Mercedes A-Class review

The majority of A-Class buyers won’t be paying cash; they’ll be signing up to a PCP finance deal. If you’re planning to do that, an A-Class will generally cost you more per month than its premium-badged rivals, including the BMW 1 Series, but prices do vary from month to month depending on manufacturer or dealer incentives. The A-Class has strong resale values relative to its non-premium rivals, but they’re not predicted to be as robust as the A3's and 1 Series' after three years.

If you’re a company car driver, you'd do well to look at the A250e; its low CO2 emissions, impressive all-electric range and plug-in hybrid tax breaks result in very reasonable benefit-in-kind (BIK) tax compared with regular petrol or diesel engines. It sits in the same company car tax bracket as the A3 TFSIe, Skoda Octavia iV and Volkswagen Golf GTE, but the Skoda’s cheaper purchase price means even lower monthly payments. Its battery can be charged from 0-100% in around two hours using a 7kW wall charger which is good, but not so good is the engine’s thirst when it’s out of battery. High 30s mpg is the best we saw during our testing.

Entry-level SE trim gets you the basics, including (relatively small) 16in alloy wheels, single-zone air conditioning, heated front seats, cruise control and keyless go. Range-topping AMG Line is tempting, but pushes the price into the territory of larger cars, such as the BMW 3 Series. You’ll need to opt for that to get one of the A250 engines, though.