The Mercedes-Benz A 45 AMG is currently the hottest hot hatch on the planet, and we are not talking just about numbers here.
Powered by the smallest AMG engine ever, it's far from being the slowest car to wear the Affalterbach badge, with a 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) acceleration time of just 4.6 seconds.
The biggest culprit for its monumental performance figures is, of course, the M133 turbocharged four-cylinder under the hood. Having only two liters of displacement at their disposal, AMG engineers have managed to squeeze no less than 360 hp and 450 Nm (332 lb ft) of torque from the tiny powerplant.
Mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission with control software taken straight from the double-clutch gearbox found in the mighty SLS AMG, it also offers a launch control function that is apparently enough to keep the back of your head firmly pressed onto the shell-shaped sports seats when accelerating hard.
The 4Matic all-wheel drive system takes care of the traction during accelerations and cornering, which is probably the main reason for why Mercedes-Benz South Africa decided to go for the twisting roads idea in the following short film, where an A 45 AMG is racing against a downhill skater.
Alex handled his first real steering wheel at the age of five (on a field) and started practicing "Scandinavian Flicks" at 14 (on non-public gravel roads). Following his time at the University of Journalism, he landed his first real job at the local franchise of Top Gear magazine a few years before Mircea (Panait). Not long after, Alex entered the New Media realm with the autoevolution.com project. Full profile
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