We had tested the sportiest A class available in Malaysia at the moment, the A250 AMG Line with legend himself, Karamjit Singh on the twisty roads of Bukit Tinggi. While we established that it’s not an out-and-out drivers car, it’s pretty easy to drive it reasonably fast.
Now though, Mercedes Benz has addressed this one qualm about the A class, and everything is dialed way past 11. Mercedes Benz has unveiled the next AMG A45, a car they claim to have the most powerful turbocharged 4 cylinder engine for series production. Here are 10 things you need to know about it.
It’s got an S Variant
The current version of the A45 comes in two variants, the basic A45 (if you could even call it that) and the S variant. The S sports a higher output (387bhp vs 421bhp) and torque (480Nm vs 500Nm). This cuts the 0-100kph time from 4.0 seconds to 3.9 seconds, and the top speed limiter is extended another 20km/h to 270km/h. Aside from the performance, the S variant also has extra yellow badges to distinguish itself from the base variant.
Familiar family face
The current A45 now sports the signature AMG front grill with the signature vertical louvers. It’s the first time this grill has been introduced to the compact class. There’s also an AMG Night package which features high-gloss black design features for the front splitters, side skirt inserts and black chromed exhaust tips.
18 and 19 inch wheels
The A45 comes with two wheel combinations, the base variant comes with a 10 spoke 18 inch rims shod with 245/40/18 inch tires. The S variant comes with bigger 19 inch rims with twin spoke design. The tire width remains the same in the S variant though. Safe to say that this design will be seen on every tuned / modded A classes pretty soon….
A stiff one
The most laughable aftermarket part you could install for this car is additional reinforcement bars. Because the AMG skunk work department has already installed a whole lot of chassis reinforcement to this vehicle.
There’s a lightweight aluminum plate on the underside of the car increases torsional rigidity on the front end. Adding to that, there are diagonal struts running at the front and rear of the underbody to aid rigidity. Also there’s what Mercedes-Benz calls ‘pistol-shaped shotguns’ reinforcement which connect the side members and A-pillars. Confidence inspiring, especially when there’s 500Nm pumping out on all 4 wheels.
All about the Powerband
While on the subject of torque, the AMG wizards paid quite a lot of detail on the way the torque curve is set up. The max torque of 500Nm is delivered between 5000 – 5250 rpm. The engine’s rev limit sits at 7200rpm. In the real world, this engine will feel like an NA engine with peak torque coming at a high rpm, and 8 forward ratio’s to exploit it. This will make it a real blast on both the high speed section of Kuala Kelawang or the Sepang Circuit.
Really big Turbo
Part of the reason for such a high torque output and torque band is the size of the turbo. It’s a big one, no doubt about that, as it puts out a maximum of 2.1 bar of boost. A 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 9’s turbocharger produced a maximum of 1.5 bar boost. Even the 2016 Nissan GTR’s turbocharger produces less than 1 bar of boost.
To help build that amount of boost rapidly, the twin-scroll turbocharger runs on roller bearings for the first time, to reduce friction. This heavy duty turbocharger is cooled by water and oil, and also air that’s channeled from the front bumper straight to the turbocharger towards the turbine via the engine cover.
F1 engine’s coating for the Cylinder liners
NANOSLIDE is a patented coating that’s used to give a mirror-like surface on the space between pistons and the cylinder walls. This helps reduce friction and aid durability. The AMG 45 has this in its engine. The first time this coating was used was in the M156 V8 engines found in the C63 which gave and the engines in Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 cars.
Two Stage Fuel Injection
To produce 421bhp from just 2 liters, which is over 200bhp per liter, a whole lot of fuel is required. That’s why this car has two fuel injectors for each cylinder. The primary fuel injector delivers fuel direct to the combustion chamber at a pressure of 200 bar like a regular direct injection car.
There’s a 2nd stage injector which comes into play to hit the maximum output which sits in the intake manifold which sends in the fuel at 6.7 bar. Mercedes Benz claims the A45 S has a combined fuel consumption of 8.3l/100km if you’re wondering at this point.
AMG Display on the MBUX
The AMG A45 comes with special AMG Displays on its beautiful MBUX infotainment system. New features include a warm up menu, G Meter, Race Timer, and auxiliary readings like output, torque, engine oil and transmission oil temperatures. How fun is your next touge / track session is going to be like while monitoring these information?
There’s a Drift Mode available
It’s a standard feature on the A45 S model and an optional extra that comes with the AMG Dynamic Plus package available for the base model. The 4WD system is able to send power to the front and back axles, and to the left and right wheels, and in Drift mode, this can be manipulated to allow for “powersliding”, which is activated in RACE driving mode.