A45 for a week - my impressions

[simo1863]

I was lucky enough to have this delivered on Saturday morning;




Feels very Japanese with the small engine, big turbo and 4WD.

I do love an AMG but already would much prefer the 6.2 V8 through the back wheels only. It is very impressive though, we managed to get some 0-60 times very close to 4 seconds with the launch control.

Sounds impressive for a 2.0 litre too, the only thing I could compare it to is the 2.5L in the TTRS+.

Not sure I'd get one myself but I do like it.

[crostonian]

Initially thought you were driving from Birmingham to Daventry for a week! Good idea for a road test, the Merc A45 on the A45...

[anonymous-user]

My word that thing is ugly!!

[Martin_Hx]

Is it only me that thinks it looks a little bland for a hyper hatch ?

[pimpchez]

It needs the so called performance bodykit for sure .Looks like a cdi there

[simo1863]

Its the first fast car I've had for months and was a bit underwhelmed with the look.

It does look like a KIA but then some KIAs aren't that bad.

[greggy50]

You could very easily put a 180 CDI badge on the back and nobody would be the wiser...

[Terminator X]

If Merc can build and sell a 2 litre 4WD turbo nutter wtf has happened to Mitsubishi and Subaru who are arguably past masters

TX.

[wemorgan]

I thought sleeper cars were generally admired on PH.

Personally I think it's the other way around. All the low bhp diesel and petrol variants look like fast cars because of the AMG body kit.

[J4CKO]

Autocar just did their annual Drivers car event and all the testers rated these last, it was up against some very stiff opposition it has to be said and they did concur it is better on the road than track.

[Thehandshake]

wemorgan said:

I thought sleeper cars were generally admired on PH.

More like a stter than sleeper to be honest.

[-Z-]

Has it been crashed?

Shocking colour match between bonnet and bumper!

[matrignano]

Martin_Hx said:

Is it only me that thinks it looks a little bland for a hyper hatch ?

Don't worry, Mercedes would be pleased to barry it up for you with all sorts of carbon fibre tat - spoilers, canards, wing mirrors, flat-bottomed steering wheel and smaller gearlever, 19" multispoke wheels, performance exhaust etc.
That's only going to be an extra £5k+ please, Sir. Enjoy your barry mobile.


I personally quite like it for being so discrete, but the front end is just ugly.

OP - how did you manage to blag a 1 week test drive? I barely managed 20 minutes with one!

Edited by matrignano on Monday 4th November 13:09

[simo1863]

matrignano said:

Don't worry, Mercedes would be pleased to barry it up for you with all sorts of carbon fibre tat - spoilers, canards, wing mirrors, flat-bottomed steering wheel and smaller gearlever, 19" multispoke wheels, performance exhaust etc.
That's only going to be an extra £5k+ please, Sir. Enjoy your barry mobile.


I personally quite like it for being so discrete, but the front end is just ugly.

OP - how did you manage to blag a 1 week test drive? I barely managed 20 minutes with one!

Edited by matrignano on Monday 4th November 13:09

Isn't the spoiler a no cost extra?

RE the week long test, I can't say too much but I work in the sector and get some pretty good benefits from time to time.

[Otispunkmeyer]

dme123 said:

My word that thing is ugly!!

I think so too. It looks fine from some angles but then from others you realise the nose looks bloated like someone's lamped it in the face and the back end looks all stoved in.

It just doesn't flow like, say, a CLS does.

[Martin_Hx]

matrignano said:

Don't worry, Mercedes would be pleased to barry it up for you with all sorts of carbon fibre tat - spoilers, canards, wing mirrors, flat-bottomed steering wheel and smaller gearlever, 19" multispoke wheels, performance exhaust etc.
That's only going to be an extra £5k+ please, Sir. Enjoy your barry mobile.


I personally quite like it for being so discrete, but the front end is just ugly.

OP - how did you manage to blag a 1 week test drive? I barely managed 20 minutes with one!

Edited by matrignano on Monday 4th November 13:09

Only 5k ?

What i meant was, the big AMG's usually look quite muscular and have some road presence, this one as some people have said is hard to differentiate between an AMG or boggo A180 ! Sleeper element is fine but some hint at what lies beneath would be nice.

I know Merc aren't the only manufacture guilty of this, as i think all of them are !

[toppstuff]

Otispunkmeyer said:

dme123 said:

My word that thing is ugly!!

I think so too. It looks fine from some angles but then from others you realise the nose looks bloated like someone's lamped it in the face and the back end looks all stoved in.

It just doesn't flow like, say, a CLS does.

Each to their own. I think the A45 looks quite nice while I regard the CLS as hideous - a proper munter !

[aka_kerrly]

Looks awful, the front end is far to big relative to the rear. It's not like it's got a longitudinal engine and box set up to fit in.

[2354519y]

Not the best colour unfortunately. They look far better in the blue and red shades available on this model.

[simo1863]

a few more thoughts after a few commute runs (70 minutes each way);

- At no point have I wished that it had a V6 instead. The engine in it is amazing (made by someone called Jeremy). Really does remind me of the TTRS+ but with a dash of AMGs butchness.

- The performance exhaust is novel and fun at first but the constant pops, bangs, whines etc do get irritating when just sat in traffic.

- The interior is really nice except for the stupid sideways ipad screen. If that was smaller and built into the dash then it would be great.

- Using the launch control/race start feature at every opportunity uses a lot of fuel.

- Looks still haven't grown on me. I'm neutral on it. I don't think it looks horrible but I don't think it looks especially nice either.

- I think its faster than the 6.2 V8 in C63, E63 and CL63 guises.

- It won't sell well, it's very expensive when compared to both the what the journos are putting it up against and other AMGs, with the launch of the new C-Class pending the current C63 is going to get even cheaper. Especially as it will be the last C-Class model to be changed to the new shape.