MERCEDES-AMG 35 & 45 /

Setting the bar for hot-hatchery

“It was good to be back”, I thought as I brought the new Mercedes-AMG A 45 to a halt on the pit-straight of the Zwartkops Raceway outside Pretoria recently. The best part, beside the thrill awaiting me, was that I wasn’t confined to the couch for this event, trying desperately to draw my own conclusions on a digital launch. The world’s most powerful hothatch has arrived in South Africa, and I was aching to take to the track.

Following what seemed to be an eternity of digital launch events, I recently found myself at Zwartkops Raceway, behind the wheel of Merc’s latest hot hatch bombshell. With my left foot on the brake, I slammed the loud pedal, and following just a slight delay as the car’s on-board computer calculated the appropriate variables for the in-built ‘Race Start’ mode, the searing hot hatch rocketed forwards with an intensity you don’t expect.

Here’s the thing: Driving as many cars as we do, and I mean this with as much modesty as I can muster, some cars eventually start to stand out as benchmarks. There’s luxury, most usable supercars, roadsters and hot hatchbacks where, until now, the VW Golf R served as the intensity benchmark for the hot-as-reaper-chilli hatchback segment. But, as you might have guessed, in my books at least, it has been dethroned in quite a spectacular fashion.

THE 45S

It’s a strange thing when you take a peek behind the veil of on-paper performance. You know the particular distinctions of what is adequate, what is on-par with the rest of the segment and what stands out. You also have a general idea of how this will translate to the blacktop. However, when you see that a hatchback – in this case, the Mercedes-AMG A 45 S 4Matic+ – produces 310 kW and 500 Nm of torque, you initially think that it must be a typo on the side of the carmaker.

It shouldn’t be possible. For the sake of context, the Golf R has 228 kilowatts on tap, ditto with the Honda Civic Type-R with the other revered contender in this segment, the Renault Megane RS Trophy, boasting 221. See my point yet? They are all blisteringly quick with the only distinctions being that it’s how the power is delivered. While I have not driven this specific Megane RS, in the case of the Golf R it is almost clinical and to the point, while the Civic Type-R feels hot-headed in its execution. And the A45? Well, it depends on your mood with the AMG Dynamic Select that includes six driving modes ranging from ‘Slippery’ to ‘Race’ mode. And, in the case of the latter, well, let’s say that it errs on the side of perplexing. More on that later, though.

And should you wish for something that’s a little chicer around the design lines, Mercedes-AMG also