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By Jonathan Crouch

The stats of this Mercedes-AMG A 45 S 4MATIC+ hot hatch are mind blowing when you stack them up. But could you really justify this car? Jonathan Crouch drives it.

Ten Second Reviewword count: 57

With all-wheel drive and a massive 421hp punch, the Mercedes-AMG A 45 S 4MATIC+ is the giant killer that followers of Mercedes-Benz have been waiting for. If you want a devastatingly quick hatchback that can do it all, this is where you should start your search. What's not to like? The price? Well you can't have everything....

Backgroundword count: 173

Just how far can you take a hot hatch? In terms of price? Performance? Traction? Quality? It's an interesting question - and here perhaps is the answer, the Mercedes-AMG A 45 S 4MATIC+. The Three-Pointed Star entered the hot hatch segment in 2013 with its 360hp 4WD first generation A 45 model, a car with more power than any shopping rocket had previously ever offered. But straight line speed isn't everything in a model of this sort and it was soon clear that this pricey contender lacked the finesse of super-GTi rivals like Honda's Civic Type-R and Ford's Focus RS, even when the AMG brand updated the car with a 381hp powerplant in 2015. That power output was trumped two years later by the 400hp powerplant shoe-horned into the Audi RS 3: the A 45 was out-gunned. So the engineers from Affalterbach have tried again with this second generation A 45, offered in our market only in 421hp 'S' form. There's never been a Mercedes quite like this one. Let's take a look.

Driving Experienceword count: 250

There's only one engine on offer for UK A 45 buyers but it's quite a powerplant. A 2.0-litre four-cylinder unit might not immediately promise great fireworks, but this one comprehensively trumps the 400hp 2.5-litre lump in the Audi RS 3. You get a hefty 421hp from a relatively lightweight hand-built twin-scroll turbo engine (which is 40hp than the equivalent version of the previous generation model). That's in '45 S' version form, the only variant of this car offered in our market. Mercedes claims this car's engine to be the most powerful series-production four-cylinder turbo powerplant in the world and although you might well remember the odd Mitsubishi Evo with a few more ponies under the bonnet, for the time being at least it's impossible to argue with Mercedes' claim. This engine develops 500Nm of torque from just 2,250rpm (up from 475Nm before), again incrementally better than the RS 3 Audi can manage. 62mph from rest takes 3.9s en route to 168mph. Drive naturally goes to all four wheels and you get an AMG SPEEDSHIFT DCT 8-speed dual clutch sports transmission which has a RACE-START function and various AMG DYNAMIC SELECT driving modes enhanced by AMG DYNAMICS integrated agility control. Traction through the bends is enhanced by AMG Performance 4MATIC+ all-wheel drive with AMG TORQUE CONTROL. Plus there's bespoke AMG suspension with adaptive damping based around the three modes of AMG RIDE CONTROL. There's also a high performance braking system and circuit fiends can play with an AMG TRACK PACE app.

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