The smallest sedan currently offered by Mercedes-Benz is the A-Class, which was introduced in North America for the 2018 model year. The A-Class has been available in other markets since 1997. In Canada and some other markets (excluding the United States), the A-Class is offered as a hatchback and sedan, and of course, there are AMG versions of this compact car.
I recently had the opportunity to review a 2021 Mercedes-AMG A 35 4MATIC Sedan, a car I’ve reviewed previously in the non-AMG from, I had enjoyed my time in the less powerful non-AMG version, below are my thoughts on the A 35 AMG.
2021 Mercedes-AMG A 35 Sedan Canadian Pricing
The 2021 Mercedes-AMG A 35 Sedan has a starting price of $49,800, which is the same starting price as the hatchback. With all the options ticked, the price can hit the upper $60,000’s. Our review car had a price tag of $55,500 before Freight & PDI and taxes, we had a few optional packages on our review car, which are listed below:
- Designo Patagonia Red paint – $1,400
- Navigation Package – $1,000
- Premium Package – $3,300
2021 Mercedes-AMG A-Class Sedan Engine/Driving
In Canada and the USA, there’s only one version of the AMG A-Class available, the A 35. In other markets, this car is also offered as a more powerful A 45 sedan and hatchback.
The A35 comes with a turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-4 engine, producing 302 horsepower at 5,800 rpm and 295 pound-feet of torque between 3,000- 4,000 rpm. Power is sent to all four wheels via an AMG SPEEDSHIFT DCT 7-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. The combination giving the A35 AMG a 0 – 100 km (0 – 62 mph) time of 4.8 seconds, it’s 0.1 seconds slower than the A 35 hatchback for some reason, but it’s still an impressive time.
The A35 is a lot of fun to drive; the 302 HP is a lot of power for such a small car. Although I had just switched from the extremely powerful 603 HP GLE 63S to this small car, it still gave me giggles every time I got behind the wheel of this compact sedan. The A 35 Sedan feels really quick and is a lot of fun in city traffic and on twisty roads. As much fun as the GLE 63 S was, the power provided by the A35 is more usable in street driving without breaking too many speeding laws.
The power delivery is smooth and thanks to the twin-scroll turbocharger, there’s a decent amount of torque available down low, with the sweet spot just above 3k rpm. The dual-clutch transmission does a great job with keeping up with all the horses pumped out of the engine in the auto mode, or you can change gears manually with the metal paddle shifters.
The suspension on the A 35 sedan is stiffer than the A220 but it’s not uncomfortable and adds to the sporty characteristics of this vehicle. The steering feel is quite heavy on the A35, just the way I like it, it feels great on the straights and even greater on twisty roads. Weaving in and out of traffic is just a matter of putting a slight hint of pressure on the steering wheel in either direction and the A35 goes where it’s pointed before you even realize it.
Mercedes-AMG A 35 Sedan Styling
The A 35 AMG Sedan shares its looks with the rest of the Mercedes-Benz family, and looks exactly like the A220 Sedan, with the exception of round exhaust tips on the AMG version. Overall, the A 35 Sedan is a good-looking car and looks quite beefy from certain angles. It looks like the bigger (and more expensive) C-Class, which is a good thing if you own the A-Class, getting the looks of a more expensive car for less money is always a good thing in my book.
Mercedes-AMG A 35 4MATIC Interior
The Mercedes-AMG A35 Sedan shares its interior looks with the rest of the MB family of vehicles. The interior layout is quite beautiful and I can see why Mercedes would want to use it on all of their vehicles, with minor changes on different models and trims.
The star of the show is the huge horizontal screen that starts behind the steering wheel and stretches all the way to the middle of the dashboard. Under it are three air vents for hot/cold air with a small section for the climate control system with buttons for temperature, fan speed, and airflow direction. Below all of this is the wireless phone charging pad, a pair of cup holders, the trackpad for controlling the infotainment system, and a few buttons and knobs for driving modes, volume knob, car settings etc.
Just like the A220 I reviewed last year, the A35 can be loaded up with quite a lot of tech, convenience, and safety features. The A35 comes with MBUX (Mercedes-Benz User Experience), which is an advanced multimedia infotainment system. Over the years I’ve seen a lot of different cars with “voice-command” type of infotainment systems, but MBUX takes things to the next level. For certain commands, you can talk to the system like a normal human being, for example “Mercedes, it’s really cold in here”, and the system will automatically set the temperature to what it thinks is appropriate.
In addition to being able to command the system to add an address in the navigation system, it can turn on/off the climate system, change temperature, change fan speed, turn on/off heated seats or cooled seats (if equipped), change radio stations, and even open the screen on the moon roof. This system works really well and is another step closer to the days where we’ll get in the car and tell it where to go and let it do all the driving.
The infotainment system can also be controlled by touching the touchscreen, using the trackpad on the center console, or the small touch-sensitive button on the steering wheel. This system doesn’t take much time to get used and is even easier if you’re already familiar with new Mercedes-Benz vehicles. Personally, I mostly used the small button on the steering wheel to go between the menus and occasionally used voice command.
Tech/Safety/Convenience Features
Like all Mercedes-Benz vehicles, the A 35 Sedan can be equipped with a lot of safety, tech, and convenience features. The base model is decently equipped, but if you want the good stuff, you’ll need to add optional packages. Below is a list of the additional packages available on the 2021 Mercedes-AMG A 35 4MATIC Sedan:
Technology Package
- MULTIBEAM LED headlamps
- Adaptive Highbeam Assist
- Active Distance Assist DISTRONIC
Premium Package
- Blind Spot Assist
- Vehicle Exit Warning
- Active Parking Assist
- KEYLESS-GO
- Foot-activated trunk release
- Inductive wireless charging with NFC pairing
- Apple CarPlay & Android Auto
- SiriusXM Radio with 3-month All Access trial
- Burmester Surround Sound System
Navigation Package
- MB Navigation
- Live Traffic Service
- MBUX Augmented Video for Navigation
- Traffic Sign Assist
- No-charge navigation map updates for 3 years
Advanced Driver Assistance Package
- Active Steering Assist
- Evasive Steering Assist
- Active Brake Assist with Cross-Traffic Function
- Active Emergency Stop Assist
- Active Speed Limit Assist
- Active Lane Keeping Assist
- Active Blind Spot Assist
- Active Lane Change Assist
- Enhanced Stop-and-Go
- Route-based Speed Adaptation
AMG Driver’s Package
- 19-inch AMG 5-twin-spoke aero wheels
- AMG Performance steering wheel in Nappa/DINAMICA
- AMG DRIVE UNIT
- AMG Track Pace for MBUX
- AMG RIDE CONTROL Sport Suspension with 3-stage damping
Final thoughts
Overall, I think the 2021 Mercedes-AMG A 35 4MATIC Sedan is a great little car. It’s small, sporty, practical, and a lot of fun to drive. I’m glad Mercedes-Benz is still offering cars, sedans and hatchbacks, and not just focusing on SUV’s. Hopefully MB continues to offer these types of small cars as we enter an electrified world in the near future.
