2021 Mercedes AMG A 35 4Matic

All Competitions include Full Merino Leather upholstery and matching Alcantara headliner. The seats are heated and ventilated, and the driver and front passenger receive a massage function. Adding to passenger comfort are four natural fragrances to choose from, which is part of the Ambient Air Package, ensuring the cabin always smells good.

boosted V8-endowed powertrain. The iconic kidney grille now has the two sections connected and is substantially taller than before, though thankfully not to the extent of the new 4 Series. In addition, there’s the usual assortment of fender gills, fender flares, window spoiler and aggressive rear diffuser enveloping the oversized quad exhaust.

The Competition grade receives some extra exterior goodies like a blacked-out treatment on the double-barred kidney grill frame, side mirror caps (or finished in carbon fibre if the $1,850 Enhanced Package is purchased), badging and muffler tips. Our press vehicle was sprayed in an electric Marina Bay Blue Metallic paint that stood out like a sore thumb among the usual sea of boring monotone cars on the road.

Ambient lighting is a pretty standard feature in the segment nowadays but BMW oneups the competition (no pun intended) with the sheer amount of multicolour LEDs hidden throughout the interior space. The dash, foot wells and speakers all emit an eerie glow in the evening, as well as the Sky Lounge panoramic sunroof doing its best impression of the shuttle bay doors on the Starship Enterprise.

All Competitions include Full Merino Leather upholstery and matching Alcantara headliner. The seats are heated and ventilated, and the driver and front passenger receive a massage function. Adding to passenger comfort are four natural fragrances to choose from, which is part of the Ambient Air Package, ensuring the cabin always smells good.

The infotainment runs off the latest iDrive 7 OS — and the great thing about the German brand is for those who have driven any fairly recent BMW, using the revised system will feel like second nature. This is something other manufacturers would do well to emulate, rather than leaving users baffled on how to do something as simple as change the bass setting on the stereo.

You can’t have Competition in the vehicle’s name and not have the specs to back it up. A high-revving twinturbocharged V8 engine, paired to an eight-speed automatic transmission, produces a mind-blowing 617 horsepower and 553 lb-ft of torque, the former a full 50 horsepower more than the second-gen X5 M. Aided by traction-friendly M xDrive all-wheel drive with Active M Differential 0 to 100 km/h takes only 3.9 seconds, a number that would make most muscle cars jealous.

If the bright paint doesn’t get enough attention in traffic, the M Sports Exhausts should, especially after pressing the M Sound Control button on the centre console to open up the electrically controlled flaps in the piping.

High performance SUV motoring doesn’t get much better than the 2021 BMW X5 M, which can be yours for $132,899 MSRP.

2021 PREMIUM HOT HATCH FUN

PHOTOS: MERCEDES PRESSROOM MERCEDES

AMG A 35 4MATIC

BY Benjamin Yong

“Canadians love performance vehicles. In fact, one out of every four vehicles we sell is an AMG. With the A 35 hatch and sedan we [are expanding] our AMG line-up even further and offer exciting performance driving in the compact class,” says Brian Fulton, president and CEO of MercedesBenz Canada.

Entry level and high performance are two adjectives that rarely go together in the same sentence, but they do when talking about the 2021 Mercedes-AMG A 35 4MATIC.

“Ever since we announced the introduction of the A-Class to the Canadian product portfolio, many have been anxiously awaiting news of an AMG variant,” say Brian Fulton, president and CEO of MercedesBenz Canada, in a press release. “Canadians love performance vehicles. In fact, one out of every four vehicles we sell is an AMG. With the A 35 hatch and sedan we [are expanding] our AMG line-up even further and offer exciting

HIGHLIGHTS

MSRP: $49,800 Motor: 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder Horsepower: 302 @ 5,800 rpm Torque (lb-ft): 295 @ 3,000 rpm Gearbox: Seven-speed dualclutch automatic Layout: Front engine, all-wheel drive Fuel economy: 12.5 L/100 km mixed city/highway (observed)