Popular Mechanics (South Africa)
MERC’S NEW BABY
Mercedes-benz finally shows its mobility hand and the future is looking bright
The A-class grows up
THE TRADITIONAL MERC CUSTOMER
stays in a purchase cycle, completely in sync with the manufacturer’s launch strategy. Every two to four years would bring an iterative upgrade over the previous model in the customer’s chosen class, with each alternate update bringing new features to the infamous COMAND user interface. MercedesBenz drivers love them some COMAND. We are happy to report the timely retirement of an unintuitive system. In its place is the pre- eminent interface of our time: voice.
This is the part where I am supposed to bemoan the company’s attempt at creating what is effectively a smartphone operating system, but for a car. That is exactly what MBUX is, and it’s not great, but it is built on the Nvidia Pegasus processor instead of an ARM chip that should be obsolete in six months. Deployed in the all- new Mercedes-benz A- Class, the system isn’t even running at even one quarter of its capabilities. Then again, the engineers on-hand at the launch were a bit vague on exactly what hardware was powering this version.
We are aware that the S- Class used the full Drive PX unit with twin Xavier processors, as seen before powering the autonomous drive tour. The “Intelligent World Drive” was largely a machine-learning exercise to gather international road data and feed the AI.
Croatia seems an exotic enough location for a South African journalist, though there isn’t any autonomous driving at play here. It’s just the wrong side of the road, basically, and getting better acquainted with a couple of engine variants that likely won’t make it to our shores in the near future.
DECEPTIVE MOTORS
What’s definitely coming to sunny SA is the A200’s M 282 1,4-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol that was co- developed alongside Renault. It is a relatively frugal unit equipped with cylinder shut-off technology that will certainly be every commuter’s dream in heavy morning traffic.
On performance duty, for now, is the A250’s twolitre four- cylinder M 260 turbocharged petrol unit, a highlight feature being the variable-valve-timing configuration that’s pretty much VTEC, but Mercedes rather emphasises the fuel-
saving benefits at lower engine loads instead of the kick up the butt near the maximum engine speeds, and a CONICSHAPE cylinder for superior piston glide.
The A180d seen at the launch was powered by the Renault- developed OM 608 1,5-litre turbo- diesel mill. Unfortunately, development for the EU 6d fuel saw an increase in injector pressure to 2 000 bar, which is quite unsuitable for our 50 PPM. SA will be getting the older OM 607 – pretty much what’s used on the current highend Qashqai – instead.
ALL TECH, EVERYTHING
You’d think that the class-leading 0,25 drag coefficient would be entirely design based, but you would be wrong. The air-intake flaps are controlled by the ECU, and open and close according to airflow demands (interestingly, closing everything at low to medium loads increases fuel efficiency because of better combustion temperatures). But that’s not what we came here for.
Front and centre in the cockpit is the seven- or 10-inch frameless dual screen. The screen behind the steering wheel is a customisable instrument display, while the central unit is a touchscreen. MBUX has Apple Carplay and Android Auto compatibility as well as its own take on a mobile (you know, because the car can move) operating system. On the top specification, you even get a purpose-built voice assistant that can be summoned with the, “Hey Mercedes,” wake phrase; frustratingly, this cannot be modified.
The use case for this voice interface is currently only when you’re outside of a data signal, because it harnesses the power of Nvidia’s processor and hardware acceleration to make offline actions possible. It’s still a bit unclear exactly who it will prefer over Siri or Google Assistant, but Merc is rightly proud of what it’s achieved after five years of development.
DEMOCRATIC MOBILITY
By far the standout proposition of the new system is how it integrates with the Me Connect app. You set a profile only once, including your car seating configuration and UI themes, and you can then access it and integrate it into any compatible Merc that is connected to a data signal. Merc will even bundle a 52-month data service into the cost of the car to run all of the connected features and keep its firmware updated.
Outside of that, there’s a new carsharing service as well, where you could loan your A- Class to a trusted person and the entire transaction is done through the app. Complex developers can then, theoretically, purchase a f leet of A- Classes and have them used as communal cars, administrating bookings through the app.
This thinking comes as a radical departure from the standard Merc business model and we sincerely hope all these functions become available in our market soon. We have to say well done, MercedesBenz, for finally stepping into the future of mobility in the sharing economy of tomorrow.