Mercedes A180 CDI Edition 1: Love comes again

Hyderabad: Keen readers will recall how Honk fell inexorably in love with the A Class this time last year.

That was the petrol A180 and it was an absolute peach. We got more attention from the ladies than we knew what to do with.

IT people, who are like people, just with different ‘persuasions’, stopped halfway while climbing into their IT busses to stare with their jaws hanging on the floor.

Someone in an S Class dropped his window and flying kissed it. Every time I see one even now I have a passionate problem in my unmentionables.

Sorry, but even Stevie Wonder will agree that it is bum-puckeringly, trouser-wettingly gorgeous.

The diesel version though, had barely any equipment to keep the price down.

And the trade-off for the sportscar-like handling was low ground clearance.

Merc took cognizance of that and spruced the diesel right up to this — the A180 CDI Edition 1.

You can’t visibly tell that they’ve raised the ground clearance.

But they have. On paper, this is good for India and bad for handling because the thumb rule is the closer the car is to the ground, the lower the centre of gravity and the better the handling.

But the handling is as good as ever. You only need to take a few sweeping corners to know what I mean. Put the gearbox in manual, break early and stand on the throttle all the way through.

It feels electric. There’s plenty of bite from the new Yokohama AdvanSport tyres. And when it does let go, just back off the throttle to ease it back into line. When Mercedes were making the A Class, they couldn’t have possibly known that it would be this good to drive.

The engine is Merc’s 2.14 Diesel with 110 lazy horsepowers on tap and 250 progressive torques. You don’t get that typical diesel midrange punch that we’re all so used to. Instead, it gathers speed progressively.

The gearbox is the usual 7-speed double clutch affair that still shifts too slowly for my liking. It’s great for pootling around town but not so good for cracking on a bit on a twisty mountain road.

But that’s the one selling the most. Throw in implausible fuel economy figures like 16kmpl in the city and well over 20 on the highway along with really strong drivability for the average driver and you’ve got the kind of package that is designed to make the slightly affluent fall in love with motoring.

One could argue that at just over Rs 26 lakh (ex-showroom) it is expensive for what is essentially a hatchback.

But I would urge you to look at it, drive it and see the amount of equipment on offer.

If that’s not enough, the three-pointed star on the diamond grille will remind you of one very important fact — it’s a Mercedes-Benz.