Mercedes-Benz CLA250 vs Honda Civic

What's the difference?

If you're after a hot hatch with a boot, you can't have one because it wouldn't be a hatch anymore.

What you can have is this little beast - the new, second-generation Mercedes-AMG CLA 45 S, a small coupe-style sedan sharing its high-performance DNA with the hot as bubbling lava A 45 S hatch.

Packing 300kW – that's just over 420hp – and 500Nm its 2.0-litre engine is claimed to be the most powerful series production turbo four ever made.

And Australian deliveries are scheduled for early 2020, with a likely price tag in the mid-$90k bracket.

Mercedes-AMG invited us to the car's global launch in Madrid, Spain, where we got behind the wheel on road and track.

I’m just going to cut to the chase here. This Honda Civic hybrid is a good car. A great one, even.

But for some reason, nobody is really buying it. And it’s not just because it’s not an SUV – it has been outsold in its segment this year by the the BMW 1 Series, the Mercedes A-Class, the MG4 EV, and the VW Golf. Premium and non-premium alike, they’ve all got the little Honda licked.

So, what’s going on? A CarsGuide investigation is required. Stick around and we’ll try to figure this out together.