Mercedes-Benz A35 vs Infiniti Q50

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.

The Q50 Red Sport is a premium sedan that's great value, with a cracker of an engine. While Infiniti has improved the ride and steering, it still feels to me that the engine is too powerful for the wheels and chassis to handle. But if you're looking for something of an untamed beast, this car could be for you. Just don't say we didn't warn you.

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.

The Q50 Red Sport looks cranky from front on, which I like in a car. Yes, the grille is simplistic and gaping, the nose is a bit bulbous, and sure, side on the car looks like a Lexus IS 350, but those rear haunches and the aggro body kit with its front splitter and boot lid spoiler make for an impressive looking four-door sedan.

The update brought restyled front and rear bumpers, those red brake calipers and the dark chrome 20-inch rims and new LED tail-lights.

Inside, the cabin is an asymmetrical paradise (or hell, if you're a bit OCD like me) full of sweeping lines, angles, as well as different textures and materials.

The red stitched quilted leather seats are an addition that came with the update, so is the new steering wheel and the ambient lighting.

The 'Sunstone Red' colour of our test car is also a new hue which looks a bit like Mazda's Soul Red. If red is not you, there are other colours – hope you like blue or white or black or grey because there's 'Iridium Blue', 'Midnight Black', 'Liquid Platinum', 'Graphite Shadow', 'Black Obsidian', 'Majestic White' and 'Pure White'.

The Q50 has similar dimensions to the IS 350: both are 1430mm tall, the Infiniti is 10mm wider at 1820mm,  120mm longer at 4800mm, and has a wheelbase that's 50mm longer at 2850mm.

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 Q50 Red Sport is a five-seat four-door sedan and is vastly more practical than its two-door Q60 Red Sport sister, in that I can actually sit in the back seat. The Q60's coupe styling looks amazing, but the sloping roofline means headroom is so severely limited that it reduces the rear seats to a place to throw your jacket.

True, I'm tall at 191cm, but in the Q50 Red Sport I can sit behind my driving position with legroom to spare and more than enough headroom.

Boot space is good at 500 litres, which is 20 litres more than the luggage capacity of the IS 350.

Storage throughout the cabin is good with two cup holders in the rear centre fold-down armrest, two more up front and bottle holders in all doors. A large centre console storage bin and another big storage area in front of the shifter are great for keeping junk under control and your valuables covered.

Maybe sit down for this next bit. The Q50 Red Sport lists for $79,900. Are you okay? Do you want a moment? Remember, though that only seems like a lot because it's not a Benz or a BMW. Truth is the value is pretty good – better than a German car of the equivalent size and grunt.

Look at the standard features list: 8.0-inch and 7.0-inch stacked touchscreens, the 16-speaker Bose 'Performance Series' stereo system, digital radio, road noise cancellation, sat nav, 360-degree camera, leather seats, power adjustable from sports seats, dual-zone climate control, proximity key, sunroof, auto wipers and adaptive LED headlights.

The 2017 update brought new standard features to the Red Sport including, red stitching on the seats and dash, quilted leather seats, new 19-inch alloy wheels and red brake calipers.

Don't forget that the bang-for-buck factor is strong with the Red Sport, too. In that nose is a twin-turbo V6 that makes almost as much grunt as the BMW M3 for about $100K less. Even the 340i, which Infiniti says is a Red Sport rival, is $10K more. Truth is though, the Lexus IS 350 is the real rival to the Q50 Red Sport.

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. 

Inside the Q50 Red Sport's nose is a 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 petrol engine and it is a beautiful thing. To me this car is piece of technologically sophisticated jewellery that cradles a precious gem that pumps out 298kW/475Nm.

But I have my concerns... you can read about those in the driving section.

Shifting gears is a seven-speed automatic which delivers drive to the rear wheels.

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. 

Infiniti says the V6 petrol engine in the Q50 Red Sport should use 9.3L/100km if you're using it on a mix of highways, urban streets and country roads. We only had the Q60 Red Sport for 48 hours and after a couple of days of Sydney city commutes and a trip to the Royal National Park our trip computer was reporting 11.1L/100km.

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.

Perhaps the biggest complaint we had about the previous Q50 Red Sport, which launched in 2016, was that it felt as though the chassis wasn't up to the amount of grunt running through it, and those rear wheels struggled to transfer the oomph to the road without losing traction.

We experienced the same issue again in this new car. I was breaking traction, not just in 'Sport+' and 'Sport' modes, but in 'Standard' and 'Eco', too. That was happening without pushing it hard and with all electronic traction and stability aids on.

If I was 18 I'd declare to the world I'd found my dream car - something that always wants to 'light 'em up' given half a chance. But like that one mate who always gets into trouble on a night out it's only funny when you're young.

A truly great performance car is planted, balanced and able to deliver the grunt to the road effectively. The Nissan R35 GT-R is the perfect example – a brilliant piece of machinery, a weapon of a performance car and with a chassis matched perfectly to its engine.

And that could be the issue with Q50 Red Sport - that engine feels overpowered for the chassis, and wheel and tyre package.

We also felt the previous Q50 Red Sport's ride, with its constantly adapting 'Dynamic Digital Suspension', was overly busy. Infiniti says it has developed the suspension system further and it does feel as though the ride is more comfortable and composed.

Steering was another area that we weren't overly impressed with when we drove the previous car. Infiniti's 'Direct Adaptive Steering' (DAS) system is super sophisticated and was the first in the world not to have any mechanical connection between the steering wheel and the wheels – it's all electronic.

The new Q50 Red Sport uses the upgraded 'DAS 2' and while it feels better than before, it's only in Sport+ mode that it seems most natural and accurate.

The Q50 was given the maximum five-star ANCAP rating in 2014 and the amount of advanced safety equipment which comes standard on the Red Sport is impressive. There's AEB, that works forwards and when you're reversing, forward collision and blind spot warning, lane keeping assistance and moving object detection.

There are two ISOFIX points and two top tether anchor points in the back row, for child seats.

The Q60 Red Sport doesn't come with a spare tyre because the 245/40 R19 tyres are run flats, which means even after a puncture you should be able to keep driving for about 80km. Not ideal in Australia where distances are seriously vast.

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 Q50 Red Sport is covered by Infiniti's four year/unlimited kilometre warranty with servicing recommended every 12 months or 15,000km.

Infiniti has a scheduled servicing program which will cost $1283 (in total) for three years.