Manufacturer release | OK KOMPRESSOR – SONG AND DANCE ROUTINE

On Irish roads now, the Mercedes A-Class remix is entirely satisfactory

Hatch and Mercedes are in the same sentence again, except this time plaudits are singing praise. Where as the last A-Class felt more like an attempt to shore-up a lagging sector for the Daimlers (a bit like those old ad-hoc MPV Vitos, maybe?), this latest version dances to an entirely different tune. For now, just the two on-cue 1.5 litre diesel and 1.3 petrol engines, with a 2.0 performance version on the way. But they are allied to a slick autoshift, meaning the car is in harmony on any surface – be it city jam or bypass rhythm. Firm hand-eye steering, inertial dampening suspension and a near perfectly sonorousless cabin vibe combine to lend you the feeling that you ARE driving a Mercedes-Benz: a beat previous A-variants utterly missed. A superb “intuitive” enfotainment system mounted at the centre of the dashboard drums with the drivers’ instrument screen, which looks well-rad. Elsewhere plenty of gadgets abound – especially the “talking car” routine, park assist, lane discipline and more, ie “all the mod cons”. All of this is merely confirmation that a new market segment A-lister has arrived. Record breaker? The base model nudges over the €31K price point…add-ins can bring that up to the 40k "Deutsche Mark". So not exactly going for a song -