golf gti 2015 vs mercedes a 45 amg drive (Find out for yourself)
golf gti 2016
The Volkswagen Golf GTI is an icon, widely regarded as the original hot hatch. When it comes to history lessons, it was actually beaten to that title by the Renault 5 Gordini released a few months earlier in 1975, but that doesn’t change the fact that it was the better car, and now, 40 years later, it still remains at the top of its game
The Volkswagen Golf GTI 40 Years is an odd name. It was meant to be called Golf Clubsport, and it is in most international markets. But, in Australia, HSV wasn’t all that happy about that – so ’40 Years’ it is
Starting from $48,990 the uprated Golf GTI DSG is by no means cheap, though for that extra $4000 over the standard GTI DSG ($2500 over the GTI performance) you do get performance from the 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylidner engine climbing from 162kW in the regular model (179kW in the GTI Performance) to a new 195kW. Torque is unchanged at 350Nm, but a new boost function ups numbers briefly to 215kW and 380Nm
mercedes a45 amg
The revised 2016 Mercedes-Benz A-Class and Mercedes-AMG A45 ranges are now on sale in Australia. The mid-life updates come almost three years after the sharply styled third-generation range premiered.
The A-Class is a hugely important car for Mercedes-Benz. The hatchback managed more than 3400 sales in 2015, giving it an impressive 20 per cent market share in its segment. Add the (soon to be updated) CLA sedan to the mix and it easily outsells all rivals, including the Audi A3
While it may take a trainspotter to catch the exterior styling changes, they do improve the A-Class experience. The front-end now features an arrow-shaped grille, newly designed LED daytime running lights and the option of LED headlights on some models. The rear offers the biggest change with an integrated lower diffuser now encapsulating the exhaust pipes
golf gti 2016
It is seriously fast. It’s that overboost function in third gear or above that lets you hit highs of 213kW and 380Nm which you can really feel push you back into the seat as you go flat out in a straight line. It only lasts 10 seconds, but please do let us know if you can find a (legal) stretch of road to go flatout for more than 10 seconds in third gear
Strangely, there is so little toque steer that you start to wonder if you’ve accidentally jumped onboard a Golf R. We expected then, that once we began our climb up Brisbane’s Mt Nebo that the GTI’s understeer-prone characteristic would show its ugly head. But, somewhat gleefully, this wasn’t the case
However, the Golf GTI 40 Year edition is something special. It’s not just the way it looks inside or out, or the extra power and torque that it delivers on overboost, but more so that after 40 years of refinement, the folks at Volkswagen have truly nailed the principles of a hot hatch and this is the ultimate culmination of that work. There are only 500 coming to Australia and most have already been sold.
mercedes a 45 amg
While purists may be destined for the AMG-built
A45, the top-selling A250 Sport 4Matic now represents a compelling proposition. The drivetrain has changed from being front-wheel drive to all-wheel drive, with a 5kW power output increase to 160kW of power and 350Nm of torque from its 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine. It is matched to a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox and uses 5.7L/100km on the combined cycle (.2L/100km more than the outgoing model)
cars
cars
Finally, the A-Class with all the chest hair. The Mercedes-AMG A45uses a tried and tested turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine that produces a mind-bending 282kW of power (up 14kW) and 471Nm of torque (up 24Nm). These incredible numbers give the benefit of even faster 0-100km/h acceleration. The sprint time has been shaved from 4.5 seconds to just 4.1 seconds. But, it’s come at the cost of fuel use, up from 6.8L/100km to 7.4L/100km
As a side note, this also means that it is now placed in the Luxury Car Tax (LCT) threshold, making it more expensive than the previous model, which sat below the magic 8L/100km figure
cars
cars
Let’s recap some of the basics. There is 350 litres of cargo capacity on offer, which is around 22 litres down on the BMW 1 Series, but still respectable. Rear seat legroom can be a little bit cramped — especially when seated behind a tall driver. It makes up for the space deficiency with 61:30 split-folding rear seats and a retractable armrest with two cup holders. There’s also two sets of Isofix anchorage points
After a road loop, we jumped on to a tight circuit at Broadford to put the A250 through its paces. The all-wheel drive system comes into its own on tighter stretches of track like this. It settles nicely and is happy to power out of a corner without excessive amounts of understeer or fuss
The steering is very direct and the smaller AMG wheel sits nicely in the hand. While you can shift through gears manually using steering wheel paddle shifters, it’s just as happy to do all the leg work in its sport mode
sale car
sale car
The real star on the race track was the Mercedes-AMG A45. Aside from the now even more ludicrous power output, the A45 can be optioned with a front differential lock. Designed to help contain understeer that can occur under throttle on the exit of a corner, the front differential lock aims to split torque delivery between the front two wheels to ensure they rotate at the same speed
