Mercedes-Benz A35 vs Lexus IS

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.

Smooth, cosy, quiet, the IS looks and feels better than ever, but without a doubt this hybrid version is a car best suited to cruising the dense metropolis of Chiba at midnight more than it is carving up a bunch of S-bends in the Australian countryside on the weekend.

While that might still limit its appeal for fans of German sports luxury sedans and place it further from the original IS’s ambitions, it does offer an intriguing efficiency and luxury focused alternative, without the compromises brought by rivals with more sporting intent. In a way then, the IS 300h perhaps inadvertently best embodies what Lexus is as a brand.

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.

Look closely and quite a lot has changed. This is really a story of doing a facelift right. Lexus has kept all the great-looking bits of the car that launched in 2013, like its striking side profile and angular accents, while dumping most of its least popular elements like the spidery front light-clusters and busy front splitter, in favour of something more refined and conservative.

It even adds some new flair in the rear three-quarter, with dramatic LED light-clusters working their way into a trendy highlight strip across the boot lid.

These changes all add up for a much tougher, sportier, and nuanced design compared to the outgoing car. One that manages to make an eight-year old design look as contemporary as ever.

I even liked our test car in its plain black shade, although I'm less sure about those conservative-to-a-fault, almost Camry-esque alloy wheels.

On the inside, sadly not a whole lot has changed. The busy design looked dated when this generation of IS launched in 2013, and it still looks dated now.

The visual assault of buttons, toggles, displays, textures, and trims is a lot to take in, and makes the cabin feel smaller than it is.

It probably didn’t help the sensory overload of this car’s interior as I hopped out of the stripped-back interior in the Tesla Model 3 I had the week before.

My less-than-impressed brother, a student of design, described the IS’s interior best when he told me “It’s a bit maximalist, don’t you think?”

If nothing else, at least Lexus hasn’t blatantly imitated anyone else when it comes to its interior, but the brand remains firm on dorky design items like the laptop touchpad, redundant drive-select dial, and odd vacant panels under the climate unit which do it no favours.

A welcome upgrade for the 2021 model year is the new media screen, a highlight piece perched atop the dash. It’s bright, has excellent contrast, and doesn’t seem to fall victim to glare.

The Apple CarPlay support I used was seamless and sharp and made the most of the available real-estate in its widescreen layout.

I somehow didn’t mind that the instrument cluster in this base car is analog. It almost suits the IS’s character better than a digital set-up would. Also offered is a small information display between the dials which I used for monitoring the hybrid drive.

A final note on the IS’s design. The fit and finish is quality, inside and out. It leaves you with an impression that this is an immaculately built vehicle, one that should be a must for all luxury cars, and always a strong point for Lexus.

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. 

Well, the IS is a sedan, so it doesn’t quite have that high-riding appeal of an SUV, and for this update it has even leaned further into its low-slung proportions with a roofline that descends a further 15mm and a boot lid which is 31mm lower overall.

As with the previous car, the interior is quite closed-in thanks to that busy dash design and large centre console. Rather than feeling claustrophobic though, it is best described as cosy, with lots of plush finishes throughout the doors and centre stack befitting a luxury nameplate.

Adjustability is great for the front two occupants and there are two large bottle holders between the seats, a large but shallow console box under the armrest, bottle holders with adjoining bins in the doors, and a smallish glove box.

That’s about where storage ends though, with no extra trays or bins in front of the oddly placed shifter, just an awkwardly finished plastic panel where it feels like a little tray or storage cutaway should be.

The touchpad for operating the media screen joins an unnecessary drive-select cluster in eating up centre console space where there could be more storage.

The rear seat is quite limited on space despite being lavishly trimmed. I fit behind my own (182cm/6'0") driving position with little knee or headroom to spare.

Again, it’s cosy and very comfortable, but if you're taller or wider than me you may run into issues.

The centre rear seat is all but useless for adults, with the IS’s rear-drive architecture necessitating a huge transmission tunnel that almost comes as high as the seat base itself.

Storage is limited to pockets on the back of the front seats, small bins in the doors that double as handholds, and a drop-down armrest with two bottle holders.

There are no power outlets for rear passengers, but there are dual adjustable air vents.

Boot space is 450L which is a little small for the class. It’s impressive the hybrid only managed to lose 30 litres compared to petrol-only IS variants, though, so best to count your blessings.

The largest CarsGuide travel case easily fit in the wide but short available space.

To be precise the variant we’re looking at here is the IS 300h Luxury. It’s the base IS trim with the hybrid powertrain and it wears a before on-road costs (MSRP) of $64,500.

Base car or not, the new IS is very well specified. Now standard are 18-inch alloys (up from 17s), full LED headlight clusters, eight-way power adjustable front seats, dual-zone climate control, 10-speaker audio system, and importantly a brilliant new 10.3-inch multimedia screen with widescreen Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, built-in navigation, and DAB+ digital radio support.

Keyless entry and push-start ignition also continue to be offered, as well as a leather-look interior trim which in our car was in a rather contrasting 'Ochre' colour option.

Our IS 300h was also fitted with the creatively named ‘Enhancement Pack 1’ which adds an openable moonroof for $2000. The significantly more expensive ‘Enhancement Pack 2’ ($5500) adds the moonroof alongside 19-inch alloys, upgraded LED headlights, interior ornamentation, scuff plates, a panoramic reversing camera, 17-speaker premium audio, ‘leather-accented’ interior trim, ventilated front seats, and an electric rear sunshade.

These packs are seemingly largely unnecessary but are also very cheap for a brand at the premium end of the market.

Lexus has made pretty much all of its high-end active safety equipment standard on this base ‘Luxury’ for 2021, alongside some previously unavailable tech which we’ll take a look at in the safety section of this review.

At this price the Lexus IS 300h goes into battle against the Mercedes-Benz C 200 ($66,900), BMW 320i ($70,900), Audi A4 35 TFSI ($55,900), and the ever-looming threat of Hyundai’s Genesis, which offers its similarly-sized G70 in base form at $59,300.

Some of these base-spec rivals are cheaper, some are more expensive, but did you notice none of them are hybrids?

Access to Toyota’s affordable and popular hybrid drive is a real point of difference for the Lexus brand, and we expect it’s a key drawcard for the loyal customer base. More on that later.

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 IS 300h does stand out from the luxury sedan crowd by offering a hybrid drivetrain at a reasonable price. Some rivals offer plug-in options further up the price scale cementing them as a niche option, but the beauty of this Lexus is its very mild $3000 price jump over the base petrol car.

The base car’s 2.0-litre turbo is dumped in favour of a 2.5-litre non-turbo Atkinson-cycle four-cylinder hybrid set-up similar to the one proving popular in the Toyota Camry and RAV4.

The petrol engine produces 133kW/221Nm on its own, and the electric motor produces 105kW/300Nm. Toyota says the “combined system output” of this is 164kW.

Either way, that's less than the base 2.0 turbo. The 300h also swaps out an eight-speed torque converter automatic in favour of a continuously variable transmission. Rare in a rear-wheel drive car.

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. 

As you might hope this hybrid IS has an astoundingly low official/combined fuel consumption rating of 5.1L/100km.

I was pleased to find that after a week of mainly urban driving conditions, our IS was returning a figure of 6.9L/100km. Not bad at all, especially for a class where fuel consumption can get a little out of hand with turbocharged engines or V6s.

Of course, using the hybrid system to your advantage over the long term will get this number much lower, as I discovered on my long-term test of the Toyota Corolla hybrid which essentially uses a smaller version of the same system.

Certainly, if fuel consumption is a high concern, you’re better off with this car than the top-spec V6 (IS 350) which will easily see consumption enter double digits.

Lexus recommends a minimum RON rating of 95 for the IS 300h, and the fuel tank is 66 litres regardless of variant, giving the hybrid an impressive theoretical range of around 1000km.

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.

There is no doubt the IS 300h is capable. You can feel it through the car’s solid rear-drive underpinnings, silky smooth steering, and reactive chassis.

What this car doesn’t offer is excitement in quite the same sense as many of its rivals. That’s down to this hybrid’s drivetrain. It just doesn’t have that powerful follow-through in the same way turbocharged BMWs or Audis or Mercedes do.

If it’s that 'sports luxury' experience you’re seeking better off looking to the base 2.0-litre turbo or the V6 and their eight-speed automatics.

The 300h does offer something a bit different. The gentle refined efficiency of Toyota’s signature hybrid system in a luxury rear-drive package that’s smaller than this car’s ES bigger brother.

While it may feel capable thanks to the lighter suspension components and altered track that the brand has committed to for this update, the hybrid drive matches this car’s softer character brought about by its gentle suspension tune and light steering.

This is an easy car to drive around a city, it filters out bumps nicely, while offering near silence in the cabin and breezy steering for every day scenarios like manoeuvring in tight parking lots.

The CVT auto and instantaneous torque available from the electric motor make it best at traffic speeds, being both reactive and predictable, with silent acceleration when inching forward at the lights or cruising along at 50km/h.

As you might expect though, the wheezy Atkinson cycle engine and CVT conspire for a noisy and less than engaging experience under heavy acceleration.

It’s not as though you’re rewarded with particular vigour either, with this combination being a bit sluggish when a lot is asked of it.

It loses its reactivity and refinement at higher speeds or in the corners on country roads as the transmission elastically tries to keep up with the demands of the driver.

Still, few luxury sedans are quite as purpose-built for the toils of a city, and if you want to get drawn into this car’s hybrid drive antics, it’s easy to make a game out of saving fuel by trying to rely on its low-speed electric motor capability.

Really then, it leans into its urban luxury appeal. A luxury sedan for the streets of Tokyo. An ideal car in this class for the urban environment.

If you don’t care for the thrill of a turbocharger or frequently seek to explore the twists of your nearest B-road, you could do worse than the comfort and ambiance the 300h offers.

A full active safety suite is now standard across the IS range, including freeway-speed auto emergency braking with pedestrian detection (works during the day and at night) and cyclist detection (works during the day only), and a new intersection braking feature, lane keep assist with lane departure warning, blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert with reverse auto braking, traffic sign recognition, adaptive cruise control, and auto high-beam assist.

There is also an auto SOS function, as recently added to the Toyota Yaris Cross, which automatically triggers if an airbag is deployed. On the topic of airbags, every IS has a thorough suite of 10 (dual front, dual side, quad head, dual front knee).

This all adds up with the standard array of stability, brake, and traction controls for a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating, although the IS was last assessed way back in 2016.

The IS is built in Japan.

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.
 

Lexus gets slightly ahead of the luxury pack with an extra year of warranty. While BMW and Audi still sit on three, Lexus offers four, but it is limited to 100,000km and is still outdone by Mercedes-Benz and Korean newcomer, Genesis, offering five-year/unlimited kilometre promises.

The IS has capped price servicing fixed at $495 for the first three years of ownership with roadside assist, and the brand will even pick up and drop off your car, or offer a free loan car during every 12 month or 15,000km service.

It’s worth noting that German rivals offer pre-paid service packages out to five years, and Genesis is trying to make a splash with free servicing.

Lexus does offer a luxury ownership program dubbed ‘Encore’ which includes invites to experiences and certain partnerships with restaurants and the like to keep potential owners enticed.