Mercedes-Benz A-Class

Updates for Merc’s big-selling hatchback bring greater performance and efficiency It’s been a worrying few years for premium car brands in the UK market.Mercedes’ fortunes illustrate the point well. Having grown to take a pre-pandemic share of 7.5% of the new car sales pie, the firm slumped to just a little over 5% in 2022, as buyers turned to fresher, less traditional brands. Rivals’ shares have declined too – but, in the UK at least, neither of Mercedes’ key German opponents, BMW and Audi, has suffered quite so much.So now, the three-pointed star is looking to a dependable player to steady the ship. The current Mercedes A-Class compact premium hatchback has been one of the UK’s top-five best-sellers in all but one of its full calendar years of sales since being introduced in 2018. Among premium compact cars, only the Mini – and now the Tesla Model 3 and Tesla Model Y – has consistently outsold it here, and no direct competitor from Audi or BMW has really come close.A mid-life facelift, which brings with it mechanical enhancements, equipment upgrades and some subtle but noticeable styling changes, should keep the car on the shopping lists of many compact car buyers, then, as it moves into the second half of its life cycle. With simplification of the buying process the goal, some versions have been removed from the UK range, to put greater focus on those that have consistently proven more popular in their new and enhanced forms.Nevertheless, this is a car that can still be had in fairly conventional petrol and diesel guises, as well as in tax-efficient plug-in hybrid form, and it was a mid-range A200 mild-hybrid petrol that we elected to test.Range at a glanceWe have summarised the facelifted A-Class hatchback range above, although the A250e plug-in hybrid is now offered as a saloon only.Trim levels start at Sport Executive, then progress up through AMG Line Executive to AMG Line Premium and AMG Line Premium Plus, both of which add more standard equipment.VersionpowerA180134bhpA200*161bhpA200d148bhpA250e215bhpMercedes-AMG A35 4Matic302bhpMercedes-AMG A45 4Matic+416bhpTRANSMISSIONS7-spd dual-clutch automatic    8-spd dual-clutch automatic (A200d, A250e, A35, A45)