Twintest: fast 4WDhatches

BMW’s hot hatch now has a smaller engine and 4x4 drive. Can it see off the entry-level AMG?

This is a very different new M135i. No more 6cyl engines, no more RWD. The new range-topper here is much more in the Golf R/Audi S3 mould. Under the bonnet, a 2.0-litre turbocharged 4cyl engine. Most of the time, to conserve fuel, it only bothers the front wheels with 302bhp and 332lb ft. Only when the computers give leave are the rears entrusted with up to 50 per cent of the poke.

The new Merc-AMG A35 is the cheapest, least powerful AMG you can buy – though £35k basic and £44k as tested hardly makes it a bargain. Since the MkII A45 is a Drift Moded, 400bhp+ psychopath, AMG wisely considered that a few folks might fancy a parpy A-Class without a £50k+ price tag. So the A35 is here to breathe down the neck of the established 300bhp all-weather shopping trolleys.

Inside, we have the usual A-Class wow factor of twin screens, piano-key switches and jet turbine vents, complete with ambient-lit rainbows. We also have the usual A-Class eurgh-factor of the whole shebang being made out of materials tinnier and more hollow than they look. At least you can ask “Hey Mercedes” to handle most of the menial tasks, if your A35 is as optioned-up-to-the-headlights as this one.

What you won’t find on the options list are a set of sports seats. The A35 chairs don’t really set the tone when you first drop inside. And as a result, what comes next is a bit of a shock. The A35’s engine is angry. It’s quick to build revs, there’s a big hit of turbo lag (the full 295lb ft doesn’t land until 3,000rpm and is all done 1,000rpm later), and with maximum power not until almost 6,000rpm, this motor begs to be wrung out.

The A35 has a problem, however. It cannot settle down. The engine’s always raspy, even if the exhaust can be sanitised, and the ride is just punishing. Everyone who drove it found the suspension unacceptable. It actually makes the A35’s cabin feel cheaper than it is because of the sheer crashiness.

Seeking some respite, I hide from the new BMW M135i’s face inside the BMW M135i. What an incredible design feat this is – maybe the ugliest hot hatchback of all time – beating into second place the second-gen BMW 1-Series, and knocking the original BMW 1-Series into the bronze medal slot. And I’m not going to bellyache about the demise of the straight-six and RWD. Loads of stellar hatches have used the four-pot turbo and 4WD to great effect. I just don’t think this is one of them.

Let’s start with what’s good: the ride. This M135i has the best British road combo possible: the standard 18in rims, and adaptive

suspension. In Comfort mode, it’s bang-on – cushioning bumps long before they can rattle the disappointingly naff trim and bizarre techno-fabric upholstery. You could even drive it in Sport mode all the time.

The BMW is also quicker point-to-point. It’s usefully faster, because there’s more torque more of the time, from 1,750rpm all the way to 5,000rpm, and the motor makes maximum power for longer also. Like a diesel powerband, but twice as long. Pity it sounds like one too.

The M135i is a car with an identity crisis: supremely comfy and effortlessly quick, quiet and refined, yet the box, sublime in Auto mode, copies an M4’s head-nodding surges on upchanges in Sport. More marketing dept madness comes in the form of digital dials – unreadable, and not a tenth as swappable as the AMG’s. And the noise. BMW’s efforts to pretend it hasn’t sold its 6cyl soul means its synthesised engine noise is particularly fake.

Elsewhere, the M135i claws it back with proper hot hatch seats with generous bolsters, and a sense when it’s cornering it’s a bit smaller and lighter on its feet than the A35. It’ll exit bends more exuberantly than the AMG, but it’s yet another modern car that doesn’t feel remotely adjustable or interactive under the seat of your pants until you’re covering ground at a serious rate.

So you can see, these are two curious cars. The Merc will be overbearing to live with but much more stimulating. The 1-Series will melt into the daily sludge of everyday life painlessly, but surely a £35k hot hatch with all of BMW’s nous should be a more special device than this?

On balance, we’d have the A35. If you were seduced by the BMW’s more polished manners, we wouldn’t blame you. But versus the S3 or Golf R that have been on sale for the past six years? Both of these newcomers are alternatives, but not improvements.

“THE BMW IS THE UGLIEST HOT HATCH OF ALL TIME – BEATING THE MkII 1-SERIES INTO SECOND”