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his feels like we’ve come
beyond hot hatch or even
mega-hot hatch territories
now, so I don’t quite know
w he r e w e a r e. Me r c e de s h a s
squeezed hitherto unforeseen
power out of a 2.0-litre four-
cylinder full series-production
engine and installed it into quite
a small car to expand yet another
niche. Welcome to the world of the
416bhp Mercedes-AMG A45.
The A45 hatchback is as fast as
small family cars get: a car with
a 0-62mph time quicker than
an Aston Martin DB11. It’s alsoavailable as a small saloon now
(s e e p29) a nd w i l l b e a n e s t at e a nd
crossover soon. The A, CLA, CLA
Shooting Brake and GLA are all
badged ‘45’ and are, according to
Mercedes, ‘the super sportscars in
the compact class’, a phrase that
feels a bit Google-translated but
which describes them well enough.
This is the hatch. It has five
do or s s o i s pr a c t ic a l , y e t it ge t s
416bhp and 369lb ft in this S form
and will do 0-62mph in 3.9sec. A
ba s e 382bhp v e r sion i s av a i l a ble ,
too, but we won’t get it in the UK.
For rivals, look to the Audi RS3
or, if you squint a bit (and on this
occasion I think it’s worth it), the
BMW M2 Competition, which
is short of doors by comparison
but an excellent way to spend the
£50,000 or so the A45 will cost
w he n de l i v e r ie s s t a r t l at e s u m me r.
A 4 5 s r ol l do w n t he s a me l i ne a ndat t he s a me t i me a s ord i n a r y A s ,
although they get wider wings and
tracks and some body stiffening
brackets – two welded near the ◊