***Testdrove a 2006 Mercedes A170 5-speed***

[cawimmer430]

Before I begin, I have to confess that I am now officially an A-Class fan (the new one of course). These little cars are just so much fun to drive and throw around. They don?t look sporty, but damn it do they handle so nicely and drive very sporty. The B-Class doesn?t even compare sadly.



Well, I had to drive to a nearby town 16 km away and this was a perfect chance to test a new Mercedes. My car? A 2006 Benz A170 with the sports package. I have to say, what a joy. What a joy this car was!







Unlike the B170 I drove, the 1.7-l engine was eager and agile in the lighter A-Class. Coupled to the smooth and precise 5-speed manual, it made for a pretty sporty drive. Quick engine specs: 116-horsepower and 155 Nm (114 lb/ft) of torque. Sounds ?underpowered?, but isn?t. Power is channeled to the front wheels. The engine is smooth and feels very refined: and it?s a 4-cylinder. On the old A-Class, 4-cylinders felt like 4-cylinders, here, they felt like 6-cylinders in terms of smoothness.



Early on, the car felt fun to drive. What I like about the A-Classes is that they?re so tossable. You can throw them into tight curves and they cope with that quite easily. This A-Class looked sporty so i expected it to drive sporty too. It didn?t disappoint. Inside, it?s very nice looking. Big improvement over that cheapo interior the old A-Class had. The outside of the car looked really sporty thanks to those nice 17? 7-spoke rims on low profile tires.







The steering feel was very SLK-like. Heavy, direct and quick acting. It was fun to take on curves, which a B-Class couldn?t take thanks to its extremely light steering feel. The A-Class felt solid and stable and took ?em quite easily. This was the real joy of the car, handling. I have to say it again, they look ?funny?, but these A-Classes really do drive nicely. The design has also grown on me. I used to find them ?funny-looking?, but now, I think they?re cute and sporty in their own way.



Next up, the suspension. Due to the sporty rims on low profile tires, it felt harder than usual but it helped the car achieve good handling. I was pretty impressed with the way the A170 drove on any road. Comfort was still decent despite the sporty setup and the seats on this thing were pretty nice too. A cloth-leather combination just like in our E320.







The engine was better suited to hauling the A-Class than the B-Class. Here, the motor was eager and responsive. Acceleration was pretty respectable: nothing blisteringly fast, but nothing slow either. Incidentally, MB claims a 10.9 second 0-62 mph time for the A170 manual. Midrange power was pretty respectable I?d say, particularly in 2nd and 3rd gear where this car really pulled nicely. However, a far cry from the shove-back power which the diesel A180 CDI (even with Autotronic) and the A200 CDI offered. The A170 lacked torque IMO, it drove nicely but it needed more Drehmoment!



The 5-speed manual was very good. Earlier in the day, I had to move a V-Klasse (van) with a 5-speed. What garbage. Finding ?R? and ?1? took forever on that clunky unrefined POS manual. MB really improved their stick shifts, the 5-speed here was a joy. Shifts where a little long, but the smoothness and precision impressed me. These were things that had been lacking on past MB manuals. One thing that bothered me though was the clutch. It was slow to respond. Often, I depressed it, selected a new gear only to feel heavy mechanical resistance when moving the shifter. It felt like I was removing a gear ?without using the clutch?. So what you did was depress the clutch, wait a second or two, then shift and this phenomenon didn?t happen. This however only happened when shifting from 2nd to 3rd, 3rd to 4th and 4th to 5th and back down up to 2nd gear. Weird. [8)]







Overall, a very fun car. It?s nice blasting through small cities and the countryside with these cars. I?m really liking the A-Class as a car to drive around the local area. I was impressed with the A170, but for my needs, I?d opt for the A180 CDI or A200 CDI with a manual transmission (one of the few MB?s I?d consider with a stick). Can?t beat the shove-back factor of the diesels, and the good gas mileage. Sadly, there?s the expensive diesel tax to pay as well. [:knockout:] Ignoring that however, the A-Class has won a place in my heart as a really great car. I?d take any A-Class over any B-Class any day. []







^The A-Class makes the B-Class feel ?outdated?. And the A debuted way before the B-Class!^ Seriously, the A-Class feels like a sports car while the B-Class feels like a plush and boat-like luxury cruiser. Everytime I drive an A-Class, I feel more and more the need to want one as a daily driver. These little A?s are just so much fun as a city car and even here out in the country. [:sun:]





PHOTO ALBUM: http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=2122463500

[Submariner]

Great review.

And i'm glad you liked the shifter.    

[Raza]

It looks like a squashed mpv.  Ugh.  But it sounds fun to drive.  

[Raghavan]

FWD.

[Catman]

I wouldn't mind one of those as a commute car.  It looks nice enough.

[Tom]

It looks so squashed under the hood.  It looks like a pain for a mechanic to work on.