A View to the Sky – The New Mercedes-Benz A-Class
A View to the Sky – The New Mercedes-Benz A-Class
The all-new Mercedes-Benz A-Class is in town. The top of the range features a panoramic sunroof that offers occupants, both front and rear a view of the sky above, something that one could use for showing friends around our beautiful city or country side. If you feel like it, you can open it up to feel the air brush past your face, or smell the fragrances of the mountains as you climb up Genting or Camerons. And when it rains you can get to see and hear the pitter patter of the raindrops on your roof. Children will love to stand up in the seat and poke their heads out the top (only if you are going at a slow and safe speed, of course) while you cruise around the Lake Gardens of Kuala Lumpur or Taiping.
“After seven years of production and having sold 1.1 million models, Mercedes-Benz is starting the new chapter in the A-Class success story by launching a new and even more attractive and innovative model,” said Konstantinos Tsiknas, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, DaimlerChrysler Malaysia, at the media preview of the all-new Mercedes-Benz A-Class.
A compact car on the outside, and a family car on the inside, with the space of a mini van, the A-Class is a vehicle that is a class above the run-of-the-mill family runabouts. With a 1.7 litre engine built by Mercedes to the exacting Mercedes quality standards, the A-Class is a fun to drive vehicle with exemplary behaviour on the roads. Technologically advanced, it has more than 200 patents on parts put into it, including a new rear axle design that works with the chassis and running gear to give it extra-ordinary handling.
While on a test route specially chosen to provide a mixture of highway and country roads, the motoring media put the A-Class through its paces, and I personally was quite like a racing car. The point is, I kept on pushing it faster and faster into the corners to see if I could get it beyond its limit, and not once did it fail to come through smelling like a rose. Equipped with ESP (Electronic Stability Program), the A-Class is literally idiot-proof.
The engine and transmission itself is geared for outstanding fuel economy, and that in itself limits the entry speeds and out-of-corner acceleration making the A-Class a safe bet on the road. For the technically savvy, the transmission is a CVT (Constantly Variable Transmission), with seven virtual gears to provide seamless acceleration. You can get a semblance of sports driving if you invoke the ‘manual’ Autotronic shift.
The suspension itself accords a comfortable ride; it does not have the weight of the larger Benz’s to keep it elegant and poised, but the rear suspension design with ‘parabolic’ action lateral arms give the it additional travel to keep all four wheels in contact with the blacktop. Driven at ‘normal’ (read as sane) speeds, the A-Class rides well enough to give a more than adequately comfortable ride to all occupants. The most remarkable aspect of it must be the way it maintains its composure no matter what you throw at it. Part of the secret is also the standard 16-inch wheels
Having said that it is a staid car with no pretensions of being a sporty model, the A-Class will hit a top speed of 180 kilometres per hour when pushed, and a cruising speed of around 150 kph is quite comfortable. Claimed top speed is 183 kilometres per hour; our test car had about 700 kilometres on the clock, still a little tight. On the flats, it is possible to maintain 160 to 170 kph, although when fully laden, it will tend to slow down a little when going up long slopes. The upside of it all is of course the remarkable fuel economy you will get. We started on a full tank, and although we did not get a chance to do a full tank to full tank test, the fuel gauge hardly moved after nearly a hundred kilometers of hard driving. For the record, fuel consumption based on a standard combined test is claimed to be 6.6 litres per 100 kilometres.
Inside, the instrumentation is comprehensive, with analog meters that I like, and an on-board digital read-out that gives you vital information. Seats for the front are electrically controlled, and more importantly, the steering wheel is adjustable for both reach and height to allow you to adjust to the driving position that best suits you. The seats themselves are comfortable, providing good support and good cushioning for your behinds. The rear seats split and fold flat to provide for great utility, very useful if you need to carry that occasional bicycle or other long stuff. A tonneau cover is also provided for keeping the things you carry from prying eyes.
The overall shape is basically a one-box design, with a short snout and well-contoured lines that give it a more contemporary and rounded shape. The front mask is carries the Mercedes-Benz DNA so that no one will mistake it for anything else. The overall effect is a very pleasing to the eye. I would venture to say that it is a ‘neutral’ kind of body shape that would appeal to both genders, and no matter what your age, you would look all right in one.
The standard version of the A-Class retails for RM178, 888, while the higher spec model with the panoramic sunroof retails for RM195, 000.
