Mercedes A-Class Driving Dynamics
The moment you get into the driver’s seat of the A-class you are surprised by the unusual height of the dashboard and resultantly the tall position of the instrument cluster. The Steering is much higher set than you would expect from a low slung car. It takes a bit of effort to find the right driving position. And for a person like me who likes his steering wheel relatively low, when he does find his correct driving position, the steering obstructs the view of the instrument cluster. The high dash and bonnet also makes it slightly difficult to judge as to what’s underneath the car on the passenger’s side. Short drivers beware!
Once you find your driving position, and set the A-class in motion, it feels substantial and heavy, belying its size. You get the heavy, German-built feel with this machine, even if it’s just a hatchback. The steering is not as light as some of the other Mercs at slow speeds, but not too heavy either.
The suspension is on the stiffer side, in favor of handling and the dashing overall character of the car. The damping is on the stiff side too, and you can feel the dampers trying to release themselves after negotiating every pothole at slow speed. While the imperfections don’t permeate within the car itself easily, the proclivity of the damper to push the suspension back in their natural position is rather too imperative.
On the roll, on a Mumbai road, the A-class feels just fine though. It drives like a big car, with enough sure-footedness and heaviness. Together with the high set dash, the A-class may amaze you with how it feels to drive from inside. It feels higher and brawnier than it you’d expect, in a mini-SUVsh kind of a way, though the high dash doesn’t quite offer a good view of the road ahead. The feeling goes away as you get accustomed to the car in time, but it’s quite a surprise in the beginning.
The electromechanical steering gets heavier as you gather speed. However, it feels somewhat inert dead straight. It feels much better around corners, but it could probably have done with a bit more feel while the car lunged hard on arrow straight highways. That comparison, however, is with the bigger cars in the M-B stable. By itself and for its size A-Class feels well-planted. We almost nudged 200 clicks on the speedo, and it was only towards speeds closer to the double ton that the A-class quivered a bit with no edginess till 160kph and thereabouts. There is ample bite from the brakes too, and the feedback you get on dabbing the right pedal is quite convincing as well.
Around the smooth, inviting bends of Aamby Valley, the A-Class stands true to M-B claims of it being a driver’s car. It feels well balanced, nicely sprung and nimble. The steering which initially carried a fair chunk of unnatural heaviness, feels more natural and precise as you hurl the hatch around the smoothly paved winding tar surface.
Riding its wide track and a relatively short wheelbase, the A-class feels amazingly light and lively around bends. Body roll is well restricted and you come to appreciate the virtues of this shiny new Merc as you show it the bends – it doesn’t resent being chucked around corners one bit. There is ample power on the tap from that engine, and the 7G-DCT dual clutch transmission is pretty quick too. For a car this small, it comes equipped with pedal shifters, an addition that only widens the grin on your face. The A-class oozes energy, balance and poise – all of those virtues, an outcome of the A-class’s small size and light weight fuse together for massive fun.
While we had tons of fun sliding around in the beautifully balanced A-class, we had our set of complaints too. The 225/45 Brigestone Turanzas weren’t quite a grippy as we’d have expected them to be. They started wailing as soon we entered a corner spiritedly and didn’t offer much resistance before letting the compact hatch slide away in a controlled drift. Ideally that situation should have arisen with some more speed having been dialed in. That said, the composure and neutral behavior (neither under, nor over steering) exhibited by the A-class, even after being a FWD car is worth an applause.