Buy A Mercedes-AMG A45 S For The Price Of A VW Golf

Mercedes just revealed it's putting its 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine into its range-topping GT. We’ll leave you to make your own opinions on that, but it does mean we’re about to enter the age of the £100,000 four-cylinder AMG, without a hybrid system at least.

That engine derives from the Mercedes-AMG A45 S, which had us thinking, how much money can you save without skimping out on any performance? After a short nosy through the classifieds, we found this 2020 example of the second-generation hyperhatch.

For £32,450, you’re getting 415bhp and 369lb ft - exactly the same power found in the new GT43 - but for at least a third of the price. It’s actually quicker too, covering 0-62mph in 3.9 seconds as a result of the 4Matic all-wheel drive system compared with 4.3sec in the rear-driven GT. All that for the price of a new mid-spec VW Golf.

Granted, this particular engine has seen a fair bit of use - covering 45,500 miles and with five owners in just four years. That’s admittedly a bit of a red flag, especially as there’s no longer a manufacturer warranty, but it’s coming with 12 months MOT (we don’t have a reg, so we can’t check for any advisories).

It looks the part, though, complete with the very appropriate rear wing and with its Iridium Silver paint offset nicely with those black alloy wheels. Better still, because it’s the pre-facelift version of the A45, there are no stupid touch-sensitive buttons on the steering wheel.

There are a fair few extras ticked on the original spec sheet, including a Burmester surround sound system, 64-colour ambient lighting and a reversing camera.

It’s possibly verging on a brave pill to swallow - it’s not yet clear just how reliable (or not) those highly-strung AMG M139 engines are proving to be - but values don’t appear to be tanking anytime soon. Worth a crack?