2020 Mercedes-Benz A-Class vs 2019

What's the difference?

The Mercedes-AMG A35 sedan is a genuinely fun small car. To me it’s a more mature offering than the A35 hatch, while not being quite as pretentious as a CLA35. Therefore I like it on principle.

Would I personally choose it over an Audi S3? Probably not - but there are plenty of objective reasons why you would.

This early release version of the A 250 is for anybody who thinks the A 200’s features are sufficient but wished it had more grunt and was more fun to drive. Most carmakers will offer a more powerful engine in their model line-up, but it means stepping up to a higher grade which comes with features you may not want, while asking a lot more money.

With this early release you get a more powerful engine with sophisticated suspension that will give you better handling and a more comfortable ride, for just $2300 more than the price of an A 200.
It’s a bargain in Benz terms, and will make this A 250 a unicorn of the car world for sure.

This is the first AMG A-Class sedan ever, so that’s an interesting design decision. I wasn’t sure whether Mercedes needed a CLA ‘Coupe’ and an A-Class sedan to sit alongside one another, but there are distinct differences in terms of the look and intent of the two compact models.

The A sedan carries over the A-Class hatchback’s aggressive styling, with sharp, angular headlights, a strong presence courtesy of its black exterior highlights (including AMG flics on the front bumper and black side skirts, rear spoiler and rear diffuser for this test vehicle). The black 19-inch black-finish rims fitted to our test car are also optional, with silver being the standard finish.

It has a stumpy little boot with a broad stance thanks to its triangulated tail-lights and horizontal reflectors, while the twin exhaust pipes with black tips are rather pleasant to look at, too.

It’s a very attractive sedan, with nothing clumsy about its proportions at all. Is it gorgeous enough to make you think twice about the Audi A3/S3/RS3 as the ruler of the pretty little sedan? Maybe… it’s not quite there for me, although it’s close. But it is certainly a distinct design, one that Merc fans will undoubtedly adore.

The dimensions of the A35 sedan aren’t what a lot of people would actually consider “small”. It’s 4549mm long (on a 2729mm wheelbase), 1796mm wide and 1446mm tall. For context, that’s longer, wider and taller than the substantial Mazda3 small sedan, if not quite as big as the a Corolla sedan.

And if you’re wondering about how that compares to a CLA, that car has the same wheelbase but is 4688mm long, 1830mm wide and 1439mm tall. That’s bigger than a C-Class. Gosh, how confusing. 

What does it all mean when it comes to interior space? Check out the interior images and details below to see for yourself.

This A 250 is a fourth-generation A-Class model with a new body, new platform and new technology.

In the same way the new Mercedes-Benz CLS seems to have become smoother and slipperier, this latest iteration of the A-Class also seems to have ironed out every crease.

Headlights and tail-lights have lost their roundness and gone sleeker, and the whole car has been stretched. 

Take a look at the dimensions. At 4.4m end-to-end the new A 250 is 120mm longer than the previous model, while at almost 1.8m across it’s 16mm wider and at nearly 1.5m in height it’s 6mm taller.

Like the A 200, the A 250 comes standard with 18-inch alloy wheels, side skirts, twin exhaust and a ‘black diamond’ grille. 

The 'Sports Package' adds the sparkly chrome studded grille, black 18-inch AMG rims, dark-tinted rear windows and an AMG body kit, while the cabin gets brushed stainless-steel pedals, red contrasting stainless steel stitched faux leather seats, plus shifting paddles.

I admit, I thought I’d get a bit more in the cabin of the A35 sedan. There’s no electric steering wheel adjustment, no heated steering wheel, and the fact adaptive cruise control is optional (it’s standard on some $25K cars!) is a bit rude, too.

That isn’t to say that it’s not an eye-catching space, one that will hit hard on the bling-o-meter, and will definitely impress anyone who isn’t familiar with Mercedes’ recent cabin design traits.

The twin screens are dazzling - crisp and beautiful to behold, and with graphics that are extremely high resolution. The menus have been designed to be simple, but honestly, it’s a bit confusing until you’re initiated.

Also, I found the media screen to be very glitchy. On multiple occasions it would not respond to touch, and once it even reset itself. I also had several problems connecting to Apple CarPlay. Note: I was using a Mercedes-Benz USB-C adaptor to USB-Lightning cable with an iPhone XS, and I think maybe the adaptor had a part to play in the problems I encountered.

The touchscreen is just one way to interact with the media controls, as there’s a touchpad between the front seats, and the driver has a thumb-controller on the steering wheel to jump between screens. And there’s voice control as well, with the MBUX system’s ‘Hey, Mercedes’ recognition allowing you to ask for things to be adjusted. 

Furthering the wow-factor up front are beautifully designed air vents that light up blue when you turn the temperature down or red when you up the heat. There’s configurable ambient lighting for the cabin, which makes the A35 a bit of a showstopper at night, and our car had the no-cost optional red and black Lugano leather trim, which is either going to be your thing, or not. 

The space for adults up front is decently accommodating, with good headroom and width, plus nice soft touch points where there should be, and there are bottle holders in the doors. There are three USB-C points up front, a pair of cup holders between the seats, and a wireless (Qi) phone charging bay.

The steering wheel is a nice shape and easy to hold, though I’m still not convinced by the little digital displays for the drive-mode dials - they’re toy-like teeny-weeny screens and look a bit pixelated compared to the other displays in the cabin.

Rear seat space is not as good as you might hope or expect, given the size of the car. As a 182cm (6.0ft) man with the driver’s seat set for me, my knees were hard against the seat in front, my toes were squashed and my head was just brushing the headliner, too.

That mightn’t be a problem for you - maybe your only rear seat riders will be short, or young. There are dual ISOFIX child-seat anchor points and three top-tether restraints for baby seats, if that’s the case.

And they’ll be well catered for, with a pair of USB-C ports, as well as directional air-vents, mesh map pockets, and bottle holders in the doors as well as a fold-down armrest with pop out cup holders.

Boot space will likely matter to you if you’re buying a sedan over the hatchback model, and you’ll find an additional 60 litres of boot space here over the five-door model, with 430L of cargo capacity.

That should, in theory, be large enough to fit all three of the CarsGuide cases (124L, 95L, 36L), but the shape of the cargo hold meant I only managed to fit the smallest case with the middle or largest case, but not all three together. Soft luggage could help.

There’s no spare wheel under the boot floor, as the A35 has a tyre repair kit. 

The new A 250 is bigger in all ways compared to the previous model. That’s resulted in more boot space and larger interior dimensions.

Cargo capacity has increased by almost 30 litres to 370 litres (the BMW 1 Series’ boot is 360 litres and the Audi A3 Sportback’s is 380 litres). But don't bother looking for a spare wheel/tyre. An inflator/repair kit is your only option.

Room up front is good for me at 191cm tall, with plenty of space in the footwell for my legs and between the centre console and door for my elbows.

If I try to sit behind my driving position things getting a little tighter, with just enough space for my knees to clear the seat back, but plenty of headroom.

Storage is good with a large split-opening centre console bin, big door pockets and four cupholders (two up front and two in the rear).

For charging you’ll find a wireless charging pad up front and a USB port, plus a 12-volt outlet in the cargo area.

Let’s start here first, because the features and price are the only differences between this A 250 and the one which will eventually replace it.

This A 250 lists for $49,500, before on-road costs, and while Mercedes-Benz won’t tell us how much more its replacement will cost, we do know the previous fully-kitted up A 250 was $55,200. You can expect to pay the same, if not more, for the new one when it arrives later in 2019.

The catch is this current A 250 doesn’t come with the the upcoming one's high level of equipment. Instead it has the same standard features as the A 200. But the good news is, the A 200’s equipment list is impressive.

So, mirroring the A 200’s features, this A 250 comes standard with two 10.25-inch displays, sat nav, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a nine-speaker stereo with digital radio, wireless charging, climate control, single-colour ambient lighting, LED headlights, front and rear parking sensors, auto parking and 18-inch alloy wheels.

The A 250 like the A 200 also comes with the 'Hey Mercedes' MBUX (Mercedes-Benz User Experience) function which is Benz’s in-house take on Apple’s Hey Siri virtual assistant system. Thing is, the A 200 costs $2300 less than the A 250.

I know what you’re wondering. If this A 250 is more expensive more than the A 200 but has the same standard features, why does it cost more? The answer is the powertrain and chassis. And that’s what makes this A 250 good value. Skip to the next section on engines and I’ll explain.

You could look at this one of two ways: 1) this is the least powerful AMG on sale today; 2) this is a seriously powerful small car.

If you’re glass-half-full-biased like me, you’ll see the engine specs and park yourself in the latter camp. 

There’s a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol motor which isn’t short on horsepower: it has 225kW of power and 400Nm of torque - those were class-killing power outputs not too long ago. 

The grunt numbers give the AMG A35 sedan a claimed 0-100km/h time of just 4.8 seconds, while the top speed is limited to 250km/h. Five years ago these power figures and performance numbers would have pegged the A35 in A45 territory - this is a seriously powerful little jigger.

The engine is teamed to a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, and the A35 runs Benz’s 4Matic all-wheel drive system, which is front-biased but can shuffle torque 50:50 if needed. 

The early release A 250 has the same standard features as the A 200, but  costs more because it has a bigger, more powerful engine, all-wheel drive and a more sophisticated suspension.

The A 250 has a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine making 165kW/250Nm (the A 200 has a 120kW/225Nm 1.3-litre) which is enough to get it from 0-100km/h in 6.2 seconds (the A 200 takes 8.0 seconds). Helping the A 250 achieve that time is all-paw traction (the A 200 is front-wheel drive).

A seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission shifts the gears.

The combined cycle fuel consumption figure - that’s what the brand says the car will use over a mix of driving - is 7.4 litres per 100 kilometres.

I saw a little higher than that over my 650km of driving, which was heavily biased towards highway testing, but also included a few traffic snarls and a couple of stints of performance testing. I saw 8.4L/100km, which is okay, but I expected better given 80 per cent of my time in the car was in easy-going open road driving.

The fuel tank capacity for the A35 sedan is 51 litres, and you’ll need to fill it with 98 RON premium unleaded petrol. 

The A 250 is all-wheel drive and has a bigger engine, so it’s going to go through more fuel that the A 200 with its smaller engine and front-wheel drive only.

The difference isn’t huge though with the A 250 using 6.6L/100km of premium unleaded (according to Benz) if it’s driven on a combination of open and urban roads, while the A 200 is just under 1.0L/100km more efficient.

On paper this seems like the ideal option for those who know they’ll never really be able to take advantage of the outputs of an A45 or CLA45’s ludicrous power and torque figures.

In practice? It mostly lives up to that notion - though just like an A45 or CLA45, you’re going to enjoy it a lot more when you’re giving it the beans. 

Driving with intent, the engine and transmission work together amazingly well. The transmission itself is thoughtful and smart shifting, swapping cogs exactly when you think it should - while you have paddle shifters available to use, in most cases you’re not going to need them.

The engine itself is an absolute weapon. There’s lots and lots of pulling power, it’s linear in the way it delivers its power, and there’s a little bit of pop and crackle from the exhaust - personally, I would like even more. I guess that’s where an A45 or CLA45 comes into its own.

The steering is superb for an all-wheel drive car, too. It’s direct and accurate, and while you can feel the electronics shuffling the power and torque between front and rear axles it’s a really nicely balanced and very easy car to drive fast – at times even faster than you really should be. 

In Sport mode and Sport Plus mode the suspension and steering are tightened up, with taut responses but the suspension is never crunchy or uncomfortable. Braking performance is very good, too.

In Comfort mode though, I struggled to come to terms with the A35 a little. In my mind, it lived up to the notion of a sporty sedan a lot more readily than it did that of a compact luxury sedan. It just feels like it’s meant to be on a twisty road, not dealing with daily drudgery in commuting.

One not-very-luxurious element was the road noise intrusion, which was the worst of any new car I can recall experiencing. That might seem a dramatic claim, but the booming tyre roar on coarse chip road surfaces, including major Sydney freeways, was verging on unbearable. I measured it on my smartphone, and 78 decibels was the maximum readout.

And while very impressive under pressure, the powertrain is somewhat doughy in less demanding situations. There’s some lag to contend with, and a little bit of lunging from the transmission, too. However, it was during downshifts that I found the transmission’s behaviour most questionable, with some shift-shunts when slowing to a halt in urban driving. 

One unexpected finding was the 'Route-Based Speed Adaptation' system’s behaviour, which was active in the car I was driving. The tech uses the car’s mapped position to guide its adaptive cruise control behaviour. In theory it’s a very smart idea - the car will slow itself down if it predicts you’re about to approach a tight bend and you’ve got it set at the speed limit. Or if you’re approaching a roundabout, it’ll think ahead, too.

But during my time in the car, I had an issue that I found could be potentially dangerous. Having set the speed at 80km/h in a relatively new tunnel in Sydney’s west (the WestConnex M4, opened July, 2019), the system couldn’t place the car’s location, which meant the car believed it was still on surface streets. 

On multiple occasions the car slowed dramatically thinking I needed to turn a corner that didn’t exist on the road I was driving on. My instant thought was: “What if the person behind me wasn’t looking at the road ahead?” I’ve seen enough drivers with their eyes aimed at the phone in their lap and not the road ahead, to know this is a distinct possibility.

There’s also a risk from tailgating trucks, which seem to be more prevalent in Sydney’s west than anywhere else on the planet. It’s a potential risk, even if the Benz has clever tech that can flash the tail-lights if the car’s systems predict there’s a chance of being rear-ended.

Mercedes-Benz’s Aussie team let me know that the map software wasn’t up to date, which is why the car didn’t understand the situation. It’s technology you can disable by simply delving into the menus on the MBUX system, but I’d recommend you try it out to see if you’re comfortable with it.

The A 200 is good value with its extensive features list including those giant display screens, but after I drove it at its launch mid-way through 2018, I felt that if I could change anything it’d be to give it more grunt and a more comfortable and compliant ride. And that, in the shell of a nut, is the A 250 we have here.

This A 250 immediately felt more potent with its snarly exhaust note (that the 1.3-litre can’t deliver) and the get up and go to match. Winding roads beckoned, and well, I followed them.

While the A 200 comes standard with a torsion bar rear suspension, the A 250 has a multi-link set-up in the rear, and is far more of a driver’s car.

That multi-link rear suspension is excellent. Not only is the ride more comfortable, but handling is improved, too.

Our test car was fitted with adaptive dampers, which could be relaxed to be softer, or firmed up to make the A 250 even more adept in the corners.

The Mercedes-Benz A 250 scored the maximum five-star ANCAP rating in August 2018. That date is important because these days pretty much everything seems to have scored the maximum five-star ANCAP rating, but something which scored full marks in 2015 may not get the same in 2018.

So, if you’re looking for a small car that’s as safe as it pretty much gets right now then the A 250 should be on your list.

There are nine airbags (front, pelvis side and window bags for the driver and front passenger, side bags for those in the back and a knee bag for the pilot).

Advanced safety technology includes AEB, lane keeping assistance, blind spot warning with exit warning, traffic sign recognition and a reversing camera. Oh, and if you don’t like parking the A 250 will park itself.

There are three top-tethers and two ISOFIX locations for child restraints/seats across the rear seat.

Mercedes-Benz Australia recently joined Korean luxury brand Genesis in meeting the market with a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty plan for all of its models, including AMG variants.

Service intervals for the A35 sedan are set every 12 months/25,000km - yes, that’s a generous maintenance schedule, as most cars require servicing every 15,000km. 

Buyers can opt to pre-pay servicing costs and roll it into their finance package, and there’s a level of discount applied if you do that. 

For a three-year/75,000km service plan, you’ll pay $2150, saving you $500 over pay-as-you-go capped price servicing. There’s also a four-year/100,000km plan ($2950) or a five-year/125,000km plan ($4000). That’s surprisingly decent for a luxury car, though keep in mind it doesn’t include wiper inserts or brake pads/discs.

Buyers get roadside assistance included for the duration of the new-car warranty, too.
 

The A 250 is covered by Mercedes-Benz’s three-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty. Servicing is recommended every 12 months or 25,000km.

Mercedes-Benz offers capped-price servicing for the A 250 with the first visit costing $396, while you can expect to pay $792 at for the second and third services.