love it!!! (sure many parents think "tt"...but hey, if 15 year old boys think your car is awesome....it probably is smile )
The father of a lad at school who used to drop him off at the gates in a Mercedes 190E 2.3-16 and take off in suitably enthusiastic fashion has a lot to answer for in my life and was a fairly major influence in my choice of career! Glad to hear the tradition is being maintained.

Dan

moffat

1,020 posts

224 months

Wednesday 5th October 2016
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Still has a bad gearbox and a terrible interior... This could could be the perfect hot hatch!

Leins

9,418 posts

147 months

Wednesday 5th October 2016
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I'm intrigued by the addition of the mechanical slip-diff on the front. My (very basic) understanding of Haldex is that it stays predominantly FWD unless both front wheels are slipping. Therefore, am I right in thinking that the addition of the new diff may actually make the car "more" FWD, as drive will be transferred across the axle more readily than with the old electronic diff on the front?

Really like the idea of these A45s, despite what might seemingly look like deficiencies over its competitors. These just seem to appeal more for some reason

tomjol

532 posts

116 months

Wednesday 5th October 2016
quotequote all
Leins said:
I'm intrigued by the addition of the mechanical slip-diff on the front. My (very basic) understanding of Haldex is that it stays predominantly FWD unless both front wheels are slipping. Therefore, am I right in thinking that the addition of the new diff may actually make the car "more" FWD, as drive will be transferred across the axle more readily than with the old electronic diff on the front?

Really like the idea of these A45s, despite what might seemingly look like deficiencies over its competitors. These just seem to appeal more for some reason
This is a common misconception, driven in part by journalists who've spent years repeating it as gospel when it's never really been true.

It probably makes little to no difference. Most of the torque transfer is driven by other factors - throttle pedal position, for example. Serious slip at the front is just yet another factor in the algorithm.

Admittedly, that all depends on what you mean by "predominantly" smile

Gandahar

9,600 posts

127 months

Wednesday 5th October 2016
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In a very subtle colour this could be a very good Q car from the front

A test with the old skool Evo X would be good
Then and now

Leins

9,418 posts

147 months

Wednesday 5th October 2016
quotequote all
tomjol said:
Leins said:
I'm intrigued by the addition of the mechanical slip-diff on the front. My (very basic) understanding of Haldex is that it stays predominantly FWD unless both front wheels are slipping. Therefore, am I right in thinking that the addition of the new diff may actually make the car "more" FWD, as drive will be transferred across the axle more readily than with the old electronic diff on the front?

Really like the idea of these A45s, despite what might seemingly look like deficiencies over its competitors. These just seem to appeal more for some reason
This is a common misconception, driven in part by journalists who've spent years repeating it as gospel when it's never really been true.

It probably makes little to no difference. Most of the torque transfer is driven by other factors - throttle pedal position, for example. Serious slip at the front is just yet another factor in the algorithm.

Admittedly, that all depends on what you mean by "predominantly"smile
Thanks for the reply Tom. TBH I don't really know myself biggrin From what I've read on Haldex, I've seen mention of normal running being a front/rear 95/05 split, only putting more torque to the back when required

daemon

35,724 posts

196 months

Wednesday 5th October 2016
quotequote all
moffat said:
Still has a bad gearbox and a terrible interior... This could could be the perfect hot hatch!
I think "bad" is an overstatement. It has its limitations, but then no car is perfect. We'd a wail of a time in the one we test drove and not once had we any concerns about the box.

Will see what its like day to day, and then update this thread.


daemon

35,724 posts

196 months

Wednesday 5th October 2016
quotequote all
Dan Trent said:
Tiggsy said:
Exhaust is epic - drop my kids off at school and all their mates love it!!! (sure many parents think "tt"...but hey, if 15 year old boys think your car is awesome....it probably is smile )
The father of a lad at school who used to drop him off at the gates in a Mercedes 190E 2.3-16 and take off in suitably enthusiastic fashion has a lot to answer for in my life and was a fairly major influence in my choice of career! Glad to hear the tradition is being maintained.

Dan
I opted for the exhaust upgrade just because i could. No performance benefit but it just sounds amazing

daemon

35,724 posts

196 months

Wednesday 5th October 2016
quotequote all
QuattroDave said:
ben5575 said:
More like 22mpg in my experience... 17mpg if you're making progress.
that's horrific, my v10 rs6 managed to average over 19mpg over 4,000 miles!
Any other owners care to comment on mpg?

Would be curious to hear peoples experience. Even at 22mpg it sounds pretty much in line with what our 370z did and it had 50 less BHP.