- Overview
- What is it?
- What’s new for 2023?
- Is diesel still a thing?
- How did they get away with such a light-touch facelift?
- Our choice from the range
- What's the verdict?
- BMW 1 Series
- Audi A3 Sportback
- Ford Focus
- Driving
- What is it like to drive?
- What’s the ride like?
- Talk engines to me.
- What about the plug-in hybrid?
- Mercedes A250e review: plug-in hybrid baby Merc tested
- Mercedes A35 Saloon review: four-door AMG driven
- Mercedes-Benz A250 AMG Line review: baby saloon tested
- Interior
- What is it like on the inside?
- Buying
- What should I be paying?
Overview
What is it?
The A-Class is a huge seller for Mercedes in the UK. Entering mid-life, it has undergone a mild facelift for 2023. Along with it, so have all the related cars: (deep breath) the A-Class saloon, CLA four-door coupe, CLA Shooting Brake, GLA coupe-SUV and GLB seven-seat SUV.
It’s a hatchback or saloon, and all specs can be had in both body styles, except the PHEV which is saloon only. The A-Class isn’t cheap, but a fancy interior and auto transmission are standard across the range. Although it’s quite big, it’s quite cramped in the back, but it does feel like a big car on the road. In other words, it’s refined and stable, easy to guide, and the ride is soft. So it’s a trad Benz.
What’s new for 2023?
Main changes outside are grille and lights – and the headlights are available as a matrix adaptive system now. In other words, nothing you’d notice without a very close inspection.
Inside, the full-size double-screen dash becomes standard across the range, and there are operability changes too. We say changes: with the loss of the central pad, most things can only be done by touchscreen or voice activation, and we think the tiny gain in storage space isn’t worth the loss of the control pad.
It’s a sign of the cost of certifying engines, and the effort being diverted into EVs, that the number of engine choices has been cut. The range now consists of the 1.33-litre petrol in the A180 (136bhp) and A200 (163bhp), both with a seven-speed DCT and an additional temporary 14bhp from a mild-hybrid motor.
That 48 volt mild-hybrid setup can start the engine in the blink of an eye, and also let the engine declutch and shut down on the over-run, a function the Germans picturesquely call sailing.
Is diesel still a thing?
It is, but only barely. Another sign of shifting buyer taste is that there’s just one diesel, the A200 d, which gets an eight-speed DCT.
Since the A-Class is a massive company-car seller, you can be sure the A250 e plug-in hybrid will be a big part of the mix, even if that powertrain comes only in the four-door saloon and not the hatch. It uses the same 1.33-litre engine. There are significant improvements to the battery, allowing more range and slightly more electric power, for a total engine-plus-motor power of 218bhp. You’re supremely unlikely to hit the 50-mile notional range of course, but it does mean you’ll be using significant grid-supplied energy even on a long trip, greatly helping the fuel economy.
You won’t have forgotten the pair of hot all-drive AMG cars, the A35 and A45, but we review them separately. TL;DR on those – the A35 is fast but a bit dull, but the A45 S is a truly engaging scorcher.
How did they get away with such a light-touch facelift?
Well, the A-Class is still a smart-looking car and any wrinkles aren’t yet showing. It’s also incidentally a notably low-drag machine, in the search for motorway economy and quietness. In fact the CdA (drag coefficient times cross-sectional area) is lower than a man on a racing pushbike. Drag-lowering measures include detail shaping at the rear end, and alloy wheels with black-painted smooth blanking areas that almost close off the spokes. In fact the detail was more obsessive than that: a diktat was sent to the tyre makers that the lettering on their sidewalls may stand proud by no more than 0.2mm.
Our choice from the range
Mercedes-Benz
A200 Sport 5dr
£26,535
What's the verdict?
“The A-Class's problem is rivals are catching up with the digital stuff, and the facelift hasn't advanced the dynamics”
The A-Class, thanks to its well-built cabin and its highly-developed screen system, has the potential to be a feelgood car. It’s solid, quiet if you don’t nail it, smooth-riding, well-made, safe. There’s more affirmation in the fact that if you buy a Mercedes-Benz, no-one will question you.
But pick away at it and the argument has holes. The 1.33-litre engine is uncharismatic. The cornering is safe but soggy, and nowhere near as effortlessly enjoyable as a BMW 1 Series. Back-seat room is short too.
Still, it doesn’t pander to the traditional road-test criteria. It has some real wow factor with the connectivity, which to some people is a greater priority than any of that ‘handling’ palaver. If you look at the way most people drive, the A-Class probably does what will make them happy. Its problem is, rivals are catching up with that digital stuff, and the facelift hasn’t advanced the dynamics one whit.
BMW 1 Series
£22,835 – £42,185
Audi A3 Sportback
£22,500 – £45,215
Ford Focus
£15,750 – £36,435
Continue reading: Driving
Driving
What is it like to drive?
First thing’s first, the A-Class is not as sporty to drive as it looks. Thus it lags notably behind class-leaders like the BMW 1 Series, or even cheaper stuff such as a Seat Leon.
Quite how plush it is depends on how you spec it. While the A250 had a multi-link rear suspension, that’s no longer sold here, and nor can you get adaptive dampers. So the simple torsion-beam rear suspension gets its comfort by losing steering precision.
What’s the ride like?
At least on the smaller wheel sizes, it is comfortable and relatively quiet. The damping isn’t firm enough to staunch body heave if a quick road is undulating beneath you. But preventing that untidiness by easing off the accelerator is a natural reaction in this car.
The steering is well-damped, almost glutinously so, which means it’s an easy and relaxing car to drive smoothly though bends. But an unrewarding one. On motorways it sits solid and stable.
Talk engines to me.
The 1.33-litre petrol engine, Renault-designed but Mercedes-built, has reedy sound in the mid-ranges, but revs out quietly. In the A200 it’s punchy enough, with a 0-62mph time of 8.2 seconds. Helped by the mild hybrid system, the seven-speed DCT is reasonably responsive.
The A200 d is quiet for a diesel, and has plenty of torque and is well served by the smooth eight-speed DCT. On the other hand, our not-too-quick test drive gave a disappointing 45mpg.
What about the plug-in hybrid?
The full PHEV version can suffer some messy handovers between its two power units, but as long as you open and close the throttle slowly that usually isn’t an issue. The transmission can also make some odd ratio choices in hybrid mode, but maybe that’s just its way of trying to save the most fuel by regenerating the motor against the engine as you slow up.
Of course the PHEV is also heavier, by 260kg versus the plain petrol, which further taxes the dampers on undulating surfaces.
Mercedes A250e review: plug-in hybrid baby Merc tested
£35,925
Mercedes A35 Saloon review: four-door AMG driven
£38,030
Mercedes-Benz A250 AMG Line review: baby saloon tested
£31,730
Previous: Overview
Continue reading: Interior
Interior
What is it like on the inside?
It’s not like any other car, especially not in a sensible class like this. The dash is a low-bulk piece of furniture, with the screen system on top. The centre console is pushed away from you too, so the overall effect is of pared-back lounge luxury. At night, illumination of strategic interior parts adds a nicely theatrical – and practical – note.
If you specced it up, this generation of A-Class always had an impressive pair of 10.25-inch high-res screens. Now, post-facelift, that big-glass cockpit is standard. It has live-traffic navigation, full Apple CarPlay and Android Auto (again, newly standard) and multiple selectable display options, graphic schemes and colour combos.
It learns your habits, so if you listen to different radio stations at different times of the day, or enter different nav destinations on different days of the week, it’ll make those suggestions. (Like Apple has for years.) The whole system is called MBUX for Mercedes Benz User Experience. Because everything’s an experience these days.
Two sets of steering-wheel controllers let the driver do anything that’s on the screens, but they’ve become small and fiddly touchpads in the facelift car whereas some were actual switches before. And the touchpads are too sensitive to accidental operation, but somehow inconsistently not sensitive enough when you’re trying to swipe them. We found ourselves missing the tunnel-mounted controller that was fitted pre-facelift. At least the climate controls are hardware buttons.
General material quality is high. It’s well-made and stylish, with rich metallic sheen on the jet-turbine vents and switches. Although it’s annoying that perhaps the flimsiest and cheapest-feeling mouldings are the two you often use: the column stalks, which operate wipers, indicators and transmission selection.
Augmented-reality sat nav is standard high up the range. It plays a video of the road ahead onto the centre screen, overlaid with big arrows hovering over the right road at a junction. It’s both impressive and distracting. The top version gets a head-up display which is much more effective to our eyes.
The seats are widely adjustable and supportive for the long haul. But negotiate not to be a rear passenger. The bulky front seats in all models with AMG in their name – ie all but one version – steal leg and foot space.
The boot is a bit shallow too, and records just 355 litres to the top of the seat-back. It’s even less with the parcel shelf in place.
Previous: Driving
Continue reading: Buying
Buying
What should I be paying?
Fuel consumption and CO2 figures are competitive rather than super-special. A BMW 118i or 120d will accelerate faster on less power with the same fuel consumption as an A180 or A200 d.
CO2 figures are very similar whether you’re in the A180, A200 or A200 d. They start at 130g/km for the A200 d in base trim, and rise to 143g/km for all three of those engines with the AMG Line Premium Plus.
The saloon A250 e with 18-inch wheels is just 19g/km. But usual caveat: you’ll only get that amazing emission figure and corresponding economy if you plug it in very often.
As to the lease and PCP payments, Mercedes usually does well here, because the cars get good residuals.
Speccing an A-Class is straightforward – there are lots of trim levels, but no individual options except colour schemes.
Sport Executive is the highfalutin’ name for base spec, but then it isn’t that basic: it nets you the twin screens, most driver-assist features bar rear blindspot radar, it has LED headlights, and leather-look Artico seats. It’s not vegan though: the steering wheel is leather.
All other versions have a racier-looking AMG front and rear bumpers, and have recycled fabric covering the seats. Indeed AMG Executive is largely a cosmetic pack, with 18-inch wheels instead of the 17s, but also sports seats.
AMG Line Premium adds a 225W sound system, contrast stitching in the cabin, and augmented reality navigation. Finally the snappily named AMG Line Premium Plus gets different 19s, a glass roof, electric memory seats and a head-up display.
Previous: Interior
Continue reading: Specs & Prices
Keyword: Mercedes-Benz A-Class review