BMW 440I vs Mercedes-Benz A45

What's the difference?

Life comes at you fast, especially in the automotive industry, where model lifecycles are becoming shorter as each new generation comes and goes.

Take the BMW 4 Series for instance. It’s been a segment stalwart since 2013, but the current model’s time in the sun is finally coming to an end a little later this year.

And that got us thinking whether or not the old saying rings true in this context. So, we put the flagship 440i coupe to test to find out if the older you get, the wiser you are.

Driving the first-generation Mercedes-AMG A 45 in 2013 was an intense, noisy, brutal experience and I loved every bone-shaking, ear-bleeding moment of it.

But I’m older now, married and have children, and while this is also an intense, noisy, brutal experience I now prefer cars to be less like a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week continuous cage fight. So, I was surprised to find the new-generation A45 S has grown up a bit, too.

So, like me, is the new Mercedes-AMG A 45 S 4Matic+ not as quick as it used to be, and does it have a dad bod, now, too? Far from it. If anything, it’s matured into the serious weapon of a hot hatch it was always supposed to be.