Mercedes-AMG GLA 45 S review: Good to the last drop

Singapore

THE Mercedes-AMG GLA 45 S is the kind of car that will have the missus demanding to know why you should spend S$140,000 more than the price of a base GLA 180 to get one, when they both look the same. That is, until she drives it.

Mercedes-AMG has always been good at making sleeper performance cars, and here, the smallest Sport Utility Vehicle by Mercedes has been given the full AMG treatment. It gains a 421 horsepower, hand-built 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine with a massive turbocharger plumbed to it, and a whole host of tasty upgrades for seriously sporty driving.

AMG engines are special in that each one is lovingly bolted together by a single person, who then leaves his signature on the engine cover. That's how we know one Tobias Schultes built the one in this test car.

The basic GLA 180 may be visually similar, but it has less than one-third the power. Three times the power for less than three times the price makes a GLA 45 S sound like a pretty good buy to me.

It's a compact enough car with a decently elevated driving position to be an easy drive around town, but there's also a serious sense of solidity and connectedness from behind the wheel.

The adjustable sports seats with red highlight panels, chunky AMG steering wheel, and an instrument panel with almost enough customisable options to make it feel like a spaceship give the interior a real sense of occasion, though the exterior is more muted.

Apart from the badging and quad exhaust pipes, a casual bystander could easily mistake the car for just another regular Mercedes-Benz with an AMG bodykit tacked on.

But if you're in doubt as to whether this is a special car, then consider the fact it's actually more powerful than a Porsche 911 Carrera. It's very slightly slower, getting from rest to 100km/h in 4.3 seconds compared to the 911's 4.2 seconds, but what's a tenth of a second between friends?

You also get an adaptive four-wheel drive system in the AMG, as denoted by the 4Matic+ tag attached to the car's official name. This results in crazily good traction through corners that lets the Mercedes seem to almost defy the laws of physics.

You'll really need to keep an eye on the speedometer, because even if driven casually, the car can very quickly defy the laws of the land.

Drive it with some gusto, on the other hand, and the serious sports car character of this very family-friendly car really comes through. All told, the GLA 45 is really several cars in one.

The one setback to all that fun is that fuel seems to simply vanish from the tank when the engine revs pile up. It's a relatively thirsty engine, which is only to be expected for this level of performance.

That brings up a wider question: In the wake of recent initiatives worldwide to accelerate the shift to electric cars, could this generation of rorty turbo petrol engines be the last of their kind? Of all the reasons to consider buying a hell-raising car like the GLA 45, maybe the best one is that this could be your final chance.

Mercedes-AMG GLA 45 S

Engine 1,991cc, inline four, turbocharged Power 421hp at 6,750pm Torque 500Nm at 5,000-5,250rpm Gearbox 8-speed automatic 0-100km/h 4.3 seconds Top Speed 270km/h Fuel Efficiency 9.4L/100km Agent Cycle & Carriage Price S$311,888 with COE Available Now