What's the news?

Mercedes-Benz has revealed that the new A-Class will go on sale with a starting price of £18,945 and a five-model range. As well as the basic A-Class there are SE, Sport, AMG Sport and 'Engineered by AMG' versions. The UK launch is scheduled for December.

Exterior

Different versions of the A-Class can be identified by the wheels and grille treatment. The SE gets 16-inch, 10-spoke alloys, while Sport model wheels are an inch larger and a bi-colour design. Eighteen-inch wheels are fitted to the AMG models with different styles for the Sport and 'Engineered by' variants. A body colour, two-blade grille is fitted to the SE, whereas Sport and AMG Sport versions come with a silver and chrome item - and the Engineered by AMG cars gets a single blade version of the grille.

Interior

Standard equipment includes a CD/radio with 5.8-inch colour display and a USB socket in the centre armrest. The SE and Sport variants add sports seats and a leather steering wheel. A flat-bottomed sports steering wheel is fitted to the AMG Sport along with Alcantara trim while the Engineered by AMG variant gets red seatbelts and wheel arch and floor mats with Sport badges.

Mechanicals

Petrol engines of 1.6- and 2.0 litres are offered along with 1.5- and 1.8-litre diesels. Model numbers relate to performance rather than displacement. For example the A 180 BlueEfficiency and A 200 BlueEfficiency both use the 1.6-litre engine but with 122- or 156hp respectively. Suspension settings depend on the model variant; up to and including the Sport a 'comfort' set-up is used with the AMG levels featuring sports suspension as standard.

Anything else?

Prices range from £18,945 for the A 180 to £28,775 for the A 250 Engineered by AMG. The A 250 has the highest CO₂ emissions in the range at 148g/km while the manual A 180 CDI SE (£21,200) produces just 98g/km.

John Lambert - 28 Jun 2012