A small, luxurious and colourful Mercedes A250e
The four-door Mercedes A-Class saloon has dynamic, compact proportions with short overhangs. The entire "A" range comes with modern, efficient engines, offers a high level of safety and..... a very colourful interior. On top of that, the Mercedes A250e has a hybrid drivetrain.
Although the Mercedes A250e is one of the smallest luxury saloons with the star on the bonnet, it stands out for its practicality, including generous shoulder, elbow and headroom. Visually the car resembles the CLA, but it has a higher roofline, it is longer, and its doors have window frames.
It is worth stressing that the "A" saloon has the lowest aerodynamic drag of any series-production car in the world, thanks to a frontal area of 2.19 m², which is smaller than the CLA's. It even outclasses its sibling, the A-Class hatchback, in terms of aerodynamics. With Cd = 0.22, the new model is on a par with the world record holder in this respect, the CLA Coupé.
Boot, electric range and CCS charging
In terms of rear headroom (944 mm), the model is at the top of its segment, but this comes at the price of low-set seats, which some will see as a plus and others as a minus. Boot capacity has dropped from 405 to 345 litres, because the 150 kg batteries sit behind the rear seats.
Like most hybrids, the Mercedes A250e has a smaller fuel tank (down from 43 to 35 litres), which means less range on longer journeys. An undoubted plus is the ability to drive on electricity with zero emissions, thanks to a 15.6kWh battery. The homologation data indicate almost 70km on electric power, but during the test the charge ran out after about 50km.
A very pleasant surprise was the CCS connector, which lets the car "swallow" a wide stream of electrons in DC mode at a "speed" of up to 22kW. The flap covering the charging socket clearly warns against using an extension lead when charging from a household socket. I did not try it, but the car's system would most likely detect out-of-spec parameters and charging would not start.
Interior: instruments, seats and ambient lighting
The car stands out for its almost unlimited options for configuring the instrument panel display. It is divided into 3 modules, each of which can be configured in several ways. That gives.... 336 different panel layouts, from a very austere one limited to "analogue" displays of the main readings, all the way to a data-packed display of numerous driving parameters (8 settings for module one x 7 settings for module two x 6 settings for module three.... phew). Everyone will find a setting that suits them.
The driver's door is full of buttons and sliders. You can heat or ventilate the seats, and the lower part of the seat cushion houses a control centre for additional seat settings. It lets you precisely adjust, among other things, the lumbar support. Because so many switches had to be fitted on the door, the door handle sits closer to the B-pillar than you would expect, and you have to learn to grab it confidently without looking.
Another element you can adapt to your taste, mood or the time of day is the colour of the ambient lighting. The trim strip and the air vents in the centre console, whose shape brings jet engines to mind, begin to shimmer in colours whose names may stir your imagination: ocean blue, purply sky, fire red, jungle green or fire red..... Besides the predefined colours, you can choose other options: the mood lighting is available in as many as 64 different shades.
The Mercedes A250e has kept the small stalk for selecting the automatic gearbox settings that is so typical of cars with the star. The paddles on the steering wheel have a dual function: in the "non-eco" modes they are used to change gear, and in the "eco" modes to change the level of energy recovery.
Hybrid drive and safety systems
Power comes from a 4-cylinder 1.3-litre engine which, with electric assistance, delivers 218 hp ( 163 hp in the non-hybrid version). The car accelerates to 100 km/h in 6.7 sec. Thanks to the combination of the two drive systems, very low fuel consumption is possible. During the test I covered 558km, 266km of them on electricity. Because of the stretches driven without the combustion engine, average fuel consumption was just 4.9 l/100km.
The Mercedes A 250e offers the latest driver assistance systems, providing the highest level of active safety in its segment. An improved camera and radars allow it to "see" the road up to 500 m ahead, and the assistance functions also use map and navigation data. This makes it possible to adjust the car's speed, for example when approaching bends, junctions or roundabouts. There are other systems on board too, including Active Emergency Stop Assist, which, if necessary, will brake the car to a standstill in its own lane. I had the impression that this system was somewhat over-reactive: it signalled possible hard emergency braking prematurely and tightened the seat belts.
A-Class Saloon dimensions and test summary
- Length/width/height: 4549/1796/1446 mm
- Wheelbase: 2729 mm
- Headroom front/rear: 1024/944 mm
- Elbow width front/rear: 1457/1446 mm
- Shoulder width front/rear: 1400/1372 mm
- Effective legroom front/rear: 1062/861 mm
The Mercedes A250e is a small, luxurious saloon. Its numerous safety systems and wealth of options for personalising the look of the interior are among the car's great strengths. Add to that a hybrid drivetrain that reduces overall fuel consumption in everyday use and allows zero-emission driving in the city.
