Mercedes-Benz A 250 Sport 2013 Review - International

There's no prizes for guessing the car against which the A 250 Sport was benchmarked. It's obvious even before you turn a wheel in the hottest of the standard A-Class models.

Homage is paid to Volkswagen's Golf GTI with red reference lines on the front splitter, in the headlamp execution and red front brake calipers. And the wide squat stance of the A-Class hot hatch is very clearly straight from the GTI back-catalog.

Engineered with help from AMG, the A 250 Sport is a very different machine from the cooking model A, and even the not-for-Australia standard 250 with which it shares its base engine.

There's a unique front suspension set-up that adds almost 3 degrees of camber (from the standard car's +1 to -1.8) and a thicker antiroll bar (25mm v 23). At the rear the roll bar is upgraded too and geometry changes reduce roll steering for a more neutral feel at high levels of commitment. Stickier non-runflat tyres are also fitted.

Under the bonnet the Sport gets an overboost function that adds 11kW at throttle openings above 4000rpm. The function delivers the extra power (but not extra torque) for up to 30secs. A new muffler and modified exhaust design delivers the trademark 'boof' on gearchanges that the GTI set so cherishes.

Inside, the hot A is at the top of its game. Leather detailed heavily bolstered pillar seats look like the Recaros fitted to serious performance cars a decade or two ago. Across the dash is the A's clever soft-feel fake carbon-fibre pad. The steering wheel is a flat-bottomed design with thumb-ready profiling at quarter to three.

We'd like to tell you about the car's straight-line performance but alas we drove it on a rain-soaked runway where grip levels approached an ice rink -- at least under hard acceleration. Benz claims a 0-100km/h time of 6.6sec and though the step-off performance seems a touch sedate, once up and running it's clearly a quick hatch.

We found out later that there is a quasi launch control function within the 7G-DCT twin-clutch trannie's repertoire. Press the brake, press the throttle sharply and immediately side-step the brake and you'll be rewarded with a 2500-3000rpm launch. Take things slow and the electronics reduce torque to save the clutch and slow times result (Just quietly, DCT engineers revealed the all-wheel drive AMG A 45 will feature a race start mode).

A makeshift slalom on the runway of the Slovenian beach resort town of Portoroz gave us some opportunity to experience the A 250 Sport's handling. Lateral grip levels seemed impressive as the track dried out and it took quite some provocation to get the car out of shape. When it did break away the electro-nannies easily gathered things up.

Stability control can be toned down but not completely turned off -- in normal Benz fashion. With the menu item turned to off it was clear that the A 250 Sport has a good degree of natural grip. That augurs well for its prospects on our favourite roads at home.

What also augurs well for the A 250 Sport is indicative pricing. Benz insiders insist that the A 250 Sport will hit the market at close, perhaps under $50K. Given the level of standard equipment -- DCT transmission, leather, satnav, unique exterior detailing and high-spec wheels and tyres -- that should compare favourably with the heavily option GTIs that seem to inhabit Aussie roads in increasing numbers.

It'll take a drive back-to-back to decide whether the A really is a GTI beater. But the fact we're even making that statement is proof positive of how far Benz's hatch has come.

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