I'm on the incineratingly hot tarmac of Jarama, just above Madrid, and I'm here to meet the new pocket-rockets from Mercedes-Benz.
I'm talking about the A-Class and CLA. Behind me, you've got the yellow A45 AMG S's, whilst next to me is the new CLA45 AMG, this red one.
I always like to look at reactions from you guys, when we post an article on our website. I've picked out a few of them.
'It's crazy that this A45 AMG is quicker from 0-100 km/h than a Ferrari F430.'
'The CLA45 looks great!' 'Excuse me? It looks hideous!'
'What a weird design!' 'The performance figures might be big, but it wasn't as good as its rivals.'
'What's the turbo gap going to be like?' As you can see, people have mixed feelings about this car.
It's up to me to put everything in perspective today.
Things as looks couldn't get any more subjective. So no matter what you think about the car, it sure as hell is impressive.
And that's what these cars are about. I'm driving the CLA45 right now, which doesn't have all kinds of spoilers or anything.
But if you take a look at the yellow A-Class, which they're driving on track right now, has been littered with spoilers and splitters and such.
But that's all a matter of taste. You can get rid of it when you're ordering one. If you ask me however, it looks very cool to me.
Right. The first comment I mentioned earlier. 'It's crazy that this A45 is quicker from 0-100 km/h than a Ferrari F430.'
That is crazy. If you think about it, this car does 0-100 km/h in 3,9 seconds, whilst a Ferrari F430 does the same speed in four seconds flat.
That's supercar territory, and this A-Class is roaming around there. 421 and 500 Nm of torque from a 2.0-litre 4-cylinder, unbelievable.
It's the most powerful 4-cylinder available today. Fact. If you want that 421 horsepower however, you need to get the S-version.
The regular only produces 387 horsepower and less torque. 'Only' produces... As if that's not powerful enough.
Anyway, those numbers are bonkers.
The most powerful AMG A-Class until now was the A35. That wasn't a car which didn't have enough power or anything.
But if you compare it with this A45, it's an entirely different category. The A35 kind of had a souped up version of the regular 2.0-litre.
This 2.0-litre engine was one built at AMG in Affalterbach, according to the 'One Man, One Engine'-principle.
Only one man will work on a particular engine. I've visited that factory once and it's a truly great spectacle to behold.
So not only V8's or V6's are being built there, this 2.0-litre 4-cylinder is built there as well. And when we're talking handmade engines,
we're talking a different league than mass-produced engines going in all kinds of cars. This is a unique engine, and the price shows that.
Anyway, it's all meant to be this way. The A35 was a very good inbetween version.
The second comment then. 'The performance figures are big, but the previous A45 wasn't quicker than its rivals.'
'I'm curious about the turbo gap.' So in short, people are doubting the performance figures.
And rightly so if you ask me. The previous A45 AMG, which produced 381 horsepower, couldn't quite make it as a package.
This new engine, producing more than 400 horsepower and a different drivetrain-strategy... I mean, it's four-wheel drive,
but it's able to send so much power to the rear wheels through the differential. Also, through couplings it divides power between both sides.
Because of that, you get a car which is much more playful than before. I'm driving on public roads right now, but I've tested it on track.
I drove the CLA45 S there, and on the steering wheel I could choose the driving mode. Slippery-mode, Comfort-Mode, Sport-, Sport+-mode,
but on a track, you select Race-mode. When you do, you notice it sends a lot of the power to the back. And that's a lot of fun when exiting a corner.
You can feel the rear pushing you. You don't have to countersteer, because it still sends power to the front. It's four-wheel drive after all.
And what you notice then, if you dive into a corner, is that the nose is pretty heavy. So you need to enter the corner nicely,
because if you go too fast, it'll understeer and move outwards. So enter calmly, put your foot down and semi-correct yourself out of the corner.
That's when it becomes a fantastically fun machine to drive. Then, the turbo gap. That kind of was a thing in its predecessor.
What they've done with this new 2.0-litre, is make sure the power and torque go up in a straight line.
Its predecessor had a horizontal torque line, but this engine peaks above 5.000 RPM. Almost like a racing engine.
Let's see. I'll shift to fifth and put my foot down... There's still a turbo gap there, but it doesn't pose a big problem.
It's a very impressive engine. It might not sound very spectacular, even though you can play with the exhaust settings,
but when it comes to pure, raw power... It doesn't change up by itself in manual, which is very nice. Despite being an 8-speed double clutch automatic.
It changes gear incredibly quick. So everything put together, including that 400+ horsepower engine, it's become quite the bomb.
But everybody is able to drive it. It's not a front-wheel drive car like the Megane RS, which you need to learn to drive.
The Focus RS suffered from that as well, with that Drift-mode. Fun fact, this has a Drift-mode as well. I'm going to try that later.
In Drift-mode, you'll send all of the power to the back, so you can truly fly around the corner.
So actually, it has become more and more of a fun machine. Even when it comes to the available gadgets.
In front of you, you've got the multimedia screen. Also, the AMG Performance-settings, which you can configure completely to your taste.
The dampers, steering, throttle response, it all has six or seven settings. It's all on here, but that's what you can expect.
So, concluding. Someone wrote in the comments that the price would around the price of a second-hand Ferrari F430.
I'm afraid he might be right. A second-hand F430 starts around €80.000 or €90.000. Prices for the CLA45 aren't known yet,
but considering a A35 AMG already costs €66.000 and that this car has a handbuilt engine, this CLA45 will definitely be near that price.
So be it though, cars are expensive. It doesn't change the fact that this great machine is a very good, fun package.