Test drove an AMG 45 yesterday....

[Graeme4130]

I had a good test drive of one today
Initial impressions were the engine and drivetrain's very impressive and pulls cleanly for such a small unit
Interior was nice, but what looked like an ipad on the dash looked like a bit of an afterthought and didn't go well with the rest of the very classy interior
Engine pulled well, but was far too quiet, but the AMG exhaust would probably sort that
Suspension was very hard though, and probably too hard for day to day use, but the car was very composed when pushing on a bit harder.
Overall, reasonably impressive, but wouldn't have one as a second car as the wife would hate the hard suspension for her day to day use and the kids would probably pull that ipad thing out the dash within a few weeks

[andymc]

I had one out on a test drive today. 4 hours. Similar experiences - Very firm suspension, goes quite well, liked it but didn't love it. There seemed to be some type of transaxel whine around 2k RPM - thought it was the Turbo but it didn't stop or change when the gears went up or down. Accelerator needs a firm push for the first 40% to get it going. Love the pop and crackle on overrun and the gear-change is nice.

Carbon effect inside the cabin was a disappointment and we know about the stuck-on iPad.

IMHO the exhaust note was a little droney for me. Sounded a bit like a Focus with a Halfords special exhaust - and not that of a ~40k car.

Overall I am somewhat disappointed with the experience - but then my daily drive is a C63. I think I'll save my money and take a look at the Cayman S.

[Graeme4130]

I had one out on a test drive today. 4 hours. Similar experiences - Very firm suspension, goes quite well, liked it but didn't love it. There seemed to be some type of transaxel whine around 2k RPM - thought it was the Turbo but it didn't stop or change when the gears went up or down. Accelerator needs a firm push for the first 40% to get it going. Love the pop and crackle on overrun and the gear-change is nice.

Carbon effect inside the cabin was a disappointment and we know about the stuck-on iPad.

IMHO the exhaust note was a little droney for me. Sounded a bit like a Focus with a Halfords special exhaust - and not that of a ~40k car.

Overall I am somewhat disappointed with the experience - but then my daily drive is a C63. I think I'll save my money and take a look at the Cayman S.

Yeah, I agree ; I liked it, but I wasn't in any way wowed by it.
I was looking at it as a car for the wife, that would still be fun for me to have the occasional blast in when we're not in my RS4
However, the ride was way too hard for her to use everyday and even, in my opinion, too hard for pushing on as the car tracked badly on poor surface roads as a result. It needed just a little bit more compliency in the damper rates to speed the travel up and give it a slightly smoother rider. The car rolled very little, so you'd not notice the extra role with a slightly softer set up when pushing on, but you'd find it a lot more usable and bearable at the limit.
The noise, like the ride was good (although not loud enough) at the upper rev range, but dull and slightly disappointing at lower revs.
Amyway, to cut a long story short, I said thanks but no thanks to the dealer and went on my merry way

I'm not sure if it's swindon Merc specific, but they were offering no discount what so ever on purchase of the car, regardless of outright buy or finance. Having got £5k on my RS4 from Audi, I though Merc might at least come up with something, but no....

[andymc]

Merc are a little tight on the discounts at the moment. I got 1K off the C63 Sticker price and an additional 1.5k if I put a minimum of 6k on finance. (Guildford MB)

[lofty]

Last time I looked mercedes were giving a £6/7k deposit contribution towards the C63, the lease deals were even cheaper. I'd imagine the A45 discounts will be poor with it being a new model.