Mercedes-AMG A 45 S Fails Moose Test, Reveals General Hot Hatch Problem

A weird trend seems to be forming where sometimes the base version of a car, which in this case would be the A-Class, performs better than the one that's supposed to be agile and costs way more money. We've seen it with the Honda Civic Type R and the Ford Focus ST, for example.

However, rather than jumping to the conclusion that these cars are overpriced or unsafe, we'd like to suggest a different theory. In short, it's probably a good thing if your favorite performance car fails this, unless it's an SUV and it flips over.

At first glance, the moose test appears to be about the grip and handling. "The A45 S is heavier than a normal A-Class due to the engine and AWD, so it overwhelms the tires," you might think. However, normal cars mostly rely on their ESP to save the day.

They have soft chassis setups, so when pushed hard, the ESP brakes the car a lot, and they end up at the end of the test with less than half the speed. Meanwhile, these sports cars have much stiffer chassis setups and their electronics are designed to intervene as little as possible. That's why the entry and exit speeds are so similar. Basically, if you're trying to avoid a moose, you should consider a tiny bit of braking and you'll be fine.

With that being said, we're still not huge fans of the A 45 S. With a better chassis and powertrain, the Mercedes-AMG C 63 S Coupe managed to do the same test at a much higher speed about a year ago. We've added that video at the end of the story just to prove our point. Words like "most precise" were used to describe its steering at that time.