**The New Mercedes AMG 45: A Benchmark for Hot Hatches**

The new Mercedes AMG 45 has been touted as a benchmark for hot hatches, and it's easy to see why. The car loves a benchmark for this new model was the old A 45, which is maybe concerning because they think that car was the best very high performance super hatch going now. However, most of us would probably disagree with that, so that's something we have to look out for when we're driving this car today - is it only as good, or entertaining to drive? Is it as good to drive as an Focus RS or VW Golf R?

**A More Affordable Option**

One thing that's worth noting is that the AMG 45 is the most affordable AMG yet in the UK. Prices will start at thirty-five and a half thousand pounds, which is a little bit more expensive than a Golf R, but a lot cheaper than the old A 45. These may oaken roads are phenomenally smooth - we would kill to have roads as smooth as this in the UK ours compared to these roads are a disaster, however on the few bumpy or slightly rougher sections that we have found I think the ride quality in this car is a big improvement over that old A 45. Adaptive dampers are optional, and they cost about 700 pounds - they're fitted to this car.

**Driving Modes**

The new AMG 45 has bundles of driving modes. The new one is called "slippery" - clearly we're not going to be using today that's for very heavy rain and snow and ice and all the rest of it. You've got individual mode where you can configure the car the way you like it, comfort, and they've also got Sport and Sport Plus. When the road gets twisty like this one is now - I'm just using sport glass partly because with this button here on the steering wheel even within Sport Plus, I can cycle through the different damper settings and go back into comfort mode if the road is bumpy.

**Handling and Performance**

When it's really smooth, you can use the full Sport Plus, and that's where you get the sharpest sand handling, the sharpest response, the best body control, and bundles and bundles of grip at times. The roads have been a little bit slippery this morning, but on these Pirelli PZero tires there's so much bite - you can carry so much speed through corners in this car clearly we don't have the performance of the old A 45, but with 302 brake horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque yeah it's plenty brisk enough. The engine is not the most characterful or thrilling, but as far as these very modern turbo units go, I think it's very good - good throttle response, good energy at the top, and it keeps pulling nice and hard.

**Brakes and Steering**

We've got a massive set of brakes on the front axle which look really good. They look like they're going to be super durable, and it took a really quick charge down a mountain road to start to get them to overheat and the pedal to go a little bit long. The steering is very good for a pass - it's never gonna be dripping with feel, but it's crisp and sharp and it has a predictable rate of response though. It's intuitive and it's got a good weight as well.

**A Rewarding Driving Experience**

Nowhere near as quick in a straight line as the old A 45, I think along a twisting road you're not going to give anything away. Based on my experience with this car today, I think it's a more rewarding and engaging car than that A 45 is. It's the most thrilling 35 thousand pound each hot hatch going - no, probably something like the MG Renaut Sport Trophy is going to be a more thrilling sort of hot-hatch when you're on a mountain road but this is very good.

**A Better All-Around Car**

This is only the second hot hatch Mercedes AMG has ever built after that original A 45. It's quite clearly a better all-around car than that A 45, and I think in overall terms it's a very good premium everyday hot hatch when you judge it in those terms - it's very good indeed

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthis is the new Mercedes AMG a35 based on the brand new a-class it's the new entry point to AMG it's not a direct replacement for the old a 45 there'll be a new a 45 along soon with more than 400 bhp the a 35 s 2 liter turbo engine develops 302 bhp and 295 pound-feet of torque in the UK it'll cost from thirty five thousand five hundred and eighty pounds now apart from all the obvious stuff that you'd expect of a hot hatch this time around AMG has gone to much further lengths than they went to with the old a 45 AMG for instance there's a sheer panel underneath the engine bay which acts as body strengthening bracing for the body to make it firmer so that it flexes less that means the suspension has a much more stable platform from which to do its job it also means you get sharper more consistent steering response there's another big change in the four-wheel drive system now like the old a 45 it still has that Haldex type four-wheel drive system so it's front-wheel drive most of the time and then when it needs to send power rear words it can send up to 50 percent of the drive into the rear axle that means it's not the type of four-wheel drive system that you would have found it say the Ford Focus RS is still very much a front biased four-wheel drive system however this time the rear axle is actuated by an electromechanical differential rather than electro-hydraulic basically that means it's a much faster responding system much more responsive it's also predictive so whereas in the old a 45-year would only shunt drive rear words when the front axle slipped now it can predict that moment of slip and send drive rear words before the front axle loses traction these are quite important changes because certainly the way the four-wheel drive system worked in the old a 45 was one of the frustrations we had with that the other one was that the chassis the suspension was so rigid so it felt crashy over a bumpy road and on UK roads that meant that it was compromised now that a 45 was spectacularly fast 376 horsepower bundles of grip lots of body control but strangely it just wasn't that engaging to drive something like a Renault Sport magan of the day or a Focus RS or even a Golf R would have been a much more enjoyable rewarding driving experience not as fast but more enjoyable so what we want from this a35 clearly it's not going to be as fast as that a 45 but we want it to be a more engaging and rewarding hot hatch now mercedes-amg tell us that the car loved a benchmark for this new model was the old a 45 which is maybe concerning because they think that car was the best very high performance super hatch going now I think most of us would probably disagree with that so that's something we have to look out for when we're driving this car today is it only as good only as entertaining to drive is that a 45 or have they managed to tease out a bit of character a bit of personality and a bit of fun so as maybe as good to drive as an Focus RS or VW Golf R it's important to note that this is the most affordable AMG yet in the UK prices will start at thirty five and a half thousand pounds which is a little bit more expensive than a Golf R maybe in line with an Audi s3 but a lot cheaper than the old a forty five and cheaper as well than a DRS three these may oaken roads are phenomenally smooth we would kill to have roads as smooth as this in the UK ours compared to these roads are a disaster however on the few bumpy or slightly rougher sections that we have found I think the ride quality in this car is a big improvement over that old a 45 now adaptive dampers are optional they cost about 700 pounds they are fitted to this car and if I switch into comfort mode the ride is settled the ride is composed it's fluid maybe not too VW Golf R levels but certainly much better than that old a 45 so we've got bundles of driving modes the new one is called slippery which clearly we're not going to be using today that's for very heavy rain and snow and ice and all the rest of it you've got individual mode where you can configure the car the way you like it comfort and they've also got Sport and Sport Plus now when the road gets twisty like this one is now I'm just using sport glass partly because with this button here on the steering wheel even within sport plus i can cycle through the different damper settings and go back into comfort mode if the road is bumpy in to sport mode if it's sort of medium and then when it's really smooth you can use the full Sport Plus and that's where you get the sharpest sand handling the sharpest response is the best body control and in that mode I have to say the car feels fantastic really good control precision agility and bundles and bundles of grip at times the roads have been a little bit slippery this morning but on these Pirelli PZero tires there's so much bite you can carry so much speed through corners in this car clearly we don't have the performance of the old a 45 but with 302 brake horsepower 295 pound-feet of torque yeah it's plenty brisk enough it's not the most characterful the most thrilling engine going but as far as these very modern tool eats of forcing the turbo units go I think it's very good good throttle response good energy at the top and it keeps pulling nice and hard and then it's Sport Plus mode the exhaust is actually quite broke as well what else have we got what we've got seven speed twin clutch gearbox rapid-fire gish it's really quick works nicely in auto mode as well when you're just mooching around we've got a massive set of brakes on the front axle which look really good they look like they're going to be super durable and it took a really quick charge down a mountain road to start to get them to overheat and the pedal to go a little bit long the steering is very good for a pass it's never gonna be dripping with feel but it's crisp and it's sharp and it has a predictable rate of response though it's intuitive and it's got a good weight as well good amount of resistance great cabin good seats you know what there's a lot to like about this car nowhere near as quick in a straight line as the old a 45 but I think along a twisting road you're not going to give anything away and based on the experience I've had with this car today I think it's a more rewarding and engaging car than that a 45 is it the most thrilling 35 thousand pound each hot hatch going I don't think it is really probably something like the McGann Renault Sport the new trophy is going to be a mine Hawks seeing more rewarding sort of hot-hatch when you're on a mountain road but this is very good and I think in everyday use long-distance use it's gonna knock that Renault Sport for six what's amazing is this is only the second hot hatch Mercedes AMG has ever built after that original 845 it's quite clearly a better all-around car than that a 45 and I think in overall terms it's a very good premium everyday hot hatch when you judge it in those terms I think it's very good indeedthis is the new Mercedes AMG a35 based on the brand new a-class it's the new entry point to AMG it's not a direct replacement for the old a 45 there'll be a new a 45 along soon with more than 400 bhp the a 35 s 2 liter turbo engine develops 302 bhp and 295 pound-feet of torque in the UK it'll cost from thirty five thousand five hundred and eighty pounds now apart from all the obvious stuff that you'd expect of a hot hatch this time around AMG has gone to much further lengths than they went to with the old a 45 AMG for instance there's a sheer panel underneath the engine bay which acts as body strengthening bracing for the body to make it firmer so that it flexes less that means the suspension has a much more stable platform from which to do its job it also means you get sharper more consistent steering response there's another big change in the four-wheel drive system now like the old a 45 it still has that Haldex type four-wheel drive system so it's front-wheel drive most of the time and then when it needs to send power rear words it can send up to 50 percent of the drive into the rear axle that means it's not the type of four-wheel drive system that you would have found it say the Ford Focus RS is still very much a front biased four-wheel drive system however this time the rear axle is actuated by an electromechanical differential rather than electro-hydraulic basically that means it's a much faster responding system much more responsive it's also predictive so whereas in the old a 45-year would only shunt drive rear words when the front axle slipped now it can predict that moment of slip and send drive rear words before the front axle loses traction these are quite important changes because certainly the way the four-wheel drive system worked in the old a 45 was one of the frustrations we had with that the other one was that the chassis the suspension was so rigid so it felt crashy over a bumpy road and on UK roads that meant that it was compromised now that a 45 was spectacularly fast 376 horsepower bundles of grip lots of body control but strangely it just wasn't that engaging to drive something like a Renault Sport magan of the day or a Focus RS or even a Golf R would have been a much more enjoyable rewarding driving experience not as fast but more enjoyable so what we want from this a35 clearly it's not going to be as fast as that a 45 but we want it to be a more engaging and rewarding hot hatch now mercedes-amg tell us that the car loved a benchmark for this new model was the old a 45 which is maybe concerning because they think that car was the best very high performance super hatch going now I think most of us would probably disagree with that so that's something we have to look out for when we're driving this car today is it only as good only as entertaining to drive is that a 45 or have they managed to tease out a bit of character a bit of personality and a bit of fun so as maybe as good to drive as an Focus RS or VW Golf R it's important to note that this is the most affordable AMG yet in the UK prices will start at thirty five and a half thousand pounds which is a little bit more expensive than a Golf R maybe in line with an Audi s3 but a lot cheaper than the old a forty five and cheaper as well than a DRS three these may oaken roads are phenomenally smooth we would kill to have roads as smooth as this in the UK ours compared to these roads are a disaster however on the few bumpy or slightly rougher sections that we have found I think the ride quality in this car is a big improvement over that old a 45 now adaptive dampers are optional they cost about 700 pounds they are fitted to this car and if I switch into comfort mode the ride is settled the ride is composed it's fluid maybe not too VW Golf R levels but certainly much better than that old a 45 so we've got bundles of driving modes the new one is called slippery which clearly we're not going to be using today that's for very heavy rain and snow and ice and all the rest of it you've got individual mode where you can configure the car the way you like it comfort and they've also got Sport and Sport Plus now when the road gets twisty like this one is now I'm just using sport glass partly because with this button here on the steering wheel even within sport plus i can cycle through the different damper settings and go back into comfort mode if the road is bumpy in to sport mode if it's sort of medium and then when it's really smooth you can use the full Sport Plus and that's where you get the sharpest sand handling the sharpest response is the best body control and in that mode I have to say the car feels fantastic really good control precision agility and bundles and bundles of grip at times the roads have been a little bit slippery this morning but on these Pirelli PZero tires there's so much bite you can carry so much speed through corners in this car clearly we don't have the performance of the old a 45 but with 302 brake horsepower 295 pound-feet of torque yeah it's plenty brisk enough it's not the most characterful the most thrilling engine going but as far as these very modern tool eats of forcing the turbo units go I think it's very good good throttle response good energy at the top and it keeps pulling nice and hard and then it's Sport Plus mode the exhaust is actually quite broke as well what else have we got what we've got seven speed twin clutch gearbox rapid-fire gish it's really quick works nicely in auto mode as well when you're just mooching around we've got a massive set of brakes on the front axle which look really good they look like they're going to be super durable and it took a really quick charge down a mountain road to start to get them to overheat and the pedal to go a little bit long the steering is very good for a pass it's never gonna be dripping with feel but it's crisp and it's sharp and it has a predictable rate of response though it's intuitive and it's got a good weight as well good amount of resistance great cabin good seats you know what there's a lot to like about this car nowhere near as quick in a straight line as the old a 45 but I think along a twisting road you're not going to give anything away and based on the experience I've had with this car today I think it's a more rewarding and engaging car than that a 45 is it the most thrilling 35 thousand pound each hot hatch going I don't think it is really probably something like the McGann Renault Sport the new trophy is going to be a mine Hawks seeing more rewarding sort of hot-hatch when you're on a mountain road but this is very good and I think in everyday use long-distance use it's gonna knock that Renault Sport for six what's amazing is this is only the second hot hatch Mercedes AMG has ever built after that original 845 it's quite clearly a better all-around car than that a 45 and I think in overall terms it's a very good premium everyday hot hatch when you judge it in those terms I think it's very good indeed\n"