Turning Point?

The original Mercedes-AMG A45 was undoubtedly fast, but was also unrefined, unresolved and unrewarding. Has that changed with this all-new version?

- Antony Ingram

THE WORLD’S MOST POWERFUL TURBO four-cylinder engine in series production,’ reads the press release for the new Mercedes-AMG A45 hot hatch and its difficult-to-classify four-door CLA45 brother. (Mercedes will tell you it’s a coupe, the most abused word in the motoring lexicon just after ‘sporty’ and just before ‘emotive’.) Trouble is, the old A45 and CLA45 struggled to entertain with an already-generous 376bhp. Now that’s risen to 415bhp (non-S models get 382bhp), but turning up the wick alone is no guarantee of new-found evoness.

Luckily, the new 45s are off to a running start. Earlier in the year AMG gave us the A35 and CLA35, giving buyers a lower rung on the AMG ladder, just as the V6 43s and hybrid-assisted 53s have done further up the range. And those 35s are good – far better than the leaden old 45s, and more sporty and emotive (sorry) than a Golf R.

The only possible stumbling block is that they’re so accomplished, even with ‘only’ 302bhp, that last time I drove an A35 I was left wondering why you’d bother spending any more just for the sake of an extra hundredor-so horses. What could AMG possibly do differently – without coming over all Black Series and removing seats – to justify the additional cost?