SQ2 vs A35
Hot hatch meets hot crossover for a hot-tempered fight in a cold climate
Bartholomä. Nope, we’d never heard of it either. Nor, I suspect, has anyone who lives much ch more than a snowball’s flight away. It’s not big, Bartholomä. Nor easy to pronounce – do o you rhyme it with Bartholomew or Barcelona? a? Or, as the locals insist, some other way entirely rely that has me thinking our hotel must be miles away, when in fact it turns out to be the lights I can see across the dark, quiet, icy car park?
We’re here more by necessity than desire, far enough north rth that roads are open and roofs coping with their thick rugs of f snow. But it looked good on the map: an isolated village on a high plateau surrounded by twisting, sweeping roads, roughly midway between etween Stuttgart and Ingolstadt. The homes, respectively, of Mercedes des and Audi. Neutral territory then, for this head-to-head between een the latest small fast things from premium German marques. Hot hatches? I’m not sure that’s the right label, not when one of them is a crossover. Besides, I think both see themselves as a peg above the cut and thrust of Civic Type R, Hyundai i30N and even Golf GTI.
However, you could argue that the success of the Golf R is the reason both exist. Here was an understated upmarket hatch with proper pace and handling nous that had quality to spare and largely created the 300bhp, £35k niche that now looks like a real car sweet spot. It’s a template the Merc-AMG A35 has rigidly adhered to. An A45 will be along in due course, and we’ll coo over its 400+bhp, but it’ll also be nearing £50k. For a compact family hatch. This one makes sense for more people. A 300bhp, 2.0-litre turbo driving through a 7spd twin-clutch ’box to all four wheels, for a 0–62mph time in the mid-fours and approaching 40mpg. Swift, secure, practical, desirable.
And copy/paste. Every word you’ve just read also applies to the
Audi SQ2. The drivetrain is largely lifted from the Audi S3, which in turn (and barring a tweaked 4WD system) is basically a Golf R.
Which bodes well. But are the A35 and SQ2 even rivals? Of course they are, right? It’s just a bit of ride height that separates them.
True, but you could also argue that this little lift is a fundamental shift, a metaphorical as well as physical step-up. A crossover changes perceptions of what a car’s for, what it’s capable of, who it’s aimed at. Take this is an example: a couple owns a small coupe, but two are soon to become three so the TT/Z4/GT86 has gotta go. Their lifestyle is undergoing a radical shift, but they still want a car with a bit of kick, and here are two potentials. They’re going to go for the crossover, aren’t they? The extra height for less bending down, the bigger boot, the confidence of the higher seating position.
Two things, though. The difference in height is about the length of your index finger, and it’s actually the Merc that has the bigger load bay (370/1,210 litres plays 355/1,000) with a larger, more usable floor area. Appearances being deceptive right there.
It’s evening and the last of the cross-country skiers have skated off towards warmth and schnitzel, leaving a blank canvas for our two yellow cars to paint upon. Even by the understated standards of Audi S cars, the SQ2 is plain. It’s got the big grille, the quad tailpipes, the badging, the rear spoiler, but it’s all rather apologetic. Nineteeninchers would probably help. The A35 isn’t much on top of a regular
A, either, but compared with the Audi its strakier, sharkier front end and more aggressive wheels do at least suggest a certain intent. Just looks a bit droopy at both ends.
The cabins are better. The Audi, with one eye on that coupe customer, has much in common with the TT. The layout is clean, well-organised, attractively structured and designed around the class-leading Virtual Cockpit dash. Even if you’re new to Audi, you’ll be comfortable, satnav programmed, tunes managed and heat where you want, in a matter of minutes.
The Merc. It’s beautiful in here. Have you noticed the vents? The twin screens? The tactile metal? The ambient lighting? The glitz and glamour? Peer through the windows at night, and it’s a conceptual art installation. Function follows form here. Yes, there’s a certain logic with buttons on the left of the steering wheel controlling the dash, those on the right, the centre screen. If you’re stationary, you might appreciate the sheer configurability, the depth of personalisation possible. But it’s a car – the idea is that you’re moving. And you’re going to want to switch radio channels or put in a destination, and to do that you have to interact with flighty touchpads and dense, data-loaded screens. Don’t get me wrong – I fell for the A35 in that evening car park, thought the Audi felt half a generation behind, but the next day, with a hectic schedule to keep, the SQ2 kept me sane.
Ah, the next day. It’s 10°C below, and we start off-road on snowy tracks, to prove a point. The point is capability. Winter tyres and 4WD will get you a long, long way, but the confidence you get from the extra 40mm or so of ground clearance, the knowledge you’re not going to scrape a sump or chip a spoiler, is handy. And well demonstrated when the A35 crunches into a deep tractor rut the SQ2 had bounced noiselessly over. It’ll be the same if you lurch up a supermarket kerb.
Tall cars have higher centres of gravity, and that’s no help to handling. But open the bonnets of both and have a look: the A35’s engine protrudes upwards, the SQ2’s is sunk deep down, the bodywork pulled up around it. Bet there’s no more than a few
millimetres of difference. Of course, the chassis is lifted that bit further, but the SQ2 takes corners confidently, body control is solid, roll progressive. Regular suspension, no adaptive dampers for the Audi. It’s proficient, capable, grippy, surprising almost in how energetically it exits corners, managing traction and torque distribution well enough that understeer never really gets a look in.
There’s an issue, though. While doing this, it delivers precisely no feedback or tactility at all. Not through the dull brake pedal or the light, frictionless steering. It’s efficient, effective and – barring the satisfaction of a corner swiftly, securely taken – largely joyless. Remember the RS Q3? It was majorly flawed, went down the road like a wrecking ball, but was at least amusing. The SQ2 has swapped that for proficiency. For the type of people the SQ2 is aimed at, I suspect that’s a very sensible decision. Less alienating.
The A35 is a more positive, concentrated experience. The steering is weightier (although there’s still barely any feel through it), the brakes bite harder, the exhaust is more raucous, and, if you vary your throttle mid-corner, you can tweak your line. More nimble, then, if not noticeably more grippy. And by the standards of the best hot hatches, no better than average, lacking the tactility and finesse of the best. But as we said earlier, these cars are seeking a different audience. I suspect the Audi’s seats have such skinny bolsters because the marketing types said they had to be easy to get in and out of, and that the steering couldn’t be too heavy, nor the ride too firm, nor the modes too aggressive. It’s a car that’s been dialled into a very specific user-friendly, no-sharp-edges position.
At least it’s fast. The SQ2 belts off the line with astonishing vigour, sounds good at the top end and smashes past 60 and 100mph in 4.5 and 11.5secs respectively. A nudge ahead of the 30kg lighter, slipperier, fractionally more potent A35 (which delivered times of 4.6 and 11.9). Why is that? Simply that the Audi sustains its torque and power better at the top end. Take a deep breath and blow out as hard as you can. Know how you run out of puff as you try to empty the last bit from your lungs? That’s the A35 beyond 5,500rpm. The Audi charges all the way to 6,750rpm.
So the SQ2 is quicker and punchier at high revs, but the A35 sounds better at everyday engine speeds, plus delivers panto pops on lift-off in Sport mode. Both suffer moderate lag and kick up at the red line even if you’re in paddle-pulling manual mode. But the sense you get from driving both is that the Mercedes is the one that’s trying harder to win you over, to poke a (mild) chilli under your tongue.
I test out Merc’s claims about sending 100 per cent of torque to the rear wheels by doing donuts in an icy car park. It doesn’t want to know. Neither of them do, both systems shuffling torque, shifting up and generally getting confused. Not really relevant, I know, but if this is how they perform on ice, don’t expect any opposite-lock heroics on tarmac, either. It’s not what they’re about. These are safe, usable compact family cars, the A35 an AMG-lite, the engine borrowed from the A250 and enhanced, the SQ2 existing at the expense of the much-loved tough little S1, consigned to the history books as buying habits have shifted. There’ll be a new RS Q3 at some stage, but again: 50 grand.
The SQ2 has the edge for refinement – there’s less noise penetration, cavitation and vibration. The standard A-Class is bad for that; the A35, better. Inside, both have good comfortable driving positions and room for four adults at a push. Real world, we got upwards of 35mpg to partner the sub-170g/km CO and first year tax of £515. Lease deals will put one on your drive for around £350 a month.
You can build a credible argument for choosing either one. What this test shows is that the hot hatch has matured as much as it has evolved. To the point that a crossover is entirely valid – these are four-door sports hatches for the brand-aware and image-conscious. Fast first, rewarding second. Good-natured, undemanding to live with. Just a pity that neither has the pizzazz necessary to really come alive on a good road, the Audi falling furthest short. We care about that. I suspect buyers won’t mind when they can get 19s and good spec. But still, enough to hand an easy win to the Mercedes-AMG.