A-class test drive

Forget about anything you think you know about the Mercedes-Benz A-Class for a moment. Forget the moose. Forget about baby-Benz. Just forget the front-wheel drive and the cramped space of the current generation. To forget. She. It.

Habby traveled to Sweden for mein-auto-blog to witness the last test kilometers of the upcoming A-Class generation. And never was the word "generation" more important in a description of a new vehicle than in this A-Class.

W177 in the winter test near the polar circle

How developers master the elk test and give the car a soul

What makes the new A-Class (world premiere Q1 / 2018), but is not the manageable growth in length (+ 120 mm) or wheelbase (+ 30 mm). It is also not the new cockpit with which we MMercedes-Benz already familiar weeks ago has made. And - this change to purely digital displays is also somewhat synonymous with the extent of the changes in the character of the A-Class. The A stands for old car? Please no more. That should be clear.

Mercedes-Benz operates at several locations near the Arctic Circle Test Center. For the last icy kilometers we were traveling near Arvidsjaur in the Swedish Lapland. An area where there are significantly more moose than humans. Anyway, the moose. At that time, this, the largest of all Hirsch masses, for a scandal "at Daimler" worried. Ironically, the safety-minded Swabians were overturned by an elk in a Dodge test (at that time no standard test procedure) on the side mirrors. Stupid. But also a great opportunity for the entire automotive industry. And while generations of A-class drivers were able to take the "moose test" lightly on the shoulders and put it back into conversation with stickers on the rear of the vehicle, the moose test initiated by vehicle experts ensured the widespread introduction of the ESP ,

Shortly before Christmas 2017, I am sitting in the passenger seat in a camouflaged A-Class, rushing through Sweden at a speed of 85 on a narrow dirt road. A partially icy road with high walls of snow as a boundary. And then he stands before us. Twice. Elk, a powerful mother animal together with a young animal. Jochen Eck (Head of Overall Vehicle Testing) brakes the A-Class hard with the eye-catching camouflage film. Unlike the cars of the locals, the test vehicles up here have no spikes, simple winter tires have to master the task. Because that is also part of the work. Which tires work? How do the ABS and ESP control systems work at the constant limit of the coefficient of friction? It can be as smooth as a mirror on the Swabian Alb and nobody drives there with spikes. So everyday life has to be simulated. 20 years ago the moose may have caused a fright, here and now we are already many meters in front of the two animals. Child's play.

It is the end of the second development cycle of the A-Class in cold Sweden. Over 100 employees were busy with their testing over the winter season. From banal questions such as the "function of window regulators" in heavy minus temperatures and really much snow to the question of the Mercedes feeling. The task of the developers is not easy. And yet, an answer must be found on everything.

"The developer gives the car the soul"

If you want to understand a car, you have to get to know the people behind the cars. In Sweden I met "Betty". Betty is actually Bettina, 31 years old, and who can be distracted by superficialities, sees above all a young woman with "dreadlocks". But she not only has her team of developers under control, she is also the one who formulates the most important statement of the entire appointment in Sweden:

"It can only be good if you are with passion and heart."

And that opens your eyes. Because the question that keeps coming to my mind is, when is a Mercedes a Mercedes? What makes the Mercedes feeling?

"The Mercedes feeling"

The upcoming A-Class will be more Mercedes than ever. Not only because we are rolling out completely new engines, all of which are gasoline-powered with a particle filter and all diesels have an SCR catalytic converter, but also, and that's the good news: a three-cylinder won't be there. The upcoming A-Class will be more Mercedes than ever, not because all models are initially being equipped with a 7-speed dual clutch transmission - which, by the way, will receive a 9-speed version in the foreseeable future. Not even because the subject of "sportiness" is being left to the AMG models more than ever and much greater attention has been paid to comfort when tuning the new generation. Also the extra sense of space for the second row, the massively enlarged door cutout and the completely new cockpit. They are just individual details in a much larger, much more complex overall picture. A lot will change - only when it comes to the subject of “perceived quality” everything remains a little more Swabian than before.

The Mercedes feeling. Because that's the point. And there are checklists, check procedures, many numbers in specifications, which we journalists never get shown and it is something that is difficult to understand and put into words. It's a feeling. It is the subtle interaction of many small factors.

In the new A-Class, for example, you can feel the speed of 80-90 driving over a closed blanket of snow, including bare ice. With eyes closed, one focuses on the perception of "NVH factors". So vibrations and noises. And then there is the distance to a C- or even E-class hard to find. The new A-Class will reach a new level in the perception of ride comfort, noise comfort and operation. The new A-Class will be more mature than ever. This also means that 2018 is so well-versed in tuning ESP and ASR that even simple winter tires on fresh snow are sufficient for a safe driving experience where others like to use spikes. And the moose? He trots marveling from the roadway into the deep snow.

No matter whether rough bumps on snow roads with nimble curves or mountain climbs with the friction coefficient of a snowman, the assistance systems work hidden and barely noticeable. Only the effect counts: sovereignty and one or two vehicle classes adult than before. The fact that the tuning of the A-Class has moved more in the direction of comfort and you sit on a completely newly developed seats conveys just a part of the so subtle "Mercedes feeling".

At the same time, Mercedes also had to use the red pencil when developing the new generation. In the future, a torsion beam axle will have to suffice for the small engines on the rear axle, and the base engines will have to be ridiculed when it comes to displacement. Nevertheless - in the end the result counts and people like Betty and Jochen are responsible for that. And the days, hours and many thousands of kilometers that you put to the test of a generation of vehicles before the world premiere. I think those two were very successful with the W177!