Mercedes-Benz GLA 45 AMG 2014 Review - International

You could well be dubious about what Benz’s horsepower hedonists would achieve with this rather unlikely subject for their attentions. But fear not, this car isn’t a hotted-up SUV that sits awkwardly in a sports role. It fits wonderfully well and is truly deserving of the AMG badge.

Oh, and don’t even think about using the term ‘softroader’... That suggests something underdone about the GLA 45 AMG and that’s simply not the case.

The GLA shares its fundamental MFA architecture with the A-Class and CLA and therefore the raging 265kW/450Nm 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine fits right in, along with the seven-speed Speedshift DCT-7 dual clutch transmission and 4Matic fully variable all-wheel drive system.

The transition from A-class to GLA has required little tampering, however. The hand-assembled engine is unchanged apart from a different exhaust but the suspension has been retuned to reflect the crossover’s increased mass and wheel travel. But the sporting intent remains the same.

AMG claims a 0-100km/h acceleration time of 4.8secs, an electronically limited top seed of 250km/h and an average fuel consumption rate of 7.5L/100km. Although, maybe not all at the same time…

In Australia the GLA will be priced at $79,900 and is scheduled to arrive in September. The recently launched $81,900 Audi RS Q3 will be its primary rival. Now that will be a contest!

In terms of equipment the GLA will line up alongside the CLA 45 AMG. So over and above the mainstream GLAs – in addition to its hefty performance lift – the AMG gets some exclusive trim niceties and a few equipment notables like 19-inch alloy wheels (and the option of 20s) and sports seats.

That’s on top of stuff like nine airbags, blind spot assist, collision prevention assist, a reversing camera and parking sensors, active parking assist, fatigue detection, Bi-Xenon headlights, dual-zone climate control and sat-nav.

Outside, the AMG is separated from the mainstream GLAs by bespoke badging and a single bar grille with a large three-pointed star at its centre.

In the metal the GLA 45 looks squat, fast and purposeful and when you snuggle up into the supportive sports seat and tramp the throttle guess what? It is.

It’s not the engine that really surprises. This is AMG after all and one thing the Affalterbach crew does well is powerplants. This one is the world’s most powerful four-cylinder and it pulls from its boot straps with a ferocious smoothness of which a single malt whiskey distiller would be proud. Allied with an intuitive gearbox that seems to know what gear and revs you want before you do, it is at home dawdling up the local high street as hooking over a serpentine Spanish mountain pass.

In that latter scenario it’s the GLA chassis that delivers a lot more than expected. Push it hard, harder and harder again and the ventilated and cross-drilled brakes simply react more fiercely, the electro-mechanical steering loses its low-speed remoteness and becomes knife sharp, front-end turn-in is simply outstanding and the rear stays stuck fast as power is corralled by 4Matic on exit, unburnt fuel exploding in the exhaust on wide open throttle manual upchanges as the next straight blurs.

The GLA is a scaldingly hot hatch on these sorts of roads. It hunts out corners and devours them.

Big, wide tyres obviously help, as does an unobtrusive but very well tuned electronic stability control system. But dig further down and there’s obvious evidence the Mac strut and multi-link suspension has been tuned expertly and the body itself is tight and stiff enough to cope with big inputs and outputs.

Benz and AMG insist MFA is a co-production. Affalterbach was involved from day one in its development and the evidence of that is clear to see in this car’s laudable body control.

Once the pressure comes off the nice thing is the GLA also manages to do civilised. Most importantly, the ride quality is compliant enough to be liveable in both front or rear seats. It’s a laudable achievement. Our only rider is that notoriously tough Aussie bitumen may prove a sterner test than Spanish highways.

The comfort and size of the cabin means the GLA’s versatility is enhanced over the likes of the A-Class and CLA, with much better rear seat space, especially headroom. The boot is also a respectable 421 litres, expanding to 1235 litres with the rear seats split-folded nearly flat.

Fit and finish of the interior is of a high quality, just like the mainstream GLA and the design and presentation of the dashboard and controls is closely related too.

The most noticeable difference is the 45 keeps its gear lever, complete with AMG logo, located in the centre console, whereas mainstream GLAs have a column shifter to free up more stowage space.

Maybe the AMG deserves more interior differentiation, or maybe that was judged secondary to maximising the driving experience.

Sounds and feels like the right call to me!

Read the review of Mercedes-Benz GLA 250 4MATIC

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