Why Does It Matter?

Why Does It Matter?

The 2019 Mercedes-Benz A-Class is a refreshing take at the luxury compact segment. It looks dashing鈥攅specially in CLA four-door coupe form鈥攃omes with fancy tech, drives well and it鈥檚 quite cheap too. But as a Canadian, I have to tell you, America, that you鈥檙e missing out on the best that is the Mercedes A-Class. You, who favor sedans and, perhaps ironically, SUVs shaped like big hatchbacks, have rejected the purity in design that is the Mercedes two-box design. Here鈥檚 the thing: Canada is still buying a significant amount of small hatchbacks and wagons. Heck, we buy all the hatchbacks, even the Nissan Micra. Chalk it up to our European heritage. Anyway, our love affair with these types of cars is still so relevant that Mercedes was able to justify a business case for bringing over an A-Class in its purest form: the five-door hatchback. I鈥檓 here to tell you Americans that you鈥檙e all deprived from a pretty respectable alternative to a Golf GTI鈥攅ven if it ultimately loses out to the gold standard hot hatch in terms of pure fun. CLA-Class with which it shares its platform, engine and transmission.

The A-Class name may be new to the western hemisphere, but it鈥檚 been around for quite some time in Europe. Introduced in 1997 as the brand鈥檚 first official compact car, the first-generation A-Class looked a bit dinky with its top-heavy appearance and super narrow stance, kind of resembling a Smart car. It also had a serious safety issue where it would tip over when attempting to avoid a moose, which forced Mercedes-Benz to halt production for three months to find a fix. The car you see here, now at its fourth generation and internally known as the W177, has significantly evolved from its more awkward city car roots. It now comes through as a well-packaged, well-priced and frankly attractive little luxury car. Americans get this thing under the A220 nomenclature, powered by a turbocharged 2.0-liter inline four good for a claimed 188 horsepower and 221 lb-ft of torque, offered with either front or all-wheel drive via Mercedes鈥?4MATIC system.

Not only do we get free healthcare and legal marijuana, our hatchback Mercedes is quicker than the sedan counterpart you get. All A-Class models come fitted with a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox. The hatch, like the sedan, can send its power to either the front or all four wheels. My tester had the latter. And yes, for those wondering, there will soon be an AMG variant of this car called the A35, with a hatch coming to Canada but not in the U.S. Why Does It Matter? Even with the onslaught of SUVs, these smaller luxury sedans, coupes and hatchbacks have proven to be solid gateway drugs for the premium carmakers. We鈥檙e seeing them from Audi with the A3, BMW with the 2 Series, Acura with the ILX and, just recently, Cadillac with the CT4. Plus, Mercedes shipped roughly 30,000 CLAs in North America last year, as well as similar numbers from the SUV on which it鈥檚 based: the GLA. So there鈥檚 money to be made here. For enthusiasts, the return of a small affordable Mercedes is good news.

With the A-Class, Mercedes aims at upping the game even further, with the promise of making its entry level car feel just as premium as its flagship S-Class. You鈥檙e all about to find out if this is true or not. There鈥檚 one feature in the 2019 A-Class that鈥檚 actually a very big deal outside of the driving experience, and that鈥檚 the updated MBUX infotainment system. It was debuted in this car, and it鈥檚 now slowly integrating into the rest of the Mercedes-Benz lineup. Very much like Apple鈥檚 Siri, the system responds to the 鈥淗ey Mercedes鈥?voice prompt without having to press a button. For instance, as you鈥檙e driving, you can simply shout out 鈥淗ey Mercedes,鈥?followed by 鈥渋t鈥檚 hot in here鈥?and your A-Class will automatically lower cabin temperature by two degrees. It goes further than that; you can ask your Mercedes to open the sunroof while driving, find the nearest coffee or tell you about the upcoming weekend鈥檚 weather forecast. And frankly, it鈥檚 impressive.