Mercedes-Benz A250e

The new A250 e adds typical Mercedes-Benz quality to the PHEV sector, says Andrew Walker

Company cars come and company cars go and today, thanks to government tax incentives, many are going quicker than ever.

In order to attract the company car driver and appease the company car fleet manager, Mercedes-Benz has started to bring out new plug-in hybrid models, to sit alongside its new electric EQC and EQA cars. The first one to make it to Company Car Towers was the A250 e, Benz’s most affordable plug-in hybrid.

Mercedes is keeping it simple in terms of range, with hatchback and saloon body styles, but only in the higher-spec AMG Line-based trim. So you get to choose from AMG Line Edition costing just under £33,980, AMG Line Executive £34,480, AMG Line Executive Edition from £35,980, or AMG Line Premium Plus £37,480, with each costing around £1,500 more than the equivalent petrol model.

All are powered by a turbocharged 1.3 litre 158bhp petrol engine with a 101bhp electric motor and a 15.6kWh battery, which altogether offer an output of 215bhp. It’s quick: 6.6 seconds for 0-62mph.

Plug in at home on a 7.2kWh walk box (http://www.rolecserv.com/home-charging) and a full charge takes about two hours. Mercedes claims a 45-mile electric range but our real world test put this closer to 32, but that’s still better then most of the competition. Overall, Mercedes claims a combined mpg of 283 miles, which as we found out, is a little high !

However, thanks to its electric option and low CO2 emissions of just 24g/km, the A250 e comes with BIK as low as 7%, great news for your wallet and your accountant.

There are four driving modes available: Electric for pure electric driving; Comfort, which blends the electric motor and petrol engine for the most efficient driving; Sport, for more fun; and Individual, which allows you to tinker with settings to your heart’s content.

Standard equipment is good, with entry Edition featuring 18” AMG alloys, AMG body styling, a night package, sports seats and ambient lighting in 64 colours. If you choose the AMG Line Executive model, it comes with AMG Mercedes’ Parking Package as standard, which adds a reversing camera, active parking assistance, front and rear parking sensors and wireless phone charging. Standard kit includes the MBUX user experience with touchscreen interface with ‘Hey Mercedes’ intelligent voice recognition, with the larger 10.25” touchscreen infotainment screen, plus Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

The quality impresses. From the five air vents across the dashboard, to the steering wheel controls, dashboard top and central binnacle, all are top-notch. The seat finishes are neat and tidy, the steering wheel control functions simple to work out. The gear lever on the steering column and seat adjusters on the doors take getting used to, but it’s a great cabin to be in.

Space is significantly better than on the previous model. It’s 14mm longer, offers +9mm of front and +22mm of rear shoulder room, + 35mm /36mm of elbow room and +7mm/+ 8mm of headroom more than the Mk1. Access to the rear seats is also a lot easier.

The lithium-ion batteries eat up a bit of boot space, which is now 310 litres – 60 litres less than the petrol.

We spent a week in the A250 e and overall, thoroughly enjoyed it. The driving position is low and feels sporty. A journey to south London and back over a Bank Holiday weekend showed the car at its best. Despite four hours each way in the cabin, I found the seats super-comfortable and escaped with no aches and pains whatsoever.

On the motorway it’s so easy to drive. Taking advantage of Adaptive Cruise Control, you can select your speed, sit back and relax as the miles disappear before you. Just one word of caution: always keep the EQ settings in the Electric in the City function to store your electric range for urban driving where it is utilised best, as the A250 e has a habit of draining it on the motorway.

Steering is light and precise and though the eight-speed automatic gearbox isn’t the smoothest, it does the job.

Only downsides are a bit of road noise but the pros are numerous: great build, it’s very comfortable, and has a low BIK. The claimed combined mpg of 283 miles, as with all PHEVs, is nigh-on impossible, but as we discovered, 70 mpg is infinitely possible.

All in all, you’d be hard pressed to find a better premium plug-in hybrid tax avoider than the A250 e. The Audi A3 TFSI e is definitely a lot quieter but takes twice as long on a home wallbox to charge from empty to full and has a lower pure electric range (41 compared to the A Class’s 45 miles). It also has a smaller boot and doesn’t have Mercedes-Benz’s fabulous digital cockpit. Knock your fleet manager’s door down for an A250 e.

A250 e is breaking hearts of rivals – and the Treasury

CC&V VERDICT

Merc style coupled with low BIK make this A-Class the one for company car customers