64 whichcar.com.au/wheels
T’S A HUMDINGER of a pub. Old and regal, The
Hotel Belvedere clings to a mountainside high in the
Swiss Alps, but it’s the road that really sets it apart.
It’s so close to the pub that it touches it, the blacktop
sweeping by so tightly that boozy beer hounds could
feasibly brush passing traffic on their way back from
the bar. It’s called the Furka Pass and it’s the kind of road you
could imagine James Bond driving... because he has.
Watch the opening sequence of 1964’s Goldfinger and you’ll
spot a dashing Sean Connery at the wheel of his Aston Martin
DB5, its nose cleaving a path through the pass’s hairpins.
We had to visit it, naturally, and our idea, conceived in the
middle of a typically scorching hot Aussie summer, was rather
brilliant. Or so we thought.
The crux of it was to pedal AMG’s newest (and cheapest)
creation – the highly rated A35 – up the mountainside to
deliver some Aussie beer to the publican. A generous gesture,
you’ll agree, even if the A35’s positioning as the entry-level
AMG meant light beer may have been more appropriate. But
come on: driving bliss, with a Bond connection, and a doozy of
a pub to explore for lunch? It sounded super.
Until the first piece of bad news arrived. Turns out the
glacier that once attracted tourists to this particular Alpine
area has melted to the point that the Hotel Belvedere
has been abandoned, its windows boarded up, its bar now
deserted. And contrary to the evidently melting glacier, the
Furka Pass was snowed in and had not opened for spring.
So with the speed and grace of a third grade prop, we
pivoted. Google suggested there were some other, slightly
lower (though no less spectacular) passes we could tackle,
which means this two-day adventure now boils down to two
questions: is the A35 a genuine hot hatch contender, or will
it forever be in the shadow of its bigger brother – the all-new,
and slightly unhinged A45? And can the Alps really be as
extraordinary to drive as they are to look at?A WORD TO describe our A35? Unassuming. Without the
optional, gawp-worthy aero kit and painted in the kind of
dour hue usually reserved for cement salesmen, it appears, on
first glance, to look like any other A-Class. I kind of like that.
There’s no uncouth barking from the exhaust, either, or any
irritating jostling from the AMG-specific suspension as we slip
out of Stuttgart and plug our first Alpine pass into the sat-nav.
Type ‘Julier Pass’ into Google and you’ll find it listed as
one of Europe’s most dangerous roads. Not that you’d know it
from the bottom. Rush past the sign that confirms the pass is
open and for a while you’ll meander gently through brilliant
green countryside, but eventually you start to climb. Lift your
eyes at this point and you’ll realise the treat that lies ahead.
Hairpin heavy but wide and smooth and with excellent sight
lines, the Julier delivers the kind of serpentine seduction most
enthusiasts imagine when they’re asked what the perfect road
looks like. It’s grippy too, despite the car’s readout suggesting
an ambient temp of just 1.0C, and mercifully, traffic is light.
This initial section runs for 2km and the best part is actually
before the sequence of 11 hairpins. Here, the corners require
only half a turn of lock and they flow together beautifully, the
car sweeping from one to the next in a natural rhythm. The
zig-zag section is more point and shoot, with frenzied bursts
of max throttle, heavy braking and quick twirls of the wheel,
but the genius is that the hairpin apexes aren’t too acute, or
too close together. There’s enough room to run out second and
grab third before you pitch the A35 into the next corner.
The car itself is a curious one. AMG has worked hard to
improve the A35’s dynamics over the regular A-Class range by
stiffening up the springs, dampers and anti-roll bars, replacingSwitzerland’s own
Pub With No Beer,
the boarded-up
Hotel Belvedere01
13 HOURS, 4 COUNTRIES, 653KM.
PASSES DRIVEN: JULIER, MALOJA,
SAN GIACOMO FILIPPO, SPLUGENDAY
FEATURE /
AMG A35 vs
THE ALPS