Mercedes A220 AMG Line 2019 UK review

Cover up the badge on the bootlid and you simply can’t tell an A220 from any other A-Class AMG Line. The car’s two-tone 18in wheels offer the road a wider-section, lower profile tyre than you get on lesser-trim A-Classes, but the suspension tune is the same as you’d find on any other all-independent, AMG Line-trim example of the car.

Although Mercedes’ brochure describes the suspension of lower-end SE and Sport-trim models (complete with torsion beam) in the same terms as that of AMG Line cars (they call it ‘lowered comfort suspension’), wider test experience teaches that there’s quite a bit of difference in the ride and handling of these A-Classes. While the former have a softer and more supple gait that should play well to fans of comfort and isolation, the latter definitely feel firmer-riding and more sporting. AMG Line cars should therefore probably only be considered by drivers who want a dynamic cutting edge from their cars, rather than Mercedes’ more traditional comfort bias.

The A220 is a fine case in point. It has a ride that’s comfortable enough, but slightly busier over smaller lumps and bumps than you might expect it to be, and a touch noisier over coarser surfaces too. The car comes with a choice of four driving modes (Sport, Comfort, Eco and Individual), but none of them allows any adjustment of the suspension, since adaptive dampers are the preserve of the A35 4Matic. The upshot is that, while the car deals with most road surfaces well, it rides more testing ones with a touch more lateral head-toss and vertical fidget than a really well-sorted hatchback might.

Handling is good, without being so good that it really stands out for praise. The A220 corners slightly flatter and sharper than some of its range-mates, and feels precise, tidy and fairly adhesive on a winding road – but it doesn’t have the control feedback or close body control to come across as genuinely compelling to drive. While it reminds you of a warm hatchback done with a particularly light touch, it’d make a VW Golf GTI look like a competition machine for sheer purpose and involvement. That said, Mercedes doubtless never intended for this to be thought of as a driver’s car – and judged in less specialist terms, it seems complete and accomplished. Steering is medium-light and strikes you as neither particularly direct nor indirect.

The car’s 2.0-litre turbocharged engine, meanwhile, serves up that just-so performance level that always tends to feel right on compact, upmarket executive transport: 0-62mph in around seven seconds, a top speed of around 150mph, and enough torque to drive assertively on the road and to adopt a faster stride easily when the need arises.

As A-Class derivatives go, this is certainly the most rounded and generally accomplished we’ve driven yet. Assuming that your budget will accommodate an after-options transaction price in the low-£30,000 ballpark, that you want a brisk turn of pace from your car as well as everything else, and that you’re not relying on 50mpg motorway economy or super-low carbon emissions for your benefit in kind tax – it’d be the one we’d recommend.

Mercedes offers it in front-drive and 4Matic all-wheel drive – and, while the latter comes with slightly poorer fuel economy, it does get the bigger 51-litre fuel tank which only otherwise features on the Mercedes-AMG A35. For fans of quick-ish hatchbacks with decent brim-to-brim range and plenty of all-weather usability, that’ll be worth bearing in mind.

Mercedes A220 AMG Line specification

Where Feltham, UK Price £29,570 On sale now Engine 4cyls in line, 1991cc, turbocharged petrol Power 187bhp at 5800rpm Torque 221lb ft at 1800rpm Gearbox 7-spd twin-clutch automatic Kerb weight 1450kg Top speed 149mph 0-62mph 6.9sec Fuel economy 37.7-41.5mpg (WLTP Combined) CO2 WLTP figures not available Rivals BMW 120i M Sport, Audi A3 Sportback 2.0 TFSI S line