Mercedes A250 4Matic 2019 review

From the outside and especially in this colour (it’s Iridium Silver Metallic, which costs an extra $1190), it reminds me of liquid mercury. It's all silver and fluid with long curves and smooth lines and no sharp edges. It’s very elegant in design and has just the right length to the hatchback. Some hatches can be too long or too short, but this feels just right.

The interior is equally impressive. It starts with a double multimedia screen that stretches from the centre of the car to the driver’s side, and displays a completely digital dashboard, together with the multimedia tech in the centre.

Then there are air vents, which look more like tyre rims, with metallic liquid silver framing the circular blowholes. This is all balanced out with a clean, minimal design across the bottom of the centre console, with a high-gloss lid concealing storage, and a touch-pad mouse that controls the multimedia.

Inside, there's a double multimedia screen that stretches from the centre of the car to the driver’s side.

The leather steering wheel and seats look like they belong in a racing car, but turn out to be far too comfortable for that. There’s also a seat-shaped metallic silver control that operate the powered pews into position, with more of the metallic accents on handles and doors throughout. In short, it looks quite fabulous. And premium.

Exactly how it looks. Smooth. You can barely feel the bumps in the road and everything is very cruisy.  It’s also fast, going from 0-100km/h in 6.2 seconds, so you’ll beat most cars off the lights, which is always a nice feeling. It's powered by a 2.0-litre engine that zooms up hills and coasts along highways.

The gears are on the steering wheel, which made a big difference when doing three-point turns this week, because you don’t have to move your hands, so it’s a very efficient way to drive. The A250 4Matic is all-wheel drive, so I’d be comfortable taking it on dirt and gravel roads. I drove it in torrential rain this week and had no issues with traction on the road.

It only takes the A250 6.2 seconds to accelerate from 0-100km/h.

There’s a seriously high-definition reverse parking camera with a 360-degree camera as well. It’s all in colour and you can see exactly where you are compared with what’s around you. 

Everything is within reaching distance, so you can touch the touchscreen but also use the mousepad if you prefer. There are two cupholders in the front plus a spot to throw your phone and it also charges wirelessly, if your phone is compatible. There’s also a central storage bin that opens with a button and bottle holders in each door.

Rear passengers get two cupholders in the centre armrest, pockets on the back of the front doors but no airvents for themselves, which is something my children tend to notice. Although with the five circular air vents in the front, there is definitely enough ventilation, and the car cools quickly. 

The boot is quite heavy to lift and close but the loading lip is a good height off the ground to lift things into.

You have your choice of Mercedes’ own multimedia system, which has a built in sat nav and even it’s own version of Siri, or you can use Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, so it's up to you. The Mercedes system is good enough to use full time, but if you like using your phone then CarPlay or Auto make it an easy tech decision. 

The A250 also uses AI to learn what you like and adjusts its settings accordingly. For example, when I first got the car I couldn’t figure out why the radio kept going back to Triple M when I had set it to Triple J, but it was because the last driver was a Triple M fan and the car had learned to adjust. It only took two occasions of me turning it back to Triple J for the car to learn what I liked. Clever. 

This early stage Mercedes A250 starts at $49,500. With extras added like Night Package at $1490, Seat Comfort Package for $1290, Vision Package at $2490 and Keyless Go  for $990, amongst other things, the total as-tested price came to $57,440. A later release 2019 A250 will come in at least $5000 more expensive. 

Fuel consumption is  6.6L/100km which is pretty good for a car with this engine. It’s covered by the Mercedes-Benz three-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty and servicing is needed every 12 months or 25,000km.