[stevie996]

Decided to VT the wife's mini cooper convertible early next year, have been looking for a sensible replacement on contract hire.

Decided on a Mercedes A class, A250 AMG Sport, engineered by AMG model in polar silver, reverse camera and heated front seats.

Steve

[mowflow]

It's a nice looking car.

Have you driven one? If not I'd strongly advise a test drive.

[stevie996]

Originally Posted by mowflow

It's a nice looking car.

Have you driven one? If not I'd strongly advise a test drive.

No, not driven one.

Any problems?

Steve

[creepy coupe]

Originally Posted by stevie996

Decided to VT the wife's mini cooper convertible early next year, have been looking for a sensible replacement on contract hire.

Decided on a Mercedes A class, A250 AMG Sport, engineered by AMG model in polar silver, reverse camera and heated front seats.

Steve

Nice motor. My Missus looked at getting one recently although she ended up going for an Audi A1 in the end.

[mowflow]

Originally Posted by stevie996

No, not driven one.

Any problems?

Steve

Not problems, no. Just a personal taste thing and I dare say your wife will like it as it's certainly not a bad car.

My expectations might have been too high. I really, really wanted one after seeing it at Geneva. Waited almost a year on info and the opportunity to test drive. My local dealerships first demo car was an A250 with the engineered by AMG pack and I was the first to test drive it. Deposit was all set ready to go but I didn't even talk figures with them I disliked the drive so much.

I test drove just about every other car in this class while waiting on the A class to come out. By comparison to a lot of them the A felt like a much older car in terms of the drive. The ride was crashy, the gearbox was dim witted and the steering was vague. It put me in mind of my old crashy A3 in terms of drive only it had a much much better gearbox (DSG).

I don't want to be all profit of doom on your new order, that was just my opinion, the car has enough good points as well. They are probably one of the best looking hatches around, interior is nice, quality is great and the engine has plenty of go.

[creepy coupe]

The ride on them in AMG Sport trim is very hard. The 7spd auto is a tad slow at first but gets much better with a few miles behind it.There is also a sport mode.The steering felt really good compared to BMW's electric offerings.

[mowflow]

I tried the sport mode but found it just held on to gears a little too long rather than sharpened the box any. Manually shifting it's very easy to confuse the box. Could have been the mileage thing as you say though as the one I drove only had 200 miles on it.

BMWs latest steering (in the 1 series at least) is utter bollocks. I didn't think the Mercedes was any better though, just as lifeless with the added complication of a little torque steer when floored. I dare say an A45 is different with more AMG elixir in the potion and 4wd.

I actually thought the A3s steering in sport mode was better than anything else I tried. That quite possibly proves how bad my judgement is on this matter

[E60525d]

Completely agree on the comments about the ride and gearbox, very poor indeed.

[creepy coupe]

Originally Posted by mowflow

I tried the sport mode but found it just held on to gears a little too long rather than sharpened the box any. Manually shifting it's very easy to confuse the box. Could have been the mileage thing as you say though as the one I drove only had 200 miles on it.

BMWs latest steering (in the 1 series at least) is utter bollocks. I didn't think the Mercedes was any better though, just as lifeless with the added complication of a little torque steer when floored. I dare say an A45 is different with more AMG elixir in the potion and 4wd.

I actually thought the A3s steering in sport mode was better than anything else I tried. That quite possibly proves how bad my judgement is on this matter

I should have said my gearbox statement was in our SLK which wasn't too bad in sport and being RWD didn't torque steer. I still felt the steering was ok, given today's modern options.