The Mercedes A-Class Hatchback: A Review of its Features and Performance

The Mercedes A-Class hatchback is a popular choice among car buyers due to its impressive features, comfortable ride, and strong performance. In this review, we will delve into the various aspects of the A-Class and explore whether it is the right car for you.

Augmented Reality Satellite Navigation

One of the unique features of the Mercedes A-Class is its augmented reality satellite navigation system. This system uses a live camera feed from a satellite to display directions and other information on the windshield. When approaching a junction, the system superimposes directions over the live camera feed, making it easier for drivers to navigate through tight spaces.

However, not all trim levels come with this feature. In our test car, which was a second-trim model, we were unable to take full advantage of the augmented reality navigation system. Nevertheless, we appreciate the design elements that make the gear selector lever on the steering column more convenient than some other cars.

Convenience Features

The Mercedes A-Class also features several convenience elements that enhance the driving experience. For instance, the rear seatbelts are designed to prevent them from snapping when the back seats are folded down. Additionally, there is a specific car wash mode that automatically folds in the mirrors, closes the windows, turns off the parking sensors and rain sensor for the windshield wiper, and disables the rear window wiper. This feature makes it easy to clean the car without having to manually adjust these settings.

Engine Lineup

The engine lineup for the Mercedes A-Class hatchback is relatively simple, with two 1.3-liter turbo petrol engines available: one producing 150 horsepower and another producing 177 horsepower. There is also a 2.0-liter diesel engine available, which produces 150 horsepower. All cars come equipped with automatic gearboxes and front-wheel drive.

AMG Versions

For those who want more performance from their A-Class, Mercedes offers AMG versions of the car. These vehicles are designed to deliver improved acceleration and handling, making them a great option for drivers who crave more power.

Handling and Performance

The Mercedes A-Class is easy to handle in town or on the highway. The visibility is good, although there can be some blind spots on the rear quarter when approaching junctions. However, steering is light, and the turning circle is tight at 11 meters, making it easy to navigate through tight spaces.

The automatic gearbox does a good job of switching gears up, and the brakes are progressive, meaning they don't become too aggressive when pressed. When accelerating from a standstill, the engine feels smooth and delivers good performance in our test car, which was equipped with the 177 horsepower petrol engine.

Economy

In terms of fuel economy, the Mercedes A-Class is not particularly stellar, averaging around 39 miles per gallon. However, this is not an unusual figure for a car of its size and class.

Chassis Dynamics

When driving on twisty roads, the A-Class handles well, with steering that feels accurate and sharp. The body remains flat through corners, although there can be some slight skipping sideways when hitting bumps mid-corner due to the lack of independent rear suspension.

Conclusion

Based on our review, we believe that the Mercedes A-Class is a great option for families or individuals looking for a comfortable and reliable car. While it may not be perfect, its strong features, smooth performance, and good handling make it a compelling choice. If you're considering purchasing an A-Class, we recommend shortlisting it as a potential candidate. However, if you have the budget and want more power, an AMG version might be the better choice.

Additional Resources

For those interested in learning more about the Mercedes A-Class or other cars, check out our video reviews and articles on our website. You can also click on the links provided to watch our videos or learn more about car buying and selling.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthis is the recently revised Mercedes A-Class and it's a little bit like an Apple iPhone SE because it's the cheapest way into Mercedes ownership just like the SE is the cheapest way into owning an Apple iPhone now in this video I'm going to talk you through the upgrades and revisions Mercedes have recently made to this car by showing you around the exterior the interior take it for a drive telling you what's good about it what's not so good about it and of course launching it to see how quick it is from naught to 60 miles an hour because I'm at Watson and you're watching car wow and I think that's a Spitfire wow hopefully it's not going to start shooting at this German sorry terrible wall reference Buy sell car wow okay talking around the design of the revised Mercedes A-Class so the rear is a little bit generic looking isn't it now updates Mercedes have made include some slightly redesigned tail lights and a redesigned lower bumper there you really have to look carefully to notice the difference compared the pre-facelift version I worship part of the changes they got rid of the awful fake exhausts that is embarrassing what's also embarrassing is the fact that the AMG line versions have a slightly sportier look that's not a problem it's the fact they've given them this like rear diffuser thing there that's looking diffusion you think nonsense moving down the sides there's some new aloe World designs start at 17 inches which is too small up to 19s this car actually has the 18 inches the AMG lines also get like this like ascended side skirts there make them look like they're hugging the road a bit more moving to the front updates include some redesigned lights they're all LED now and I quite like the look of them plus a slightly larger bumper with the Mercedes signs in there as well as a big one on the front there and the other one there on the Bonnet there's lots of Mercedes branding going on there isn't there also there's a redesigned lower bumper and once again the AMG line has a slightly more aggressive look to it over the standard version price of this car starts from 32 000 pounds it's quite a lot of money a BMW one Series starts at just over 28 000 pounds and you can save an average of just over 2 000 pounds off one through car wow now to compare the price of a wide range of cars and see what savings are available through car below click on the pop-out banner up there or follow the link in the description below alternatively you can go to Kawaii at a later date by simply Googling help me Carl wow and we will help you buy your next car here on the inside the main changes that Mercedes have made to the A-Class for this midlife update include giving you the big infotainment of digital drivers displays as standard that's a good thing they've also got rid of the weird touch pad thingy you just control the screen through the touchscreen which is what I did I never used the touchpad but what they've done is created a recessed space here which is pretty much good for nothing it's not large enough from iPhone it's not large enough for a normal size phone what exactly is this for maybe I don't know to create a little water bath there or a bowl for your little dog or cat that they can just you know drink from very strange that almost as strange as what I just did anyway Mercedes has also given the car its latest steering wheel looks really good like it apart from the fact I hate the touch sensitive buttons they're a real fiddle to use you often find yourself accidentally brushing them when you're driving and turning up the volume changing radio station all sorts of annoying stuff like that it's all a bit form over function and he could say that's true with the rest of the cabin I mean I love the design it's aged really well it looks cool but it's all a little bit superficial so when you start like tapping or pulling at things it does feel a little bit on the cheap side and some of the materials oh just absolutely horrible and check this out look it doesn't feel quite as sturdy as you'd expect from a Mercedes storage is good though decent storage under here two usbcs you have two cup holders there for your bottles of water and stuff there's more storage here with another USBC which is actually connection point for your Apple carplay and Android auto for connecting to the entertainment system and they are both Wireless there's decent storage here in the glove box and you've got some huge door bins look they can accommodate large flasks and the driving position yeah I think it's really good you can sit nice and low if you want to or get the seeds quite a bit higher Headroom might be an issue if you like to jack the seats all the way up there is lots of adjustment in the steering wheel though look at that so it is quite easy to find your Ideal Driving position here in the back seats the only thing that I can see that Mercedes has changed is this here now there used to be a little drawer there that you could flip out but it kind of meant that this whole area looked like a talking robot it was a bit weird now though they're just sealed that up and given you a USB charging port there which everyone in the back can share it's probably a bit better than it was before the rest of it is as it was before so decent knee room headroom's all right though not quite as much as in a Volkswagen Golf and if you want to see my full in-depth video review of that car click on the pop-out band up there or for the link in the description below in terms of carrying three people in the bucket once well it's sort of doable it's a bit of a squeeze and this Central seat is quite narrow and fur but the footwells are large enough for everyone's feet even though there is a bit of a hop in the floor if you need to you can actually fall down the central seeds to carry longer items or maybe use it as an armrest if you really want to you've got some exposed isofix anchor points there which make it really easy to fit a baby seat there is a bit of a struggle to get it in because the rear doors don't open all that wide I like this though look the rear windows go all the way down and while I was complaining about quality overall in the front at least soft door tops extend into the rear which they don't do on a Volkswagen Golf storage wise look neck Edge big door bins for carrying large bottles good let's move on to the boot the A-Class is low capacity is ever so slightly smaller than its key competitors so you've got 350 liters of space by comparison an Audi A3 has 380 liters of space so it's just over 10 percent larger in volume now if you want to see my full in-depth video review of the Audi A3 click on the pop-out banner up there or via the link in the description below another thing about this car is that you can't alter the height of the floor like you can in some of its competitors as a result there's a bit of a load to lift things over which is annoying if you've got heavy luggage like this oh no there are a few tie down points and places where you can hang things off and if you need to carry larger items you can fold down the rear seats and they split three-way as I showed you earlier because look look you can detach that one but hearing lies is another issue because those headrests are fixed and they sit quite High sometimes to go round and just move the front seats just a little bit so you can get the back ones up Delight this is embarrassing ah flat and that brings you on to five or nine things about the Mercedes A-Class all but the sporty AMG A35 and A45 versions of the A-Class come with old-fashioned torsion bar suspension when the back wheels are joined together rather being able to move independently from one another like they can on most of these cars competitors and it means that it just feels a little less sophisticated it's a bit like the difference between an old-fashioned pram that Mima might have pushed me around in in the 1970s compared to a modern day Bugaboo The Shining surround for the air vents and this black plastic really are quite reflective so when it's bright outside you just get the sun pinging off those into your eyes it's distracting there is no underfloor storage yes you can lift this up to reveal your tire sealant oh and a little area there next to what whatever that is I think it's the battery so you can't store this anyway you have to just lay it down like that in the car which means it might get damaged if you're loading the boot with heavy items you know what that means means this has to get yeated it's the car wow review rules there is no grab handle for the front passenger you have them in the back so maybe if you want to hold on you sort of have to do that I don't know why they haven't put one here I don't if you want your Mercedes A-Class to have adaptive cruise control so it will steer to keep you inlay and automatically keep your safe distance from the car in front you will need to go for the very top of the range car the mg line premium plus and then pay an extra 1500 pounds for the adaptive cruise which seems a bit ridiculous really especially when something like a Toyota Corolla has adaptive cruise control on all versions of that car as standard it's not all negative though here's five good things about this car unlike on so many other cars the reversing camera remains hidden until you put the car into reverse and then it pops out what this means is that the camera always remains clean because when you drive off it goes away again so it doesn't get covered in Road grind the top two specification a-classes get something called augmented reality satellite navigation what that does is use a live camera feed a little camera up there which displays here on the satellite navigation when you come to a junction then it superimposes directions over that live camera feed I'd love to show you here but because this isn't one of the top two spec models it's actually the second trim up it doesn't have that fitted I just love the fact that the gear selector lever is here on the steering column rather than down here on the center console like on so many other cars it's much easier when you're maneuvering look I want to go forwards oh no I want to go backwards I know I definitely want to go forwards again no no backwards for sure oh that's it I think that's just perfect I'm gonna Park easy these little Runners here make sure that the rear seat belts don't snap when you fold the back seats down and to stop the butthole from rattling on your driving you can actually secure them there like that you get a specific car wash mode so when you engage it it automatically folds in the mirrors closes the windows turns off the parking sensors and the rain sensor for the windscreen wiper and it turns off the rear window wiper as well so you're all good to go the engine lineup for the Mercedes A-Class hatchback is pretty simple there's two 1.3 liter turbo petrols one with 150 horsepower or this one here which has 177 horsepower there's also a two liter diesel with 150 horsepower all cars are front-wheel drive and come with automatic gearboxes there are AMG versions available of this car which have a lot more performance and if you want to see my in-depth video review of the a45s click on the pop-out banner up there or the link in the description below the Mercedes a class is a very easy relaxing car to drive in town or on visibility is pretty good A little bit of a blind spot though on the rear quarter of when you're like pulling out of Junctions like that however everything else is nice and easy and simple to use steering is light the Turning circle is pretty tight 11 meters it's not bad makes it easier to you turns in town the automatic gearbox it does a good job of Switching gears up and the brakes they're quite Progressive so you don't end up head butting the steering wheel when you brush the pedal then when you get up to faster speed say 40 miles an hour and you suddenly need a burst of acceleration say to join a Motorway throttle throttle slight pause for the gearbox to kick down but then you're off and the engine does a good job it's quite smooth and delivers good performance in this particular car it's the 177 horsepower version now as you're going at higher speeds you do notice a little bit of wind noise from there as for the economy well this thing is averaging 39 miles per gallon which isn't Stellar but it's not awful either when you come to a twisty Road the A-Class handles pretty well so the steering feels nice and accurate and fairly sharp the body remains pretty flat through the bends it doesn't lean over too much one problem I do notice though is if you hit a bump mid corner it can skip sideways slightly part of the reason for that is the fact that you haven't got independent rear suspension and one bump on one rear wheel is actually transmitted through to the other rear wheel and you know as a result this car doesn't feel quite a short footed or planted when the row gets a little bit bump in out of shape compared to say a BMW one series and if you want to see my full in-depth video review of that car click on the pop out banner up there or the link in the description below Mercedes says this 177 horsepower version of the A-Class should be able to do not 60 in 8.3 seconds we're going to find out what the reality is now using specialist timing gear launch time terrible pull away it's a time going to be though and they said eight seconds actually 8.03 not 8.3 when so then what's my final Bird eats on the revised Mercedes A-Class should you avoid it should you consider it should you shortlist it or should you just go right ahead and buy it well I reckon you should shortlist the A-Class it really is a good all-round small family car I hope you'll enjoy the video if you did give it a like let me know if you agree with my verdict in the comments below if you want to watch some more videos click on those windows there and if you click on that box there you can go to Carlow to sell your car the easy way just upload some photos give a brief description then dealers all across the country will bid on your car it's simple thanks for watchingthis is the recently revised Mercedes A-Class and it's a little bit like an Apple iPhone SE because it's the cheapest way into Mercedes ownership just like the SE is the cheapest way into owning an Apple iPhone now in this video I'm going to talk you through the upgrades and revisions Mercedes have recently made to this car by showing you around the exterior the interior take it for a drive telling you what's good about it what's not so good about it and of course launching it to see how quick it is from naught to 60 miles an hour because I'm at Watson and you're watching car wow and I think that's a Spitfire wow hopefully it's not going to start shooting at this German sorry terrible wall reference Buy sell car wow okay talking around the design of the revised Mercedes A-Class so the rear is a little bit generic looking isn't it now updates Mercedes have made include some slightly redesigned tail lights and a redesigned lower bumper there you really have to look carefully to notice the difference compared the pre-facelift version I worship part of the changes they got rid of the awful fake exhausts that is embarrassing what's also embarrassing is the fact that the AMG line versions have a slightly sportier look that's not a problem it's the fact they've given them this like rear diffuser thing there that's looking diffusion you think nonsense moving down the sides there's some new aloe World designs start at 17 inches which is too small up to 19s this car actually has the 18 inches the AMG lines also get like this like ascended side skirts there make them look like they're hugging the road a bit more moving to the front updates include some redesigned lights they're all LED now and I quite like the look of them plus a slightly larger bumper with the Mercedes signs in there as well as a big one on the front there and the other one there on the Bonnet there's lots of Mercedes branding going on there isn't there also there's a redesigned lower bumper and once again the AMG line has a slightly more aggressive look to it over the standard version price of this car starts from 32 000 pounds it's quite a lot of money a BMW one Series starts at just over 28 000 pounds and you can save an average of just over 2 000 pounds off one through car wow now to compare the price of a wide range of cars and see what savings are available through car below click on the pop-out banner up there or follow the link in the description below alternatively you can go to Kawaii at a later date by simply Googling help me Carl wow and we will help you buy your next car here on the inside the main changes that Mercedes have made to the A-Class for this midlife update include giving you the big infotainment of digital drivers displays as standard that's a good thing they've also got rid of the weird touch pad thingy you just control the screen through the touchscreen which is what I did I never used the touchpad but what they've done is created a recessed space here which is pretty much good for nothing it's not large enough from iPhone it's not large enough for a normal size phone what exactly is this for maybe I don't know to create a little water bath there or a bowl for your little dog or cat that they can just you know drink from very strange that almost as strange as what I just did anyway Mercedes has also given the car its latest steering wheel looks really good like it apart from the fact I hate the touch sensitive buttons they're a real fiddle to use you often find yourself accidentally brushing them when you're driving and turning up the volume changing radio station all sorts of annoying stuff like that it's all a bit form over function and he could say that's true with the rest of the cabin I mean I love the design it's aged really well it looks cool but it's all a little bit superficial so when you start like tapping or pulling at things it does feel a little bit on the cheap side and some of the materials oh just absolutely horrible and check this out look it doesn't feel quite as sturdy as you'd expect from a Mercedes storage is good though decent storage under here two usbcs you have two cup holders there for your bottles of water and stuff there's more storage here with another USBC which is actually connection point for your Apple carplay and Android auto for connecting to the entertainment system and they are both Wireless there's decent storage here in the glove box and you've got some huge door bins look they can accommodate large flasks and the driving position yeah I think it's really good you can sit nice and low if you want to or get the seeds quite a bit higher Headroom might be an issue if you like to jack the seats all the way up there is lots of adjustment in the steering wheel though look at that so it is quite easy to find your Ideal Driving position here in the back seats the only thing that I can see that Mercedes has changed is this here now there used to be a little drawer there that you could flip out but it kind of meant that this whole area looked like a talking robot it was a bit weird now though they're just sealed that up and given you a USB charging port there which everyone in the back can share it's probably a bit better than it was before the rest of it is as it was before so decent knee room headroom's all right though not quite as much as in a Volkswagen Golf and if you want to see my full in-depth video review of that car click on the pop-out band up there or for the link in the description below in terms of carrying three people in the bucket once well it's sort of doable it's a bit of a squeeze and this Central seat is quite narrow and fur but the footwells are large enough for everyone's feet even though there is a bit of a hop in the floor if you need to you can actually fall down the central seeds to carry longer items or maybe use it as an armrest if you really want to you've got some exposed isofix anchor points there which make it really easy to fit a baby seat there is a bit of a struggle to get it in because the rear doors don't open all that wide I like this though look the rear windows go all the way down and while I was complaining about quality overall in the front at least soft door tops extend into the rear which they don't do on a Volkswagen Golf storage wise look neck Edge big door bins for carrying large bottles good let's move on to the boot the A-Class is low capacity is ever so slightly smaller than its key competitors so you've got 350 liters of space by comparison an Audi A3 has 380 liters of space so it's just over 10 percent larger in volume now if you want to see my full in-depth video review of the Audi A3 click on the pop-out banner up there or via the link in the description below another thing about this car is that you can't alter the height of the floor like you can in some of its competitors as a result there's a bit of a load to lift things over which is annoying if you've got heavy luggage like this oh no there are a few tie down points and places where you can hang things off and if you need to carry larger items you can fold down the rear seats and they split three-way as I showed you earlier because look look you can detach that one but hearing lies is another issue because those headrests are fixed and they sit quite High sometimes to go round and just move the front seats just a little bit so you can get the back ones up Delight this is embarrassing ah flat and that brings you on to five or nine things about the Mercedes A-Class all but the sporty AMG A35 and A45 versions of the A-Class come with old-fashioned torsion bar suspension when the back wheels are joined together rather being able to move independently from one another like they can on most of these cars competitors and it means that it just feels a little less sophisticated it's a bit like the difference between an old-fashioned pram that Mima might have pushed me around in in the 1970s compared to a modern day Bugaboo The Shining surround for the air vents and this black plastic really are quite reflective so when it's bright outside you just get the sun pinging off those into your eyes it's distracting there is no underfloor storage yes you can lift this up to reveal your tire sealant oh and a little area there next to what whatever that is I think it's the battery so you can't store this anyway you have to just lay it down like that in the car which means it might get damaged if you're loading the boot with heavy items you know what that means means this has to get yeated it's the car wow review rules there is no grab handle for the front passenger you have them in the back so maybe if you want to hold on you sort of have to do that I don't know why they haven't put one here I don't if you want your Mercedes A-Class to have adaptive cruise control so it will steer to keep you inlay and automatically keep your safe distance from the car in front you will need to go for the very top of the range car the mg line premium plus and then pay an extra 1500 pounds for the adaptive cruise which seems a bit ridiculous really especially when something like a Toyota Corolla has adaptive cruise control on all versions of that car as standard it's not all negative though here's five good things about this car unlike on so many other cars the reversing camera remains hidden until you put the car into reverse and then it pops out what this means is that the camera always remains clean because when you drive off it goes away again so it doesn't get covered in Road grind the top two specification a-classes get something called augmented reality satellite navigation what that does is use a live camera feed a little camera up there which displays here on the satellite navigation when you come to a junction then it superimposes directions over that live camera feed I'd love to show you here but because this isn't one of the top two spec models it's actually the second trim up it doesn't have that fitted I just love the fact that the gear selector lever is here on the steering column rather than down here on the center console like on so many other cars it's much easier when you're maneuvering look I want to go forwards oh no I want to go backwards I know I definitely want to go forwards again no no backwards for sure oh that's it I think that's just perfect I'm gonna Park easy these little Runners here make sure that the rear seat belts don't snap when you fold the back seats down and to stop the butthole from rattling on your driving you can actually secure them there like that you get a specific car wash mode so when you engage it it automatically folds in the mirrors closes the windows turns off the parking sensors and the rain sensor for the windscreen wiper and it turns off the rear window wiper as well so you're all good to go the engine lineup for the Mercedes A-Class hatchback is pretty simple there's two 1.3 liter turbo petrols one with 150 horsepower or this one here which has 177 horsepower there's also a two liter diesel with 150 horsepower all cars are front-wheel drive and come with automatic gearboxes there are AMG versions available of this car which have a lot more performance and if you want to see my in-depth video review of the a45s click on the pop-out banner up there or the link in the description below the Mercedes a class is a very easy relaxing car to drive in town or on visibility is pretty good A little bit of a blind spot though on the rear quarter of when you're like pulling out of Junctions like that however everything else is nice and easy and simple to use steering is light the Turning circle is pretty tight 11 meters it's not bad makes it easier to you turns in town the automatic gearbox it does a good job of Switching gears up and the brakes they're quite Progressive so you don't end up head butting the steering wheel when you brush the pedal then when you get up to faster speed say 40 miles an hour and you suddenly need a burst of acceleration say to join a Motorway throttle throttle slight pause for the gearbox to kick down but then you're off and the engine does a good job it's quite smooth and delivers good performance in this particular car it's the 177 horsepower version now as you're going at higher speeds you do notice a little bit of wind noise from there as for the economy well this thing is averaging 39 miles per gallon which isn't Stellar but it's not awful either when you come to a twisty Road the A-Class handles pretty well so the steering feels nice and accurate and fairly sharp the body remains pretty flat through the bends it doesn't lean over too much one problem I do notice though is if you hit a bump mid corner it can skip sideways slightly part of the reason for that is the fact that you haven't got independent rear suspension and one bump on one rear wheel is actually transmitted through to the other rear wheel and you know as a result this car doesn't feel quite a short footed or planted when the row gets a little bit bump in out of shape compared to say a BMW one series and if you want to see my full in-depth video review of that car click on the pop out banner up there or the link in the description below Mercedes says this 177 horsepower version of the A-Class should be able to do not 60 in 8.3 seconds we're going to find out what the reality is now using specialist timing gear launch time terrible pull away it's a time going to be though and they said eight seconds actually 8.03 not 8.3 when so then what's my final Bird eats on the revised Mercedes A-Class should you avoid it should you consider it should you shortlist it or should you just go right ahead and buy it well I reckon you should shortlist the A-Class it really is a good all-round small family car I hope you'll enjoy the video if you did give it a like let me know if you agree with my verdict in the comments below if you want to watch some more videos click on those windows there and if you click on that box there you can go to Carlow to sell your car the easy way just upload some photos give a brief description then dealers all across the country will bid on your car it's simple thanks for watching\n"