New Mercedes-Benz a top-class ride
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 four-cylinder petrol with cylinder shutoff, while the A250 is powered by a heavily revised 165kW/350Nm 2.0-litre fourcylinder petrol unit. Both will come to NZ attached to a seven-speed dual-clutch 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.
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.