Mercedes-Benz A-Class Saloon Review

Introduction

When BMW appeared with the 1-Series hatchback, Mercedes-Benzknew it had to do something. So, it replaced its tiny people carrier-looking A-Class with something much more desirable.

The car was transformed into a decent family hatchback that it hoped could complete.

But, in truth, this made it worse.

While it might have made the vehicle more appealing to the masses, the more traditionally shaped five-door A-Class could have been better.

Mercedes-Benz had a second crack at it in 2018 to try and steal the thunder from its German rival and, while doing that, introduced a saloon version.

The latter decision might seem questionable when everyone is ditching hatchbacks, let alone saloons, to lease small SUV crossovers instead.

But, given the company car tax and road tax system is geared around emissions, smaller saloons are growing in popularity again as people forgo larger, less economically friendly ones to maximise savings.

And you won’t get a smaller Mercedes-Benz than an A-Class.

At A Glance

Officially, this is the fourth-generation A-Class. But it’s only the second generation since Merc ditched the tiny MPV-shaped version, and it’s the first generation of A-Class saloon.

It is certainly improved in the looks department, with a frowning, aggressive facial expression and thinner headlights. This design hints at a level of athleticism notably missing from its predecessor – and it’s got even better with a recent mid-life facelift.

There is a relatively prominent grille, a dumbbell-shaped lower grille, and a front splitter. Meanwhile, around the sides, a crease in the lower third of the doors gives it some definition, sitting above the side skirts.

The rear end, which sticks out much further on the saloon compared with the hatchback, looks shapely, with air intakes towards the bottom. Additionally, tapering headlights point inwards towards the middle of the boot.

Its looks are slightly toned down at entry-level. But it's a clear step forward from the closest like-by-like comparison, namely the previous generation’s hatchback version.

Key Features

It says something about Merc's direction when the Sport trim is at entry level, but that's what we find here.

The Sport Executive, to give its full title, gets you 17-inch alloy wheels, LED high-performance headlights and day-running lights, power-folding door mirrors, tinted rear windows, dual 10.25-inch screens for the infotainment and instrument display, Apple CarPlay/Android Auto and SatNav. You also get voice control, keyless entry and a wireless phone charger, plus 64-colour ambient lighting, a sports steering wheel and automatic climate control.

The AMG Line Executive gets 18-inch alloys, AMG body styling, brushed aluminium sports pedals, a Nappa leather sports steering wheel and sports seats, plus a more comprehensive selection of interior trims.

Merc’s AMG Line Premium is nearly identical but adds illuminated door sills and dual-zone climate control, plus some additional safety kit.

Meanwhile, the AMG Line Premium Plus gets 19-inch alloys, an adaptive high beam, a panoramic sliding sunroof, an electrically adjustable driver's seat with memory function and a head-up display. It also features a surround-view camera, plus an MBUX Interior Assistant, which enables you to set the vehicle up to respond to hand gestures.

The Launch Edition for the facelifted version gets a 'Night Package', which includes black mirrors and wheels and a Burmester surround sound system.

Engines come with the choice of two petrols in the form of the A180 and the A200. Both are a 1.3-litre four-cylinder unit with mild hybrid technology and a seven-speed automatic, producing 136 and 163PS, respectively.

There is also the A200d, a 2.0-litre four-cylinder diesel with 150PS, which gets you an eight-speed automatic ‘box.

Alternatively, there’s the A250e, a plug-in hybrid which combines a 1.3-litre four-cylinder petrol with an electric motor to produce 218PS.

Interestingly, the hybrid is only available on the saloon, having been discontinued on the hatchback. But you can’t have it in entry-level Sport Executive trim.

It is the A180 petrol saloon in AMG Line Premium trim tested here.

Performance & Drive

Pulling away in our review car, which features the entry-level engine, the performance isn't exceptional. While it’s the cheapest powertrain option, 0-62mph takes a sluggish 9.3 seconds, and we had to rev the engine more to get decent performance out of it. Because the A200 achieves identical economy figures, we’d recommend that instead if petrol is your fuel of choice.

Even though it's no powerhouse itself, the A200 is a second quicker to get to 62mph from a standing start than the A180. Although no A-Class is especially quick (other than the high-performance AMG version), that extra clout means it feels less of a chore to drive about than the A180.

We would choose the diesel over the petrol, which has decent torque off the line, even better fuel economy, and a 0-62mph time of 8.4 seconds. Plus, it's just a whisker slower than the A200 petrol.

If you need something even quicker, the plug-in hybrid will manage it in 7.5 seconds. Even that isn't eye-watering, but, on balance, we’d still go for the diesel unless you're a company car driver or are likely to recoup the additional cost of the hybrid in fuel savings long term, as it's significantly more expensive.

Despite their lack of pace, all the powerplants, especially the A200 and A200d, feel solid and are acceptable for both low speed driving around town and faster motorway cruises.

Admittedly, BMW and Audi’s engines seem more refined, and you’ll find that the Merc is somewhat noisier, but this isn't enough to put us off.

No matter what you choose, Mercedes-Benz has focused the driving experience on ride comfort.

With none of the units screaming with performance, it’s clear Mercedes wants to offer something at the more relaxing end of the market, certainly compared with the driver-focused Audi and BMW equivalents. The suspension is more absorbing than its rivals, but thankfully it still handles well, which is not an easy combination to pull off.

Yes, when you tackle a corner at speed, there is more body roll than in the Audi A3 or BMW 2-Series, but the Merc has plenty of grip. Plus, it benefits from engaging, well-weighted steering and an impressive amount of nimbleness given how comfortable the ride is.

The wheel is noticeably lighter around town when you’re trundling along. But once the speedometer goes up, it firms up nicely when tackling twisty B-roads, giving you the confidence to push on and test its limits a bit further.

It is impressive, but given the focus on a softer setup, the A-Class isn't going to trouble its main foes for thrills, something both Audi and BMW excel at. But, as a balance between comfort and handling, Mercedes-Benz has got it spot on.

We stand by our choice of preferring the diesel. Still, we also like the seven-speed automatic which comes with the petrols, as you feel the diesel often has too much choice and therefore is more prone to changing up before you decelerate, causing a jerking motion. Mind you, this can happen in the seven-speed, too, just less often.

Running Costs & Emissions

Depending on trim, in the saloon, both the petrols produce 132 to 140g/km of CO2, while the diesel manages 128 to 138g/km of CO2.

Both petrols can manage up to 48.7mpg, which is alright, but not as good as the diesel, which can do 57.7mpg.

Economy figures aren’t as good in the hatchback, but only by the smallest of margins. Nevertheless, it’s generally like BMW's equivalent saloon, the 2-Series. But, of course, your driving style will heavily impact what you achieve in practice.

You need to be looking at the plug-in hybrid if you’re a company car user, as the Benefit in Kind tax savings makes the others pointless. Although, as we said earlier, the PHEV version is only available as a saloon.

It will manage 282 to 353mpg, producing just 19 to 23g/km of CO2, with an all-electric range of 48 to 51 miles, while its 16kWh battery can do a 0-100% charge in under three hours from a 7kW home wall box. This is reduced to under an hour-and-a-half at maximum charging speeds from a public charging point.

In terms of reliability, Mercedes-Benz could be doing better nowadays, often coming in the bottom half of surveys, along with Audi and BMW.

Interior & Technology

While more hair-raising driving thrills are to be found in the A-Class’s rivals, you may disagree with their apparent superiority when you step inside the Mercedes. The interior is achingly stunning to look at, especially at night when your favourite choice of shading from the 64-colour ambient lighting bathes the cabin with its illuminations.

The steering wheel is very inviting to hold, with plenty of attractive silver décor, while the jet engine-shaped vents look ready to blast you with hot air on a cold winter’s night.

Rather than a conventional instrument display, Merc has gone fully digital, offering two 10.25-inch screens sat next to each other in one unit as if it's one giant portrait display. It is attractive, clear, and informative, while the infotainment system is intuitive and easy to use. Although it still needs improvement compared with BMW's industry-leading system, Mercedes is inching ever closer.

The lack of a rotary controller, though, is a disappointment. You must make do with a touchpad instead – but thankfully, all versions of the A-Class get voice control, which is reasonably straightforward to use, if not always 100% reliable.

Finding a comfortable driving position is easy enough. And the seat adjustment is fine to do manually, as our test car is one trim down from AMG Line Premium Plus, which is the only version that gets electric adjustment for the driver's side.

Visibility is decent out of the front and, like in most cars, less successful out of the rear thanks to the thicker pillars on either side of the back window. But a reversing camera is included as standard across the A-Class range. Again, only the AMG Line Premium Plus version gets a full 360-degree camera.

Overall, the interior design is superb, even at entry-level. While some higher-end manufacturers deliberately dumb down the interiors of lesser models so as not to detract interest in their more expensive ones, Mercedes deserves plaudits for not doing so here.

The A-Class is supposed to be the entry-level, bottom rung of the Mercedes-Benz ladder. The reality, though, is that it feels the polar opposite of bargain basement inside.

Practicality & Boot Space

There is plenty of space in the front and a lot of adjustment in the seats and steering wheel, too. And you’re not short-changed on headroom, either. The rear could be better, especially if you're on the tall side. But it's still perfectly acceptable for what is, after all, a small family car and about on par with BMW.

If you are over six-foot, then one thing worth checking before you commit is the extent to which the panoramic sunroof on higher models eats into the available space. This reduces the headroom more so than in other cars we've tested.

There is less headroom in the saloon compared with the A-Class hatchback, too, as the slope in the roofline is more pronounced.

There is a commendable amount of interior storage to accommodate bottles, cables and smaller belongings, with a generously sized glove box, spacious door bins and a couple of cupholders in the centre console.

In the saloon petrol models, the boot capacity measures 405 litres, expanding to 1,210 litres with the rear seats down. However, the diesel loses ten litres off both figures, and it's even less (332 to 1,125 litres) in the plug-in hybrid. Meanwhile, the petrol hatchback's boot offers 355 litres of space, expanding to 1,195 litres with the seats folded, while again, the diesel loses ten litres off each figure, and, as we said earlier, there's no hybrid hatchback model.

Those figures are less than you’ll get in the equivalent BMW 1-Series hatchback or 2-Series saloon or the Audi A3 (available with both hatchback and saloon versions).

But, in the case of the hatchback in particular, we found the space was more usable in the A-Class due to its shape. So, the Benz is superior in practice if you're carrying bigger, inflexible items. If you opt for the saloon, then despite its superior size, the boot opening is far shallower compared with the hatchback. So, that’s something to bear in mind if you regularly need to load oversized items.

One advantage the A-Class has over its challengers is that its back seats fold down in a convenient and versatile 40/20/40 configuration, while the BMW and Audi only offer a 60/40 split. The seats fold flat, too, making it easy to slide more extended objects in. But you do have to lift them over a reasonably large load lip in both the saloon and hatchback.

Safety

The A-Class was awarded a five-star safety rating by crash-testing experts, Euro NCAP – a score which applies to both the hatchback and saloon versions.

It achieved a whopping 96% for adult occupants, 91% for children and 75% for safety assists.

Those assists include automatic emergency braking, traffic sign recognition, lane-keeping assist and driver attention monitor, parking assist, a reversing camera and rain-sensing windscreen wipers.

Our AMG Line Premium test car gets blind spot assist, while AMG Line Premium Plus replaces the reversing camera with a 360-degree camera and adds exit warning assist, as well as traffic sign assist.

Options

There are not many extras, but a wide selection of paint jobs is offered, with solid white or black as standard and solid yellow or metallic black, white, silver, grey, rose gold, or red costing several hundred pounds extra.

Matt grey paint is an eye-watering four-figure add-on – and it’s not available on the entry-level Sport Executive trim.

You may have the opportunity to change the colour of the upholstery, but only if you've picked specific exterior colours.

If that applies to you, a light beige or sage grey interior can be yours if you wish.

Rival Cars

As we've already seen, the two apparent competitors to the A-Class saloon are the Audi A3 (below) and the BMW 2-Series.

If you're not committed to a saloon and might consider the hatchback, decent alternatives include the BMW 1-Series. You can also opt for the 2-Series Active Tourer or Mercedes B-Class if you want something bigger.

If the saloon does take your fancy, you could even opt for the more shapely Mercedes-Benz CLA, also available as an estate version for added practicality.

There aren’t many small saloons on the market today, but the Mazda 3 (below) is available in such a shape – and it may surprise you with its quality, too.

Verdict & Next Steps

Overall, the Mercedes-Benz A-Class saloon is impressive. It might not have a predecessor, but the hatchback can vouch for it, given it’s much improved over the old one.

There is no real reason to have the saloon over the hatchback, or vice versa, apart from considering what best meets your needs and preferences.

In both, the interior is stunning, the engines are good, its ride comfort is superior to its rivals, and, although its handling can't quite match them, it's still good to drive. The A-Class is also generously equipped, even at entry-level, and once you sit inside one, it'll take an awful lot to tempt you elsewhere.

Of course, leasing a premium brand attracts a more premium price. So, if you take that into account, then a Mazda 3 saloon is arguably a more sensible choice. But, boy, its interior doesn’t wow you like the A-Class’s does.

Where to next?

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_{*Score based on Select’s unique meta score analysis, taking into account the UK’s top five leading independent car website reviews of the Mercedes-Benz A-Class Saloon}