Motor Australia – September 2019

HUMP-THUMP-THUMPgoestheheart.I canfeel
thepulseinthefingertipsandalongthetemples.
At last the time has come to put this awesome
carto therealtest. I haveexploredSportPlusad
m. Qualified for Master in the AMG Dynamics
y.DialledintheSupersportdisplaywitha bigfatgear
r circled by therev counter thatin turn isflanked
rainbow bar graphs. Sampled Race Start, which
y doesn’timpairthewarranty.SettheRealPerformance
rocessoronblaringDynamic...
ll theabovestepsweremerelya preludetotheaccolade
edasDriftMode. Itcanonlybelockedinwiththe
ssion in manual, the drive program in Race, and
itched off. Next, you must pull both shift paddles
neously,thenconfirmpowerslidemodebya quickflick
p paddle.Ready?Ready!S-MB 1001 togroundcontrol:
oingtoburnsomerubbernow.
rcuito del Jarama near Madrid airport hosted the
F1GrandPrixbetween 1968 and1981,alternatingwith
na.Nowadayssurroundedbygatedcommunities,the
d shorttrackboastsplentyofelevationchanges,three
endsthatmaketheadrenalineflowa littlebitfaster,and
ng,superfastcorners.
hotdayliketoday,thesizzlingtarmaciseatingtyresfor
st,lunchanddinner,whichisn’tthatmuchofa bother
totheAMGA45S – aslongasyouadjustyourdrivingstyleto
itsquitespecialpower-oversteerantics.Afterall,thetarted-up
pocketrocket sportingthetrademarkverticalPanamericana
grilleis all-wheel drive, notrear-wheel drive. Although the
systemcanshiftmostofits500Nmofmaximumtorquetothe

hindlegswhenrequired,onemustwindonanextrahand’s

breadthoflockortwotokeeptheslidealive.Thenormalgut

response– a decentmeasureofoppositelock– wouldpushthe

carwideandstifletheact.

LiketheC63AMG,itsbabybrotherrespondswithoutdelayto

full-throttleorders.Thetailswings’roundina creamyarcand,

aslongasthedriver maintainsatighterthanusualsteering

angleandthepunchierthannormaltorqueflow,thewinged

five-doorhatchwillbehavelikea pedigreedriftmachine.

Just for the heck of it, we go to the skid-pad, where it

dulyperforms allsortsofsmelly virtuallystationarydonuts

anda supercoolthird-geartap-dancealonga lineplottedby

imaginarypylons.Whata car!Notoncedowespin,veeroffthe

trajectoryorupsettheflow.

Havingsaidthat,therewouldcertainlycomea pointatwhich

thescorching,shreddedfronttyreslostgripanditwouldbe

gameover.Butthisistoogooda playthingtooverdrive.What

I’mlookingforinsteadisthereplaybutton,orfreshrubberand

extratracktimeinsteadofhavinglunch...

THE A45 RESPONDS

WITHOUT DELAY TO

FULL-THROTTLE ORDERS

MAIN

Now-familiar vertical-

bar‘Panamericana’

grilledesign provides a

moreaggressive look

tomatch the berserk

performance

RIGHT

Second-generation

A45arrives packing

some45kW and 50Nm

morethan the original

modellaunched with

sixyearsago

➜

58 september 2019 whichcar.com.au/motor