Mercedes-benz A-class
Time for another swap: in comes a petrol A250 AMG Line with some choice options
Now we try out an A250
WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT
To see if Merc’s Golf rival has come of age – and to try to pick the ‘perfect’ spec
Name a really epic third part of a trilogy, one that’s the defining part of its trio of movies. It’s harder than you think. Apparently Lord of the Rings is as good as it gets for a part three, but I’ll have to take the internet’s word for that and present Back to the Future III for the prosecution’s case.
So let’s consider this, the climax of our own three-part series on the Mercedes-benz A-class, before AMG gets involved and takes over with the excellent A35. To recap, we started life with the entry-level A180d diesel model in mid-range Sport trim before switching to the A200 petrol model in the plusher AMG Line specification. And now we’re in the A250, again in AMG Line but with three key differences we’ll examine.
First, the A250’s turbocharged 2.0-litre petrol engine, which, in this state of tune, produces 221bhp and 258lb ft. The A200 has a 1.3-litre with 161bhp and 184lb ft, so that’s quite a jump in capacity. There’s also an A220 that splits this pair, which gets a 187bhp version of the 2.0-litre, for the sake of completion.
Second, we welcome the interior’s show-stopper for the first time: the twin 10.25in screens for the MBUX infotainment system. This dominates your eyeline in the cabin with its rich graphics, mixing infotainment in the centre of the dashboard with driving information on the right screen, which replaces an instrument binnacle.
We’ve gone from two smaller screens in the A180d, to one large and one small in the A200, but now we have the full ‘do you want to go large?’ option. Lovely it is, too, both visually and in its functionality. But worth the extra £2000-plus cost over the lesser systems? Let’s see.
Third, that £2000-plus cost (£2200 to be precise) isn’t just for the larger instrument screen but is the price of the Premium Plus package (£3595) over the Executive package (£1395). So you get plenty of bells to go with its whistle, including some fancy ambient interior lighting, a better sound system, adaptive LED headlights, memory heated seats and a panoramic sunroof, which arrives just in time for the spring. That’s some 15% of the car’s list price on one option alone, so assessing its value will be intriguing.
Saying hello to the A250 meant waving goodbye to the A200, which will probably be glad to see the back of me after I soured our last few days together. (I’ll just say the word ‘ford’ and leave it at that, and I don’t mean the one with a blue oval. Luckily there was no damage, other than to my pride.)
I was amazed at the A200’s easy-going economy, with 50mpg frequently popping up on the trip odometer on my 30-mile-each-way mixed-road commute, I enjoyed the extra agility and fleet of foot the lighter engine brought to the handling over the A180d and was pleased to report the body control improved somewhat with the adoption of a multi-link rear axle, even if the low-speed ride issues weren’t completely solved.
I will miss it, although there’s now a sense of excitement to try the kind of car you don’t see enough of these days: the cooking petrol. Most buyers switched to higher-powered diesels instead of the likes of the A250 in the past decade to get a good slug of the performance mixed with more favourable economy and taxation, but given diesels are apparently all evil these days (don’t get me started…), petrol power is making a comeback.
It’s early days, but I’m enjoying the greater muscularity of the 2.0-litre engine in the mid-high rev range, as well as a useful improvement in the-gap-in-the- traffic-exploiting 0-30mph performance that’s so useful in the real world. And none of this is at the expense of economy too much, with the car returning 40-42mpg on my commute.
The seven-speed automatic gearbox’s application in the A250 has been the most impressive yet. You’ll remember it has been one of the few black marks against the A-class elsewhere. While still not completely cured of that low-speed hesitancy, you can trust the ’box to listen to your right foot in a more acceptable timeframe. Bodes well for helping see the car at its very best in its remaining time here.