New Mercedes a top-class ride
It might be the brand’s smallest model, but A-class introduces some state-of-the-art tech for M-B. By Damien O’Carroll.
Awhile back, premium manufacturers realised that they couldn’t reasonably expect to survive if they catered only to the high-end, large pricetag markets, so a push was made to move the entry point to their brands down towards the more mainstream area.
But how do you do this without tarnishing the premium reputation of those brands? Well, not they way they first tried to do it, that’s for sure.
BMW offered the hastily thrown together and awkward
3-series Compact hatchback in
1993, while Audi offered the small, high-tech but excitingly expensive
A2 in 1999. Mercedes-Benz made a more considered stab with the A-class in 1997.
The Compact faltered because it was a bit naff (it was replaced by the 1-series) and the A2 failed to fire because it was weird-looking and expensive (replaced by the
A1). But the Mercedes-Benz A-class took off and sold exceptionally well. Eventually.
There was, of course, that brief period where elk-related tipping problems caused Mercedes to take the remarkable step of stopping sales, recalling every car sold and spending millions to tweak the suspension and add stability control as standard across the range, but after that it was away and a rousing success for the brand around the world.
Here in New Zealand, the A-class has done exactly what it was supposed to do and proven to be an invaluable entry point, with 74 per cent of buyers being new to the brand.
Since the launch of the secondgeneration car in 2012, the entry level A180 has been the most popular model, accounting for 37 per cent of sales, while the A250 follows it with 30 per cent.
Now there is an all-new A-class that Mercedes hopes will carry on with that success at bringing new customers into the brand, but also offer a more premium and grownup experience for existing customers.
The new A-class is 120mm longer than the old car, with a 30mm-longer wheelbase.
The majority of the extra length is given to increasing the boot space, which was a common customer complaint in the old car.
Width is up a more meagre
16mm, while it is also 6mm higher, but has dropped 20kg on average across the range.
A range of new and revised engines power the A-class, with the A200 getting an all-new
120kW/250Nm 1.3-litre fourcylinder petrol with cylinder shutoff, while the A250 is powered by a heavily revised 165kW/
350Nm 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol unit. Both will come to NZ attached to a seven-speed dualclutch transmission.
On the outside the A-class is still recognisable as such, with a continuation of the last car’s familiar shape, albeit with the adoption of Mercedes’ new more angular and aggressive face and sharper lines.
On the inside, the impressively high quality interior of the A-class has taken up the turbine-style air vents from the E-class, as well as the larger car’s spectacular digital dash that is made up of two 10.25-inch widescreen displays.
The A-class is first to get the company’s new Mercedes-Benz User Experience (MBUX) infotainment system: an artificial intelligence learning system that adapts itself to the user.
Featuring voice control (triggered Amazon Alexa/Google Home-style by saying ‘‘Hey Mercedes’’ or just ‘‘Mercedes’’), a
high resolution touchscreen and a new touchpad on the centre console, the system is also set up for private car sharing, allowing you to offer family members and friends access to the car via an app.
While the new MBUX system and the vast array of customisations available across the two displays may initially seem to be rather overwhelming and intimidating, it didn’t take too long for us to become comfortable with them.
This, plus the fact that Mercedes lets you set up separate profiles, with a number of themes for each, means once you get the car and displays set up they way (or even ways) you like it, it can easily be saved for each individual user.
You can also opt-in to the artificial intelligence learning that will monitor how, when and where you drive, as well as what you listen to and other driving habits, and offer suggestions as it gathers more information about you. For example, it may notice that you drive to a particular location for work each morning and listen to rock music, so it may suggest a quicker route one day and ask you if you want to play AC/DC on the way.
The voice control in the MBUX system was a mixed bag of impressive and frustrating.
But as the cars on the launch were all European-spec they weren’t exactly set up to understand our Kiwi ‘‘uccents’’ properly.
Mercedes has collaborated with speech-recognition pioneer Nuance on the voice assistant, and uses NVIDIA processors for the MBUX system and assured us that the system is fully updatable, with the potential to add more features and improvements either via over the air updates or via a USB at a dealership.
All the very clever tech aside, the A-class seems to have largely improved on its predecessor on the road, with better noise insulation and, Mercedes claims, ride quality.
Certainly it did seem superior to the old car, but most of the cars we drove were fitted with the optional adjustable damping system.
While A-class felt nicely nimble and agile on the roads around Croatia, its steering was distant and slightly oddly weighted.
While fine on the 130kmh highways, it wasn’t quite as engaging as it could be on a winding road.
The A-class will initially come to NZ only in A200 guise in August, with the A250 4Matic and an A180 following in December.
Standard equipment across the entire range will include the impressive double 10.25-inch widescreen displays, the new MBUX system, LED headlights, keyless start, satellite navigation, a reversing camera, nine airbags, and a 225-watt audio system with nine speakers and a subwoofer.
Local prices and complete specification will be released closer to the local launch, but it is sure to offer some pretty serious punch in the standard equipment area, not to mention the seriously hi-tech infotainment system and a range of driver assists not seen in this segment previously.