Quote:
Originally Posted by Mpower @kbk_75, look at the bright side.... at least they did not launch with that 'Logan engine' and charge 25 lakhs for it. That would be real sacrilege |
Haha! Indeed!
Test drove the A180 Petrol this evening. Took it for a spin down the highway and got a good feel for the vehicle's capabilities.
Let's start with the ride. The car rides well. It isolates you decently from potholes and doesn't crash over bumps either. It's no E class but you can't expect that level of ride comfort in an A. Dynamically, it feels planted on the road, there's no skittishness or unexpected tramlining. It is well composed and feels like a well-sorted, grown-up car. In fact, this is one of the very few cars I have driven in India (this comes from it being a CBU) that feels like its biased more towards decent-ish handling than outright comfort and this is no bad thing. Of course it's not a small car, so you're never really going to want to chuck it around much, particularly since the outwards visibility is not the greatest, especially out the back.
The steering is decently weighted, slightly lighter than I'd have liked, but no real complaints there either. It's not going to give you high levels of feedback, but on our crud roads that may not be a bad thing. The steering wheel itself is a delight to use, is beautifully finished, feels great to the touch and looks quite classy and sporty. It has controls for the audio system and telephone on it and paddle shifters to change gears with (next time make them a little bigger please, Mercedes?)!
The 7 speed gearbox is a treat to use. Shifts are seamless and the car will give you the gear you want most of the time. The only clue you have that you've shifted down a couple of gears manually is when you hear the exhaust note that is almost sporty, but not quite. The car has the usual MB transmission modes, (E)conomy, (S)port and (M)anual. In Economy it shifts to the highest gear it can asap to give the best fuel efficiency. Sport holds on to the gear longer before shifting up and Manual gives you complete control. If you pull a paddle in Economy mode it automatically switches to Manual but to get it back into Economy mode you have to take your eyes of the road and hit the relevant button on the centre console.
The engine...well...it's adequate. It shifts the A class around without much fuss, as long as you're not TRYING to push it. This car was designed to have much beefier engines and this is clearly evident when you step on the gas looking to have some fun. It accelerates reasonably quickly but above 4,500 rpm it feels like it's straining and you wonder where the torque went. I'll even say that it accelerates faster than it feels because the car sits on the road so nicely and doesn't feel nervous or twitchy at all. Ultimately, though, the engine is an econo-engine and you're not going to get your heart racing with this car for sure. Chuck another 50bhp and 75 nm at it and it will be another matter altogether.
The stock Contis afford decent handling and it brakes very well, without any fuss or drama. Tyre rumble was quite noticeable whilst driving on the highway, however. The plethora of safety aids will always ensure that the car remains pointed in the right direction. It has 7 seven airbags, including a driver's knee bag.
The interiors are distinctive thanks, again, to it being a CBU. The plastics feel nice to the touch and the trim inside is what you'd expect from a Merc. The seats are supportive and comfortable at the same time, with full electric control for the driver's side (sorry passenger, you have to slum it!). The little screen that's stuck-on to the dashboard feels like an afterthought. It's not particularly well positioned for the driver to use and is quite small. It's mostly for toys though because there's no sat nav, so it's used to show song name, radio station etc and also to pull up your phone contact list. There's no climate control on the A, which is a surprise at this price point. There's also no park sensors or sat nav. Sat nav I couldn't really care less about, but in a car like the A class, that has limited rear visibility and a small, high rear windscreen, the omission of park sensors is unforgivable, especially at this price point.
The interior and driver's side rear view mirrors auto dim but the passenger's side mirror doesn't. I was pleased to see that the test drive car paired with my iPhone in a jiffy and playing MP3s was possible. However, I could not figure out a way to choose a playlist or an album and, as a result, I was listening to whatever the car (or is that the phone?!) felt like playing!
The audio quality from the hi-fi is decent and voice quality when making and receiving calls wirelessly is also good. The bluetooth sync allows you to bring up your phone contacts as well, so you can make calls using the car's interface, but it is a bit clunky and un-intuitive to me, coming from BMW's oft-criticised I-drive.
The boot is decently large and the rear seats split and fold if you need even more room. There are iso-fix mountings for child seats in the rear, another nod to the car being a CBU. Rear leg-room is adequate when you have a 5'9" driver and passenger the same height behind.
Which leaves only one thing, the price. At 30 lakhs + on-road in Maharashtra (including octroi or LBT) this car is not cheap or particularly good value for money. Mercedes is to be commended for bringing the car here, but I feel it will represent a better value once they start assembling it locally. They can then put essential features like park sensors and climate control back in and probably still lower the price, though knowing MB India, they probably won't pass-on the full cost benefit to the customer. Still, paying 11% OTT as opposed to 20% will certainly lower the car's on-road price, at least in states like Maharashtra. Sadly, I fear that local assembly and parts sourcing will also take away some of that "Euro" feel the CBU cars have (I have never seen an Indian-made car with seats or music system as good as the Euro-made ones, for instance).
So overall...it's a nice car (can't really call it little, because it isn't!). It will appeal to people for whom price is not really a consideration and who want a stylish, practical, well-appointed hatchback that rides nicely and feels classy on the inside. It will not appeal to guys looking for a lot of fun out of the car, dynamically. For that, there's the A45 AMG!