Old Mercedes A-Class on Cheap Tires Beats the New S-Class in the Dreaded Moose Test

This forced the automaker to modify the suspension and make the ESC (Electronic Stability Control) standard. The tweaks helped improve the way the car drove, and were joined by other modifications in 2002, when the A 210 Evolution came out.

Essentially a sportier take on the regular A-Class, it featured yet more suspension mods, with stiffer dampers and springs, and different anti-roll bar. The rear axle was a bit wider, and the tires were 205/40, wrapped around the 17-inch wheels.

The example subjected to the moose test by Km77 was an A 210 Evolution, with cheap tires at both ends. The car is almost two decades old, has over 200,000 km (over 124,000 miles) on the odo, and received new springs, dampers, and other components around 30,000 km (~18,500 miles) ago.

After getting used to it, they threw it between the cones with an entry speed of 71 kph (44 mph), and it did hit some, but it did remain quite controllable. Thus, they gave it another shot, which turned out to be successful at 75 kph (47 mph), 2 kph (1.2 mph) below the norm, noting that the inner wheel does not tend to lift from the ground, and the suspension isn’t bouncy.

Believe it or not, this old A-Class outperformed the new-gen S-Class, which completed the course at 74 kph (46 mph).

Now, while the flagship sedan felt nimble and responsive in the slalom test, the A 210 Evolution did not impress. In fact, the people behind the test said it has a lot of body roll and the steering feels old.

Nonetheless, the overall impression, when factoring in its age and segment, was positive.

This is the part where we invite you to hit the play button on the video that follows, regardless if you speak Spanish or not, and see for yourselves how the car did.