BUDAPEST, Hungary 鈥?If the future of BMW鈥檚 small cars is in doubt, the same cannot be said for Mercedes-Benz鈥檚 foray into front-wheel-drive-based compacts. Mercedes has long attempted a viable mainstream, entry-premium urban vehicle lineup capable of drawing in youthful consumers. That鈥檚 why it once owned Chrysler. Now it鈥檚 the GLA-Class, CLA-Class, and B250e in the U.S., plus the A-Class and CLA-Class Shooting Brake elsewhere. Though they lack the substance and sumptuous luxury of traditional, rear-wheel-drive-based Mercedes, they have a future tackling emissions regulations, urban driving restrictions and ride-sharing programs. The Mercedes-Benz GLA-Class leads the U.S. It receives a facelift for the coming model year. The 2018 Mercedes-Benz GLA-Class gets cleaner-looking, redesigned front and rear bumpers, new 18- and 19-inch wheel designs, and LED headlamps replacing Bi-Xenons. There鈥檚 also a rather tasty new Canyon Beige paint color option. An eight-inch high-resolution center-dash display and a rearview camera now are standard, and handsfree access is added to the Premium Package.

The leather bits are decent, and the plastic parts, including some garish color detail options in the AMG model are still not up to a Mercedes standard. In this size category, the new, highly refined Honda Civic looms large in the CLA/GLA-Classes鈥?rearview mirrors. 36,325 GLA250 4MATIC becomes more of a bargain if you need the crossover for some light to moderate offroading, or you face harsh winters. The only tester offered in U.S.-Spec GLA250 4MATIC trim was available for an offroad drive on a short course within the confines of the spectacular Hungaroring Formula 1 circuit. It acquitted itself nicely as an occasional off-roader, its 173.9-inch overall length navigating the tight treelined course where a GLC-Class would simply have to plow its way over some timber. With a 100-percent front-wheel bias on dry pavement, the 4MATIC system lets the GLA slip oh-so-briefly in sand or on other slippery surfaces for a few nanoseconds until the system finds the wheel or wheels with grip.

Long suspension travel allows for descent articulation. The cruise control-controlled Downhill Speed Regulation lets you descend foot-free without slowing down or picking up too much speed, and the surround-camera lets you take a blind corner without risking paint on those newly redesigned bumpers. In this highly controlled milieu, at least, the GLA250 4MATIC appears to have an edge over its soft-road competitors. AMG proudly notes that its 鈥渉andcrafted鈥?2.0-liter turbo engine is the highest-output production four-cylinder on the market. This perhaps makes up for the fact that it鈥檚 a bit peaky and feels unrefined for a Mercedes engine. This is not uncommon in the modern market, where both Mercedes-AMG and all its competitors are in the early stages of refining their new age, small-displacement, high specific-output turbo engines. The 4MATIC system, while distributing 100-percent of torque to the front wheels under normal acceleration, quickly distributes twist to the rear wheels when you give it the boot, thus avoiding torque-steer.

Steering feedback is pretty good, and the strong, positive brakes are perhaps the most Mercedes-like feature of this model. Controlling the AMG Speedshift seven-speed dual-clutch transmission is a disappointment. Well, perhaps not, considering the Mercedes-Benz CLA250 first-drive two years ago uncovered a transmission that won鈥檛 remain in manual mode if you keep it in the same gear for something like 30 seconds. That was the standard Mercedes 7-speed DCT. The Speedshift in the AMG GLA45 4MATIC did the same when the 鈥渟port鈥?dynamic mode was selected. 鈥?on the road, and the transmission did, indeed hold a gear, up to a point. Strangely, it downshifted aggressively in some turns when I wasn鈥檛 slowing down much. Meanwhile, I could detect no difference in handling between the two modes. Speedshift shift itself. That鈥檚 what I did when Benz let us loose on the Hungaroring with a Mercedes-AMG A45 4MATIC. The Speedshift made all the right upshifts and downshifts around each of the Hungaroring鈥檚 14 turns. While I鈥檓 no Lewis Hamilton, I can say the A45鈥檚 handling is fabulous - near neutral and very predictable, and there鈥檚 no reason to believe the heavier, slightly taller GLA45 4MATIC would be much different here. Mercedes plans to add an upright sedan, a better car than the CLA to compete with the Audi A3, in the U.S. 2019. The automaker will show a concept of a new compact at Auto Shanghai 2017 later this month, and it seems likely it will hint at the new sedan. If you鈥檙e saving up for your first Mercedes, you鈥檒l be happy to know that unlike its number-one competitor, Benz is working to beef up its entry-premium models.

Unfortunately, no photos were permitted, but we got this one in the waiting room. The factory campus is huge, like its own city. Our first stop was an assembly line for S-Class and Maybach. My son said he wants a Maybach. I told him he better be prepared to live in it because it costs almost as much as our house. Robots were everywhere. And they were creepy and scary precise. At one station, a robot picks up the entire dashboard, swings it through the air, just squeezes it in the chassis through the driver鈥檚 side, and screws it in place. At another station, workers affix the model letters on the back of the cars. Another building houses robots welding metal pieces together. It smells terrible in there and the robots there are extra scary because they have sparks flying from them. Workers there had cool kick scooters to move parts around.