Mercedes-AMG A35 2019 UK first drive

The stiffer shell of the W177-generation A-Class is also bolstered by a pair of A35-specific front strut braces and an under-engine shear panel, which provide further basis for terrifically precise steering response.  

And it's precision that defines the driving experience relative to this car's rivals. Roll and pitch movements are very well contained even over the tortuous country roads, and to elicit even a whisp of wheelspin you'll need to overdrive the car in a way that offers little if any satisfaction. Better to instead splice methodically through corners, carrying more speed than expected and wringing as much out of the front axle as possible. The convincingly weighted electromechanical steering helps in this respect, and driven quickly the A35 feels light on its toes. 

It can, however, seem as though you're merely joining the dots, albeit with enjoyable accuracy. The chassis balance feels purposely front-biased, and that inevitably limits any real sense of flow. The Honda Civic Type R – purely front-driven – counters this with a mobile rear axle and considerable adjustability, but the A35 doesn't sacrifice stability in this way, and, in fairness, the majority of owners wouldn't want it to. 

Even so, only with the ESP in its midway Sport setting (or off entirely) and with considerable commitment does it begin to express itself, and then only shyly. Using the throttle to subtly tweak your trajectory is mostly a fruitless exercise, and yet this chassis won't indulge a brasher driving style. Throw all 295lb ft of torque at it and, with an electromechanical multi-disc clutch pre-emptively directing up to half of that rearwards, you might tease out a slither of oversteer on a wet day, but there's never the indulgent sensation of the rear outside tyre helping thrust the car through corners. Locked-down cross-country pace is what the A35 is designed to do, and it does it well – extremely well, at times. But don't expect the levels of dynamics expression we typically associate with AMG. 

As an everyday car there are concerns, too. AMG claims its adaptive dampers have a broad scope, and they may well do, but we haven’t yet sampled them. For all the poise it imparts at speed (though the bump-stops do make themselves known sooner than you might expect), the passive hardware of our test car was restless when only lightly loaded. It’s the traditional trade-off of low-speed compliance for high-speed control, but in a hatchback, even a supersonically fast one, that’s harder to accept than for something in the mould of the M2 Competition, and poorly surfaced motorways can be troublesome.  

Paying £695 for the adaptive items and pairing them 18in wheels (our test car rode on 19in) might well solve this particular problem and give this chassis greater breadth, so for now the A35 gets the benefit of the doubt.   

Rarely do we get so far into an AMG story without talk of the engine, but that’s because the M260 unit in the A35 isn't actually an AMG ware. When the A45 arrives, it will do so with an updated version of the sensational M133, at one point the most powerful four-cylinder production engine in the world, and the A35 has been stood well back from that.

This A250 engine nevertheless gets a new twin-scroll turbocharger for A35 duties, and throttle response is conspicuously sharp. The sports exhaust may be a little contrived, but it does give a reassuringly brawny blare, and with both peak torque and power arriving later than for rivals, there’s more shape to the delivery. For this application, the M260 performs sweetly enough.

Shorter, AMG-specific ratios for the dual-clutch ’box also provide ample opportunity for redline upshifts, although leaving your pull of the paddle even a moment too late flummoxes the driveline and sends the car’s mass careening forwards.  This gearbox is otherwise slick as you like, and while the engine is neither as clinical as the Golf R’s EA888 nor as animalistic as an authentic AMG unit, it’s likeable and effective. Expect a touring economy in the mid-30mpgs.