Mercedes-Benz A-Class vs Kia Cerato

What's the difference?

The new AMG C 43 may lack the drama and excitement we’ve come to expect from the German performance brand, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad car. Yes, it could be more extroverted and the ride could be improved, but this is still a sharp-looking sports sedan with loads of punch.

This is a car that speaks to its times, with ever-stricter emissions regulations making it harder and harder for car companies to produce loud, wild and charismatic cars. So Mercedes-AMG has worked within those boundaries and come up with a car that retains at least some of those core elements that has made the brand so desirable over the years.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with accommodation and meals provided.

Kia has value and packaging on its side with the sleek and spunky Cerato GT sedan. There’s no shortage of standard gear, it comes with the latest multimedia and safety gear and the cabin and cargo area are spacious and practical.

The powertrain is a winner too. Which is why it’s such a shame that it’s let down so badly by the ride quality.

If you’re going to be driving on various road surfaces, or regularly driving long distance, check out the far more compliant Hyundai i30 N-Line instead.

But if you’ll only ever drive in urban areas – or enjoy the occasional back-road blast – and you can handle the firm ride, there’s still plenty to like about the Cerato GT.

Mercedes has created something of a problem for itself with its decision to introduce AMG styling packages for the majority of its range, including the C-Class.

It means the C 43 has to walk a fine line between looking like a unique AMG model, rather than just a C300 with a bodykit and not out-doing the C63.

To that end it has AMG’s now familiar grille with vertical bars, the unique and complex-looking 20-inch alloy rims and a small lip spoiler on the boot. But otherwise it is surprisingly understated for an AMG, lacking the more obvious and muscular stance of previous AMG offerings.

Inside, there’s a similar theme, with the typical Mercedes-Benz luxury appointments but with a sportier, AMG twist. The steering wheel is chunky and comes with AMG branding, metallic shift paddles and a pair of rotary dials/buttons that allow you to alter the various drive modes and settings.

The one on the right allows you to switch between the pre-set Comfort, Sport, Sport+ and Individual modes, while the one on the left can scroll between the various individual aspects to tailor the settings to the conditions.

In typical modern fashion the design is tech-laden, with a digital display for the instrument panel (that can be switched between various graphics) and a large, tablet-style central multimedia touchscreen that controls the majority of the car’s non-driving functions.

When the fourth-gen Cerato sedan was revealed in US-market Kia Forte guise at the 2018 Detroit motor show, the design was praised for taking inspiration from the sleek Stinger performance sedan.

The facelift has arrived at just the right time to keep the Cerato fresh against the dominant Toyota Corolla, Mazda3 and new Volkswagen Golf.

The sharpened front-end styling features an eye-catching daytime running light signature and the headlights now connect with the redesigned, slimline Kia ‘tiger-nose’ grille in gloss black.

It’s a subtle, yet successful design refresh.

Inside, the Cerato is starting to look its age against rivals like the Golf and Mazda3. Those GT themed additions definitely lift the ambience of the cabin, but the dash layout feels a bit generic and the overall interior design is nothing flash. Especially when you consider the interior of some of Kia’s latest models, like the impressive Sportage medium SUV.

The new C-Class has grown slightly in size compared to the model it replaces, most notably with a 26mm increase in the wheelbase which you can feel in the cabin.

The front seat space is good, with excellent adjustability for the power-adjustable seats and steering column. I had no trouble finding my ideal seating position which makes for a more enjoyable and uncompromised driving experience.

Rear space is a bit tighter (which is typical for this segment/size of vehicle), but thankfully the standard seats do have very deep sculpting in the backs which allow for more knee space and foot room.

However, at approximately 180cm (six-foot), I wouldn’t like to sit behind my seating position for long periods as my knees were touching the seat back, and headroom is compromised with the panoramic glass roof.

In terms of small item storage there’s a lidded console box in between the front seats as well as a pair of cupholders and a small tray where you can place your mobile phone.

It’s worth noting, though, that early examples of the C 43 in Australia do not have a wireless smartphone charging pad, with that reportedly being introduced from February production.

While that’s good news, it’s not really competitive in this day and age to offer a car costing six-figures without such technology.

There’s also only a single USB-C power outlet in the front, which is another disappointment, but there is a pair in the back.

Mercedes does win some points back for a respectable 455-litre boot, which has a nice wide load opening that will make packing luggage easier.

As mentioned, the red stitching throughout, chunky steering wheel and sports seats are welcome additions to the GT cabin.

There are soft-touch materials on the top of the dash but hard plastics on the dash fascia. 

There’s no fully digital instrument cluster, but it has a 4.2-inch LCD display in the cluster showing fuel economy and the like. No complaints with the analogue dials and there’s a digital speedo if required.

The update ushered in Kia’s latest multimedia system to the Cerato and it’s a winner thanks to cool graphics, logical menus and its ease of use.

There’s quite a sizable central storage bin and glovebox, while the console houses a key slot, two sizeable cupholders and a second spot for devices adjacent to the charging pad.

The front sports seats look sexy, have excellent side and body bolstering and they’re firm, but comfortable.

A 600mL bottle will just fit into the doors, bit it’s tight.

Sitting behind my six-foot (182cm) frame in the rear, legroom is adequate but toe room is tight. My head was about an inch away from the headliner due to the sloping roofline. The rear seats are also firm.

The Cerato has lower rear air vents, one USB-C port, a map pocket on the passenger side, a central rear armrest with two cupholders, and bottles slot into the doors easier than they do up front.

Kia offers a temporary spare wheel housed under the boot floor. The boot is long, offering an impressive 502 litres (VDA) of cargo space, which is more than other small sedans like the Subaru Impreza (460L VDA) and the Hyundai i30 (474L VDA).

Lower the rear 60/40 seats via the levers in the boot and that space increases further, but they don’t fold completely flat.

The GT is priced at $35,290 before on-road costs regardless of whether you opt for the four-door sedan (as tested here) or the five-door hatchback, though be aware that Kia Australia regularly runs drive-away pricing campaigns.

There’s not a lot of competition in the warmed-up small car market these days. A number of carmakers have slimmed down their small-car line-ups in the face of falling sales.

Kia’s closest rival is also its mechanical sibling, the Hyundai i30 N-Line sedan and hatch. The Hyundai is cheaper by more than $2500, but the more generously equipped i30 N-Line Premium sedan is a little over $2000 more expensive than the Cerato GT.

The Mazda3 GT sedan and hatch could also be considered a rival and pricing is about on par with the Kia.

Other lower grades in the Cerato range run from $25,490 to $30,640 (MSRP).

The GT benefits from the more premium powertrain offering in the Cerato line-up – the 1.6-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine shared with the i30 N-Line and the recently discontinued Veloster Turbo.

The GT bodykit adds sporty styling flourishes like a black front and rear diffuser, boot spoiler, dual exhaust, black external mirror caps, red highlights and 18-inch GT alloy wheels. 

This theme carries through to the cabin too with features like alloy sports pedals, flat-bottom perforated leather sports steering wheel and leather-appointed seats with red stitching and embossed GT logo.

As the range flagship, the GT also has the most standard equipment. It comes with a sunroof, eight-way power driver’s seat, wireless device charging, an eight-speaker JBL premium sound system, heated and ventilated front seats and dual-zone climate control air conditioning.

The only option fitted to the test car was Snow White Pearl premium paint for $520.

The biggest talking point about this new car is the engine, with AMG downsizing from the old C 43’s six-cylinder to a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine.

But it’s not just any turbocharged four-pot, because it is fitted with technology that Mercedes claims has been inspired directly from its Formula One team.

While the F1 team engine facility is based in England, this engine was designed and developed by the Mercedes-AMG team at its Affalterbach headquarters, but the concept of the electric turbocharger reportedly comes from the engine that powered Lewis Hamilton to multiple world championships.

The electric exhaust gas turbocharger - to give it its official name - uses a small electric motor on the turbocharger shaft to spin up the blades without having to wait for any exhaust gases to pass through it first.

To power the electric turbo the C 43 is equipped with a mild-hybrid 48-volt electrical system.

Mercedes claims this means reduced lag and improved throttle response for a sportier driving experience. 

It also helps make this small engine produce big amounts of performance, with AMG extracting 300kW of power and 500Nm of torque from this 2.0-litre, which is more power than the previous six-cylinder C 43 managed.

The engine is paired to a nine-speed multi-clutch transmission, which isn’t a dual-clutch with a pair of clutches operating on every second gear ratio, but instead uses a “wet start-off clutch” for better take-offs and smoother shifting on the move (at least in theory).

Power is sent to the road via all four wheels thanks to Mercedes’ 4Matic all-wheel drive system.

While all other Cerato grades use a 112kW/192Nm 2.0-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine, the GT benefits from a spicier powertrain.

Under the bonnet is the Hyundai Group 1.6-litre T-GDI four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine delivering 150kW of power at 6000rpm and 265Nm of torque at 1500-4500rpm. This is the same tune as the Hyundai i30 N-Line.

This is paired with a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission that drives the front wheels. Lower grades use a six-speed torque converter auto. Kia dropped the manual from the S and Sport grades as part of the update.

The GT differs from the rest of the Cerato range as it has multi-link rear suspension, instead of a torsion beam setup. Both the suspension and steering have been tuned for dynamic driving. More on that later.

Despite the smaller engine you can hardly call the C 43 miserly, with a claimed combined urban/highway cycle rating of 9.1-litres per 100km. That’s only a 0.2L/100km improvement over the old six-cylinder.

On test, which included a return trip from Sydney to Bathurst via motorways and some dynamic back road driving, we saw a return of 11.8L/100km on the car's onboard computer.

While hardly hybrid-worrying, it’s impressive to think that driven modestly, such a potent engine can return a single-digit fuel figure.

According to Kia, the Cerato GT sedan uses 6.9 litres of fuel per 100km on the combined cycle. The GT hatch uses 0.1L less.

After a week of mixed driving in the Cerato GT, we recorded a combined fuel consumption figure of 9.0L/100km – a fair bit more than Kia’s claim.

The GT emits 157g/km of CO2 (official combined).

Let’s start with the good news. The new Mercedes-AMG C 43 is a quick car. The engine may be small in size but the electric turbocharger does its thing and provides plenty of punch.

You can get a performance boost, too, thanks to the belt-driven starter generator, which acts as a mild hybrid and gives you a surge of 10kW for a brief period if you need a sudden burst of extra speed.

The chassis is well-sorted, too, at least from a dynamic point-of-view. The rear-wheel steering can provide up to 2.5 degrees of turning, which improves handling at speed and manoeuvrability when parking.

However, there are some less-impressive elements to the C 43, too. The obvious one is the drama, or rather the lack thereof.

As I said at the beginning, the C 43 has never been as wild or raucous as the V8-powered C 63, but when you buy an AMG there’s a rightful expectation that it will provide some thrills.

The C 43 simply doesn’t have that character about it. Yes, it’s fast, but it produces that speed with efficiency rather than excitement.

And it’s not an engine size problem, because even the 2.0-litre four-cylinder A 35 and CLA 35 offer more ‘wow factor’ than the C 43.

Yes, the engine makes noise under acceleration (and it can be altered between discreet and sporty) but even at its best it sounds muted and lacks the evocative tone of a V8 or six-cylinder engine. 

Another disappointment is the transmission calibration, with the gearbox awkwardly shifting out of first gear on multiple occasions during our test drive.

In the taller gears it felt smooth enough cruising along, but given its low speed shifts we’d like to spend more time in the urban environment before passing final judgement. 

The other notable element of the driving experience we struggled with was the ride quality. While fine on the smoother motorways, our test drive included time on some patchy country back roads and the C 43, even in the ‘Comfort’ suspension setting, was simply too firm.

Riding on low profile tyres, the adaptive dampers struggled to isolate the cabin from the imperfections in the road, leading to a fussy ride at times.

Overall the C 43 is a good car, but it feels like there are still some areas where Mercedes could improve it to make it really live up to the AMG badge.

The 1.6-litre turbo engine is a ripper and it’s been put to good use in Hyundai’s i30 N-Line and Veloster Turbo.

It’s just as willing and responsive under the bonnet of the Cerato GT, but they each perform quite differently.

Accelerating from a standing start, there’s mild turbo lag in the Cerato, and some torque steer when accelerating hard.

Once up and running it’s quick, and the seven-speed dual clutch snaps through the gears smoothly while still allowing it to rev freely.

It’s the type of powertrain that is utterly unbothered by things like steep ascents. The Cerato GT just keeps pushing on, without losing momentum.

The downside of that is that the engine is super noisy when pushed and the Kia just doesn’t have sufficient noise suppression materials to counter that. Because of this, it lacks the refinement of its i30 N-Line cousin and the Mazda3.

Steering is weighted on the heavier side but it’s direct and the car goes where you point it.

Like many Kia models, the Cerato GT benefits from an Australian-specific steering and suspension tune. Kia doesn’t have a full performance hot hatch to line up with the i30 N, but the engineers seem to have tuned the suspension to be just as capable as the full-fat i30 N.

That certainly aids dynamic driving in the Cerato GT. It hugs corners and grips the road, avoiding any skipping and with only a hint of body roll.

However, we think Kia’s engineers have made the damper settings too firm, because the Cerato GT’s ride is harsh in virtually all driving environments.

A new, freshly laid road surface in an urban area without any speed bumps was the only time the ride was comfortable during our week with the car.

It crashes over potholes and it’s loud and jarring when you unexpectedly encounter a sharp rut. There’s a bit of vibration through the steering wheel too.

This is disappointing, especially when you consider that the i30 N-Line has a much more supple ride and is the sort of warmed-up hatch or sedan you could easily live with day to day.

We briefly drove the i30 N hot hatch just before we got into the Cerato GT and even that has a more tolerable ride quality than the Kia.

The Cerato GT achieved a five-star ANCAP crash safety rating in 2019 and it applies to all Cerato variants built after June 2021, except the S and Sport which have four stars because the autonomous emergency braking system offered as standard in those grades can’t detect vulnerable road users like pedestrians and cyclists.

Standard safety for the GT includes auto emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian and cyclist detection, forward collision warning, rear occupant alert, driver attention assist, rear cross-traffic alert with collision avoidance, blind spot detection and collision avoidance assist, adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist with lane follow assist steering, safe exit warning, front and rear parking sensors and a reversing camera.

At one point, the AEB kicked in pulling out of a parallel street parking spot because it detected a vehicle that had already driven past the car and was several metres ahead.

Kia’s lane keep assist system is generally impressive and functions without issue, but it pulls on the wheel a little. It’s not jolty like systems offered by some other brands.

When lane keep and follow assist are active, it can be fiddly to switch them both off. If you hold the steering wheel-mounted button down, the follow assist stays on but the lane keeping deactivates, so you just have to keep holding the button down until the lane and steering wheel icons in the digital display eventually disappear.

The C 43 is covered by Mercedes’ five-year, unlimited kilometre warranty, which has become the new standard for the luxury car market.

Service intervals for the car are at 12 months/25,000km, which is on par with industry standard.

Mercedes-Benz Australia will offer a service plan for the C 43, prices were yet to be confirmed at the time of publication but the company has indicated it will be similar to the C300. 

That means $550 for year one, $900 for year two, the third service costs $1000 and the fourth year service costs $2450 - for a total of $4900 for the first four years of ownership.

The Cerato, like all Kia models, is offered with a seven-year/unlimited kilometre warranty, and one-year free roadside assist which extends year by year if you service with Kia (up to eight years).

It also comes with a seven-year capped-price servicing plan that costs approximately $3234 over the seven-year period.

Servicing intervals for the Cerato GT are every year or 10,000km, whichever comes first.