Test drive Mercedes Benz A-class W176 since 2012 Hatchback
Charms of transitional age
There is more inside than outside. That is how the elongated A-class Mercedes can be described. The little car became not just spacious (he was so before modernization), but very spacious, with fairly modest external dimensions. The baby has grown
Frankly, the appearance of the youngest of the Mercedes never caused me much sympathy. Small, hunchbacked, on widely arranged wheels, he looked ugly duckling against his luxurious older brothers. And the narrow rear doors with a beveled glass? He lacked solidity, the family, so to speak, features. As it turned out - the whole thing is in growth, that is, in length. The increase is only 170 mm, and what is the effect - the kurguisky car turned into an elegant, swift car, the rear door is no longer like a gate and the glass does not resemble an embrasure anymore.
As usual, modernization was combined with light restyling - the shape of the front and rear bumper has changed, the headlights have become transparent, as modern automobile fashion requires, and the range of colors is expanded. For all that, the A-class remained absolutely recognizable-a characteristic silhouette on the road is difficult to confuse with something.
However, the lengthening of the car did not start for the sake of the swiftness of the lines. The main task of the designers was to increase the internal space, and here the creators of the teenager have something to be proud of. The car interior, which, by the way, is almost half a meter shorter than the Lada, is 53% of the total length of the car. Moreover, it is 22 mm longer than the S-Class salon! Such outstanding capacity, ”said Joachim Schmidt, the head of the merchant department of the Mercedes -Boin,“ will finally satisfy those buyers who have long been attracted by the design and concept of the A -class, but who needed a more spacious machine for a long time.
First of all, passengers of the rear sofa (or separate seats - there are such a modification) that are usually infringed, giving preference to sitting in front. After all, if a car is a tall person, the legs of the rear passenger have to be tight. And the ceiling presses on the crown ... The elongated A-class is completely devoid of these problems: the distance between the backs of the front and rear seats is now 945 mm-10 cm more than in the E-class. There is enough space for both front and rear passengers, and legs and head. Interestingly, the longitudinal adjustment of the rear seats is provided. Having shifted them by 111 mm in one direction or another, the driver himself will decide what to give preference: the comfort of passengers or the volume of the trunk.
Dear and cute However, cutting every millimeter of the internal space, the designers did not forget for a minute about the image of the brand. The Mercedes-Benz is famous that its creators do not allow themselves to save on quality. And therefore, inside the baby A-class, the feeling of a large car is constantly adjacent to the feeling of a car expensive. Thorough finishes, ideal adjustment of panels, solid materials (the S -Class salon is trimmed with such) - a machine with a three -beam star on the radiator should proudly bear the generic name. And the size has nothing to do with it.
Agree that even surrounded by white leather and Karelian birch you will not go far if the back breaks and your legs flow. The interior of the teenager of modernization also did not escape. The front seats have become more embossed, with developed support. The driver’s hands lie on the new three-spoke steering wheel, and the design of the central console and the upholstery of the doors is differently decided. The heating and ventilation system is modernized, its management has become more logical. Climate control regulates air humidity in the cabin - for the first time in a car of such a modest class. In general - everything is for a person.
But the trunk is for things. It also became more spacious, and access to the voluminous compartment for lobby is easier: the fifth door is adapted to open it with one hand. We throw the bag on the hard shelf of the trunk (she will withstand it), slam the door (one hand, of course) and go to get to know each other better.
Four hearts The motor is the weakest of the three gasoline, which are installed on an A -class, works in all its 1,400 cubic centimeters. Eighty -two horses are clearly not enough to implement sports inclinations, but he earned praise for perseverance and good disposition. A flat thrust in any modes for a car without sled ambitions (which is the weakest in any family) is much more important than any catchs and grabbing. A powerful 125-horsepower A-190 model is addressed to fans of the breeze, and we calmly (but confidently!), Without a hassle, move along a given route, we go, for example, tired from work home. In the cabin - not noisy, while the wheel, as promised, is convenient. High landing is the only attribute of Van, albeit very mini. The rest is a regular passenger car.
By the way, 980 parts and components of the modernized A-class are designed again. And the main, perhaps, the technical novelty is diesel engines. The power of both (only a 95-horsepower version is proposed on an elongated a-class) increased by 25 and 5 percent, respectively, and the fuel consumption has not changed much-within five liters per hundred. Updated turbodiesel is not at all quiet economy. They combine a very modest appetite with enviable abuse. With a fuel consumption of 4.9 l/100 km, Mercedes-Benz-A170CDI accelerates to hundreds of 12.1 C and reaches a maximum speed of 180 km/h. The gasoline A160 is not much more dynamic - with the same maximum, it accelerates only 1.3 C shorter.
Smart things
So the rain dripped - I was going to. And I was immediately convinced that the baby from Stuttgart not only grew up and gained strength, but significantly increased the intellectual level. Little Benz immediately waved the wipers along the glass - the rain sensor worked. Now, on the wet asphalt, it's time to scream with tires and look at what systems responsible for ensuring active security are capable of. Alas, in the flow of cars that carry civilians of a foreign country, such hooliganism is unacceptable. Therefore, we simply state the fact: in addition to the fact that the elongated version received disk rear brakes instead of drum, a-class is equipped with an anti-lock system, an emergency braking system of a Break Assist, a traction control system and an electronic stabilization system of the latest generation.
Smart names are hiding devices that will intervene in the car drive when the driver was mistaken and now ... I wish these systems to be useful to you, but somehow calmer with them. If, despite the driver’s skill and the intervention of smart systems of the accident, it was not possible to avoid the accident, a complete set of passive safety means enters the struggle for the life and health of the inhabitants of the salon. By the way, now, by order, you can get the so -called window pillows that protect a person with a lateral blow.
Hard guy
Finally - a small spoon of tar. And then to say - what is the transitional age without temporary difficulties? Like every teenager, the little Mercedes Benz has their own troubles. Even on even as a table, European autobahns are found small cracks and potholes that the suspension of another car will swallow without noticing. Anyone, just not A-class. Its hard, short -flowing suspension (and it became such as a result of the fight against overturning, which the car sinned in childhood) transmits to the body every flaw of the road surface. If this is noticeable on good roads, then what will happen to us, where there are plenty of problems with their quality?
Is it because the Stuttgart baby in Russia is still a rarity? And in the world for three and a half years, more than half a million were sold. The company still leaves no hope of increasing sales in the domestic market. Indeed, now to the traditional trump cards of the Mercedes -Benz - excellent quality, high reliability, technical perfection, prestige, finally, an elongated a -class added one more thing: a huge internal space for its size. Those who are not too worried about the volume of the salon, the usual (but also modernized) A-class is addressed. A long machine does not change short in production, but only complements it.
The modernized central console looks more modern
The trunk became more spacious at least 80 liters (left), and if you remove all passenger seats, reaches 1930 liters
Mercedes-Benz A140
common data
Body
5-seater sedan
Equipped mass, kg
1105
Complete mass, kg
1490
Length x width x height, mm
4776 x 1719 x 1589
Base, mm
2523
Front/back, mm track
1503/1452
Maximum speed, km/h
170
Acceleration time, 0-100 km/h, with
13.2
Fuel consumption, l/100 km
7.1
Fuel supply, l
54
Engine
Location
Front transversely
Design
from a light alloy,
4-cylinder, in row
The number of valves per cylinder
2
Cylinder diameter /piston stroke, mm
80 x 69.5
Working volume, SMZ
1397
Compression ratio
11.0: 1
Power, L.S. (kW) at rpm
82 at 5000
Torque, kgsm (nm) at rpm
13.3 at 3750
Chassis
Drive unit
on the front wheels
Transmission
Mechanical, 5-speed
Suspension: in front
at McEferson racks with triangular transverse levers, spiral springs and two-pipe shock absorbers
behind:
on longitudinal levers with spiral springs and shock absorbers
Steering
rack, with an amplifier
Brakes
with a vacuum amplifier, hydraulic drive and Abs
front
Disk ventilated
behind
disk
The size of the tires
195/50 R15
Igor Solidunov, photo Igor Solidov and Mercedes-Benz
Source: Magazine "Limousine" [04/01]
