RE: Mercedes-Benz A45 AMG: Spotted
Discussion
TheStigsWeeBrother said:
Deep Thought said:
We sold ours recently back to a Mercedes dealer and the first thing they did was read the ECU as apparently there is some dongle you can attach to the car - presumably via the OBD port - that slows down the incrementing of the odometer. The previous two cars they had been offered had had this fitted.
BUT on the other side of that, ours only averaged 27MPG so its not a car that is likely to be doing big miles anyway.
Also, my advice would be to spend the bit extra and buy from a Mercedes main dealer. Ours is being resold by them with a 2 year AMG Mercedes approved used warranty - not sure if thats standard across all franchised dealers.
I spoke to another dealer when we were getting valuations for ours - he had a Jan 16 reg A45 with 26K miles that had just had a new gearbox fitted by Mercedes, so definitely IMHO worth having the reassurance of an approved used warranty.
What did you replace it with?BUT on the other side of that, ours only averaged 27MPG so its not a car that is likely to be doing big miles anyway.
Also, my advice would be to spend the bit extra and buy from a Mercedes main dealer. Ours is being resold by them with a 2 year AMG Mercedes approved used warranty - not sure if thats standard across all franchised dealers.
I spoke to another dealer when we were getting valuations for ours - he had a Jan 16 reg A45 with 26K miles that had just had a new gearbox fitted by Mercedes, so definitely IMHO worth having the reassurance of an approved used warranty.
I currently WFH so we're sticking with just having the one car for the meantime - a 2018 Mini Cooper S.
Edited by Deep Thought on Sunday 6th January 16:53
I’ve got a white facelift A45 without any of the aero kit and 18” wheels and it does look mostly like any other “amg line” A class, which is fine by me, i didn’t buy it for the look, not that I think it’s a bad looking car.
i specced it from new in 2016 with adaptive dampers which are the only way to make it properly usable day in day out on UK roads. It’s pretty stiffly sprung for a daily if you have to cover any kind of distance on B roads. The adaptive dampers make a massive difference imo. I also specced the limited slip diff and the amg exhaust while I was at it along with comand, the hk stereo and pan roof etc.
I had it remapped by DMS to stage 1 last year using their generic map (car is otherwise standard) and it transforms the urgency of the power delivery massively imo. Haven’t dyno’d it so not sure what it makes now although I believe it to be in the region of 420/400 from what I’ve been told about the map on a standard car. It’s really how it should have come from the factory. The gearbox is also massively better than the early pre facelift I originally tested which was pretty unpredictable and slow. It’s had a firmware update since that’s improved it further. It sounds ok, the exhaust is where it’s at, it’s inescapably a 4 pot otherwise.
I had a line of Evos and an m135i before this. The evo 9 mr 360 in particular was more fun but totally unrefined for long journeys. the m135i sounded better and was really quite refined. The a45 with its dynamic driving modes sits bang in the middle for me as you can dial it up or down to suit. I had the adaptive dampers in the m135i and they had a similar effect to be fair, although it was much more at the comfort end of the spectrum.
Why did I pick it? Didn’t want the obvious contender an Audi RS3. they only survive a few minutes in Birmingham until some skinny “nah man” uttering youths are bobbing round it with their man bags and getting all stabby with you for they keys. Luckily for me I didn’t like it when I drove it, apart from the sound! I’d had an m135i and wanted something else, didn’t like the golf R and it had the same theft problem as Audi RS, at least in Birmingham anyway. Which left me with this or a focus RS and I picked the a45 based on it looking more subtle and some keen offers on carwow.
Bad points, the interior is a bit low rent in places, nice wheel and seats, but too much hard creaky plastic, fuel consumption is low to mid 20s for me which is miles away from the Mercedes claim, although I didn’t expect it to be good on fuel. I also don’t think the iPad stuck on the dash / comand screen is aging well, although it does have android auto and apple CarPlay. Only thing I’ve had wrong with it is the fuel flap opening by itself, which is a common fault, fixed in 20 mins at Mercedes.
I had kids try to nick it, from my driveway and an attempted carjacking when I lived and worked in Birmingham, thankfully I don’t live or work there anymore, but that said it was a tiny amount of unwanted attention compared to people I knew living locally with any kind of fast VAG / M car or focus rs. Who seemed to have a new story each week.
i specced it from new in 2016 with adaptive dampers which are the only way to make it properly usable day in day out on UK roads. It’s pretty stiffly sprung for a daily if you have to cover any kind of distance on B roads. The adaptive dampers make a massive difference imo. I also specced the limited slip diff and the amg exhaust while I was at it along with comand, the hk stereo and pan roof etc.
I had it remapped by DMS to stage 1 last year using their generic map (car is otherwise standard) and it transforms the urgency of the power delivery massively imo. Haven’t dyno’d it so not sure what it makes now although I believe it to be in the region of 420/400 from what I’ve been told about the map on a standard car. It’s really how it should have come from the factory. The gearbox is also massively better than the early pre facelift I originally tested which was pretty unpredictable and slow. It’s had a firmware update since that’s improved it further. It sounds ok, the exhaust is where it’s at, it’s inescapably a 4 pot otherwise.
I had a line of Evos and an m135i before this. The evo 9 mr 360 in particular was more fun but totally unrefined for long journeys. the m135i sounded better and was really quite refined. The a45 with its dynamic driving modes sits bang in the middle for me as you can dial it up or down to suit. I had the adaptive dampers in the m135i and they had a similar effect to be fair, although it was much more at the comfort end of the spectrum.
Why did I pick it? Didn’t want the obvious contender an Audi RS3. they only survive a few minutes in Birmingham until some skinny “nah man” uttering youths are bobbing round it with their man bags and getting all stabby with you for they keys. Luckily for me I didn’t like it when I drove it, apart from the sound! I’d had an m135i and wanted something else, didn’t like the golf R and it had the same theft problem as Audi RS, at least in Birmingham anyway. Which left me with this or a focus RS and I picked the a45 based on it looking more subtle and some keen offers on carwow.
Bad points, the interior is a bit low rent in places, nice wheel and seats, but too much hard creaky plastic, fuel consumption is low to mid 20s for me which is miles away from the Mercedes claim, although I didn’t expect it to be good on fuel. I also don’t think the iPad stuck on the dash / comand screen is aging well, although it does have android auto and apple CarPlay. Only thing I’ve had wrong with it is the fuel flap opening by itself, which is a common fault, fixed in 20 mins at Mercedes.
I had kids try to nick it, from my driveway and an attempted carjacking when I lived and worked in Birmingham, thankfully I don’t live or work there anymore, but that said it was a tiny amount of unwanted attention compared to people I knew living locally with any kind of fast VAG / M car or focus rs. Who seemed to have a new story each week.
The Voice said:
These just don’t do it for me, at all.
They look far too dull without the aero kit, yet too tacky with it.
And they just seem too expensive versus the competition? £30k for a 4 year old A Class?
Its quite a bit shy of £30K, but i do think its overpriced for a 2015 car.They look far too dull without the aero kit, yet too tacky with it.
And they just seem too expensive versus the competition? £30k for a 4 year old A Class?
Heres a 2017 one with just 3K miles and under manufacturers warranty for probably a little under £32K
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...
Deep Thought said:
The Voice said:
These just don’t do it for me, at all.
They look far too dull without the aero kit, yet too tacky with it.
And they just seem too expensive versus the competition? £30k for a 4 year old A Class?
Its quite a bit shy of £30K, but i do think its overpriced for a 2015 car.They look far too dull without the aero kit, yet too tacky with it.
And they just seem too expensive versus the competition? £30k for a 4 year old A Class?
Heres a 2017 one with just 3K miles and under manufacturers warranty for probably a little under £32K
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...
big_rob_sydney said:
If I remember correctly, the original Impreza turbo was something like £20k? And while we can all play the inflation game, these particular cars are around double the price, whereas the salary of a working man has not doubled, surely?
Wages remained stagnant I'd say. I always think they are priced to make a bit more money over 3 or 4 years on the monthly payment. So what doesnt seem like much per month is actually a few grand.Love our one. Aerokit, LSD, Sports Exhaust, adjustable suspension, pan roof and some other stuff. Was following our lass who was driving it the other day going down a pine tree lined road and it sounded just like a little rally car. Drive along in comfort mode and you don't get the crashyness that is usually associated with AMG cars. Stick it in sport+ or race and it's a complete animal of a car. And they seem to be holding value pretty well.
Soon to be traded in though for a new one. Can't wait!
Soon to be traded in though for a new one. Can't wait!
big_rob_sydney said:
If I remember correctly, the original Impreza turbo was something like £20k? And while we can all play the inflation game, these particular cars are around double the price, whereas the salary of a working man has not doubled, surely?
Launch price in 1994 was £17,998 which translates to £35K ish in todays money.https://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/4448133/...
https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/in...
Average salary in 1994 (using West Midlands as an example) was approx £12,900
Average salary now is approx £27,400) in West Midlands again as an example
https://www.hillarys.co.uk/back-in-my-day/
So in summary -
- In 1994 the Subaru was 139% of the average salary (for the west mids example)
- Now the WRX STI is 127% of the average salary.
The last A45 listed at around £42K before (10%) discount so at list price that would make it approx 150% of average salary, but then Mercedes AMG would never have competed directly with Subaru on price, so probably about right.
Edited by Deep Thought on Monday 7th January 10:11
Edited by Deep Thought on Monday 7th January 10:12
TheStigsWeeBrother said:
What were the trade bids like when you sold?
Dealers were roughly speaking looking a £5K markup. Here in NI there were limited buyers and the consensus in that trade pool was that they were slow sellers.There was approx £2,000 variance between best bid and worst bid, with a Mercedes franchise bidding the most, but that was matched by a specialist too.
Always wanted a drive in one of these. My brother drove one and didn't like it. If it's in a similar style to the Golf R (i.e. lots of performance, but not much engagement), then I think it would leave me a bit cold. I just can't get on with the looks either. I know a lot of people who seem to love how they look but, to me, it's probably one of the worst looking cars in the segment. The proportions just don't work. My missus had a CLA and the interior was pretty shonky too. It certainly didn't feel like it deserved the price tag it wore. Way too much cheap plastic.
I tend to try and avoid the "new vs old" comparison but, at this kind of money, if I wanted a discreet, fast, 4WD hatch, I would struggle to spend almost £28k on this when you could probably get a newer Golf R with some warranty left for the same money. Having said that though, after having a Golf R for a year, I probably wouldn't have either. Just a bit too "safe" for me. The Golf left me craving steering feel and some actual engagement.
I tend to try and avoid the "new vs old" comparison but, at this kind of money, if I wanted a discreet, fast, 4WD hatch, I would struggle to spend almost £28k on this when you could probably get a newer Golf R with some warranty left for the same money. Having said that though, after having a Golf R for a year, I probably wouldn't have either. Just a bit too "safe" for me. The Golf left me craving steering feel and some actual engagement.
Owned a Gen 1 without aero kit and they do seem to be incredibly well engineered. That said as a daily proposition I do think they suffer from a number of issues (I was doing 20k miles per/year).
1. The ride is really harsh, in a way I have never experienced before or since. I dont mind avoiding potholes but when you have to drive around grates which arent 100% flush and other minor imperfection for me that is too much. I understand that this was addressed in the Gen 2 which rides much better.
2. There is little to no sensation of speed. They feel so solid and stable well in to 3 figures that it is only from the speedo and scenery you get an sense of speed. Some people might like how accomplished it feels but for me it was just disconnected.
3. At 7 or 8 tenths these feel really FWD and under-steer, not badly but noticeably. Im sure if you are on a track you can push past this but on the roads the speed needed to do so would be properly antisocial.
4. Im quite a big guy, think carrying festive weight all year round, and the optional recaros (which looked beautiful) really hurt my back. Only car I have ever had an issue in. Im sure losing a few stone would have helped.
5. They are actually surprisingly good on fuel. Easy enough to get 39mpg on a run if you drive like a saint. I averaged 29.8mpg (across 8000 miles) which given the power, 4WD and the way I drove it was really good.
6. In response to the person who mentioned remapping, yes they are really strong once mapped. I didnt map mine but ive been out in a couple of 430bhp versions and they are rapid.
Probably a great used buy if you dont do big mileages. That said im currently in a manual 340i DMS (450bhp) and not once have I missed the A45. Sure in certain circumstances the A45 would be faster but it was never huge fun. Just super effective.
Finally for anyone interested in figures, best I saw on the Vbox using soft launch (3k rpm rather than full launch at 4k rpm) was 4.9s 0 - 60 mph and 11.1 0 - 100 mph.
1. The ride is really harsh, in a way I have never experienced before or since. I dont mind avoiding potholes but when you have to drive around grates which arent 100% flush and other minor imperfection for me that is too much. I understand that this was addressed in the Gen 2 which rides much better.
2. There is little to no sensation of speed. They feel so solid and stable well in to 3 figures that it is only from the speedo and scenery you get an sense of speed. Some people might like how accomplished it feels but for me it was just disconnected.
3. At 7 or 8 tenths these feel really FWD and under-steer, not badly but noticeably. Im sure if you are on a track you can push past this but on the roads the speed needed to do so would be properly antisocial.
4. Im quite a big guy, think carrying festive weight all year round, and the optional recaros (which looked beautiful) really hurt my back. Only car I have ever had an issue in. Im sure losing a few stone would have helped.
5. They are actually surprisingly good on fuel. Easy enough to get 39mpg on a run if you drive like a saint. I averaged 29.8mpg (across 8000 miles) which given the power, 4WD and the way I drove it was really good.
6. In response to the person who mentioned remapping, yes they are really strong once mapped. I didnt map mine but ive been out in a couple of 430bhp versions and they are rapid.
Probably a great used buy if you dont do big mileages. That said im currently in a manual 340i DMS (450bhp) and not once have I missed the A45. Sure in certain circumstances the A45 would be faster but it was never huge fun. Just super effective.
Finally for anyone interested in figures, best I saw on the Vbox using soft launch (3k rpm rather than full launch at 4k rpm) was 4.9s 0 - 60 mph and 11.1 0 - 100 mph.
FanBoy21 said:
1. The ride is really harsh, in a way I have never experienced before or since. I dont mind avoiding potholes but when you have to drive around grates which arent 100% flush and other minor imperfection for me that is too much. I understand that this was addressed in the Gen 2 which rides much better.
The ride improved with the facelift model, but i'd definitely recommend finding one with the adjustable suspension. We spec'd it on ours when new and found it well worth it.I doubt we'll have another, great cars, but been there done that now.
johnnymiller said:
I’ve got a white facelift A45 without any of the aero kit and 18” wheels and it does look mostly like any other “amg line” A class, which is fine by me, i didn’t buy it for the look, not that I think it’s a bad looking car.
i specced it from new in 2016 with adaptive dampers which are the only way to make it properly usable day in day out on UK roads. It’s pretty stiffly sprung for a daily if you have to cover any kind of distance on B roads. The adaptive dampers make a massive difference imo. I also specced the limited slip diff and the amg exhaust while I was at it along with comand, the hk stereo and pan roof etc.
I had it remapped by DMS to stage 1 last year using their generic map (car is otherwise standard) and it transforms the urgency of the power delivery massively imo. Haven’t dyno’d it so not sure what it makes now although I believe it to be in the region of 420/400 from what I’ve been told about the map on a standard car. It’s really how it should have come from the factory. The gearbox is also massively better than the early pre facelift I originally tested which was pretty unpredictable and slow. It’s had a firmware update since that’s improved it further. It sounds ok, the exhaust is where it’s at, it’s inescapably a 4 pot otherwise.
I had a line of Evos and an m135i before this. The evo 9 mr 360 in particular was more fun but totally unrefined for long journeys. the m135i sounded better and was really quite refined. The a45 with its dynamic driving modes sits bang in the middle for me as you can dial it up or down to suit. I had the adaptive dampers in the m135i and they had a similar effect to be fair, although it was much more at the comfort end of the spectrum.
Why did I pick it? Didn’t want the obvious contender an Audi RS3. they only survive a few minutes in Birmingham until some skinny “nah man” uttering youths are bobbing round it with their man bags and getting all stabby with you for they keys. Luckily for me I didn’t like it when I drove it, apart from the sound! I’d had an m135i and wanted something else, didn’t like the golf R and it had the same theft problem as Audi RS, at least in Birmingham anyway. Which left me with this or a focus RS and I picked the a45 based on it looking more subtle and some keen offers on carwow.
Bad points, the interior is a bit low rent in places, nice wheel and seats, but too much hard creaky plastic, fuel consumption is low to mid 20s for me which is miles away from the Mercedes claim, although I didn’t expect it to be good on fuel. I also don’t think the iPad stuck on the dash / comand screen is aging well, although it does have android auto and apple CarPlay. Only thing I’ve had wrong with it is the fuel flap opening by itself, which is a common fault, fixed in 20 mins at Mercedes.
I had kids try to nick it, from my driveway and an attempted carjacking when I lived and worked in Birmingham, thankfully I don’t live or work there anymore, but that said it was a tiny amount of unwanted attention compared to people I knew living locally with any kind of fast VAG / M car or focus rs. Who seemed to have a new story each week.
Thanks for that. i specced it from new in 2016 with adaptive dampers which are the only way to make it properly usable day in day out on UK roads. It’s pretty stiffly sprung for a daily if you have to cover any kind of distance on B roads. The adaptive dampers make a massive difference imo. I also specced the limited slip diff and the amg exhaust while I was at it along with comand, the hk stereo and pan roof etc.
I had it remapped by DMS to stage 1 last year using their generic map (car is otherwise standard) and it transforms the urgency of the power delivery massively imo. Haven’t dyno’d it so not sure what it makes now although I believe it to be in the region of 420/400 from what I’ve been told about the map on a standard car. It’s really how it should have come from the factory. The gearbox is also massively better than the early pre facelift I originally tested which was pretty unpredictable and slow. It’s had a firmware update since that’s improved it further. It sounds ok, the exhaust is where it’s at, it’s inescapably a 4 pot otherwise.
I had a line of Evos and an m135i before this. The evo 9 mr 360 in particular was more fun but totally unrefined for long journeys. the m135i sounded better and was really quite refined. The a45 with its dynamic driving modes sits bang in the middle for me as you can dial it up or down to suit. I had the adaptive dampers in the m135i and they had a similar effect to be fair, although it was much more at the comfort end of the spectrum.
Why did I pick it? Didn’t want the obvious contender an Audi RS3. they only survive a few minutes in Birmingham until some skinny “nah man” uttering youths are bobbing round it with their man bags and getting all stabby with you for they keys. Luckily for me I didn’t like it when I drove it, apart from the sound! I’d had an m135i and wanted something else, didn’t like the golf R and it had the same theft problem as Audi RS, at least in Birmingham anyway. Which left me with this or a focus RS and I picked the a45 based on it looking more subtle and some keen offers on carwow.
Bad points, the interior is a bit low rent in places, nice wheel and seats, but too much hard creaky plastic, fuel consumption is low to mid 20s for me which is miles away from the Mercedes claim, although I didn’t expect it to be good on fuel. I also don’t think the iPad stuck on the dash / comand screen is aging well, although it does have android auto and apple CarPlay. Only thing I’ve had wrong with it is the fuel flap opening by itself, which is a common fault, fixed in 20 mins at Mercedes.
I had kids try to nick it, from my driveway and an attempted carjacking when I lived and worked in Birmingham, thankfully I don’t live or work there anymore, but that said it was a tiny amount of unwanted attention compared to people I knew living locally with any kind of fast VAG / M car or focus rs. Who seemed to have a new story each week.
Deep Thought said:
big_rob_sydney said:
If I remember correctly, the original Impreza turbo was something like £20k? And while we can all play the inflation game, these particular cars are around double the price, whereas the salary of a working man has not doubled, surely?
Launch price in 1994 was £17,998 which translates to £35K ish in todays money.https://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/4448133/...
https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/in...
Average salary in 1994 (using West Midlands as an example) was approx £12,900
Average salary now is approx £27,400) in West Midlands again as an example
https://www.hillarys.co.uk/back-in-my-day/
So in summary -
- In 1994 the Subaru was 139% of the average salary (for the west mids example)
- Now the WRX STI is 127% of the average salary.
The last A45 listed at around £42K before (10%) discount so at list price that would make it approx 150% of average salary, but then Mercedes AMG would never have competed directly with Subaru on price, so probably about right.
On this basis, it does seem like price and wages are roughly up about the same, give or take. It's also a specific geography, and I'm sure if we looked at other places, we could get a raft of varying data, but this above says quite a lot.
I think in the end, I'm left to really ponder new vs old. I just cant seem to wrap my head around new cars and their weight, being offset by more efficient engines, to leave us, more or less, where we were so long ago. I'd rather get one of the older cars where the depreciation has already well and truly bitten, and enjoy the performance, while keeping a few more pounds in my pocket for other things (sadly probably to include engine rebuilds, etc...).
big_rob_sydney said:
Thank you very much for that, really appreciate it.
On this basis, it does seem like price and wages are roughly up about the same, give or take. It's also a specific geography, and I'm sure if we looked at other places, we could get a raft of varying data, but this above says quite a lot.
I think in the end, I'm left to really ponder new vs old. I just cant seem to wrap my head around new cars and their weight, being offset by more efficient engines, to leave us, more or less, where we were so long ago. I'd rather get one of the older cars where the depreciation has already well and truly bitten, and enjoy the performance, while keeping a few more pounds in my pocket for other things (sadly probably to include engine rebuilds, etc...).
No probs. On this basis, it does seem like price and wages are roughly up about the same, give or take. It's also a specific geography, and I'm sure if we looked at other places, we could get a raft of varying data, but this above says quite a lot.
I think in the end, I'm left to really ponder new vs old. I just cant seem to wrap my head around new cars and their weight, being offset by more efficient engines, to leave us, more or less, where we were so long ago. I'd rather get one of the older cars where the depreciation has already well and truly bitten, and enjoy the performance, while keeping a few more pounds in my pocket for other things (sadly probably to include engine rebuilds, etc...).
Yes, RE: your second paragraph i have to say thats where we are currently with cars. Depreciation on a new A45 is close to heart stopping. We enjoyed it, but i think we'll draw a line on heavily depreciating cars from here on in.
Deep Thought said:
Dealers were roughly speaking looking a £5K markup. Here in NI there were limited buyers and the consensus in that trade pool was that they were slow sellers.
There was approx £2,000 variance between best bid and worst bid, with a Mercedes franchise bidding the most, but that was matched by a specialist too.
Pretty chunky depreciation.There was approx £2,000 variance between best bid and worst bid, with a Mercedes franchise bidding the most, but that was matched by a specialist too.
TheStigsWeeBrother said:
Deep Thought said:
Dealers were roughly speaking looking a £5K markup. Here in NI there were limited buyers and the consensus in that trade pool was that they were slow sellers.
There was approx £2,000 variance between best bid and worst bid, with a Mercedes franchise bidding the most, but that was matched by a specialist too.
Pretty chunky depreciation.There was approx £2,000 variance between best bid and worst bid, with a Mercedes franchise bidding the most, but that was matched by a specialist too.
If i was buying used i'd definitely buy a Mercedes Approved Used one and get a two year warranty. Not sure i'd want one from an Indy no matter how good he says his third party warranty might be....
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