The brand new A 35 AMG is Mercedes answer to the Golf R €49,750, the Audi S3 Sportback (€53,230) and the BMW M135i xDrive (€52,301) l.
The Mercedes-AMG35 4Matic starting price is €59,245. It’s a 2.0 litre 4 cyl engine building 306 bhp at 400Nm and gets to 100km/h in 4.7s
Volkswagen Golf R, BMW’s 135 XDrive. It’s designed as a hot hatchback which you can not just live with every day but have an absolute blast in.
Performance is priority if you’re looking at spending over 50k on a hatchback and the AMG 35 doesn’t disappoint with a swift zero to sixty in 4.7 seconds. It features a 2.0-litre four-cylinder powerplant with forced induction punching 302bhp and 295lb ft of torque through Benz’s 4Matic four-wheel drive system.
Special mention : The pops, bangs and crackles entertain for hours. Cabin is bathed in Blade Runner ambience.
Needs work : Suspension is a little hard even in comfort mode. Premium price. Lane Assist off – unless the driver specifies otherwise.
Specs: As tested
| Max Power 306 BHP | Petrol / Auto 7 Speed |
| 0-100 km/h in 4.7 seconds | Road Tax €570 |
| Starting price €59,245 as tested €70,072 (for showcasing purposes) | Boot litres 370 – 1,210 litres |
You get LED headlights as standard though these are actually the upgraded matrix LEDs which distribute their beam so oncoming drivers aren’t dazzled. There’s more AMG styling with the side skirts and vents at the back (which are for looks only). There’s an added rear diffuser and an upgraded twin sports exhaust.
The AMG styling package includes blacked out rear windows as well upgraded 19-inch alloy wheels with black paint which works really well and most noticeable is the roof spoiler.
Inside there are some sporty upgrades, the most noticeable is the AMG sports steering wheel which feels lovely to the touch. Also you’ve got metallic gear shift paddles mated to the automatic gearbox, there are some AMG specific displays so you can see performance, dynamics and you can select Sport Plus mode for added sport.
It’s a high quality interior featuring the excellent MBUX entertainment system which you can control with real world voice commands.
The engine is based on an upgraded version of the 2-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine from the A 250. Put the car into sports plus mode, put the traction into handling mode, floor the brake for the throttle, make sure race start is engaged and you’ve got launch control sorted. Pop, pop, pop, bang and crackle your way all the way home should you wish.
Inside the cabin, it’s one of the best driver views you could ask for. You’re Rick Deckard and it’s 2019 Los Angeles, except without the flying cars. Realistically the cabin is made for the driver but you can take passengers too. Chunky sports seats eat into the rear passenger space a bit more than the standard seats and the headrests are huge, blocking the view for rear passengers. You get decent space in the back seats and a reasonable boot.
The starting price of this car is €59, 245 which is quite expensive for a hot hatch. This is before you’ve added any options.
The steering has been upgraded over the normal A-class and it has its own sport ratio. The cars suspension has been completely overhauled so you get A rated springs, dampers and anti-roll bars. The front wish-bones are solid mounted to the body while the subframe at the back is the same again, making it stiffer and more aggressive. You get bigger brakes, the same calipers from the old A 45 AMG. It has a predictive all wheel drive system, in front-wheel drive mode it saves fuel. Depending on your steering angle, throttle input and the road conditions, it can predict when the front wheels are going to start to lose traction and before they even do you can send up to 50 percent of the power to the back.
However all these upgrades have an impact on the way the A35 feels to drive. The suspension is much stiffer but it’s comfortable enough to drive daily. You do feel the bumps more than in the standard A class but it’s not too bad at all. If stiff suspension really does bother you, there’s an adaptive setup available with a softer mode if you want.
There’s slightly more noise from the tyres when cruising on the motorway and sometimes the engine isn’t the most responsive unless you put it into manual mode and then you can control the 7-speed gearbox yourself which is noticeably sharper with quicker changes from the gearbox.
Mercedes have engineered in the exhaust sound so when you change up a gear and have the engine spinning over 3,000 rpm you get the maximum performance out of it. A Volkswagen Golf R pulls hard from lower down which in some ways is good but that doesn’t encourage you to chase the redline as much as the way this engine is set up. It’s fun without having to push too hard. It’s quite a capable machine and really does grip, you point exactly where you want it to go and the steering is direct.
It’s very easy to live with as a daily driver plus you can get it packed full of Mercedes’ latest technology and if you do that, you will have the most high-tech hot hatch you can currently buy. There are the hot hatches out there which are a little bit more fun to drive but the AMG 35 has pace, it has poise, the only real problem is that it comes at quite a price.