The next best thing – eked even more power out of the world’s highest specific output engine. The facelifted A45 AMG develops 376bhp and 350lb ft, rises of 21bhp and 23lb ft on the original.
Remember, we’re talking about a 2.0-litre, four-cylinder engine here. One that’s road-legal, fully warrantied by one of the world’s most recognised luxury carmakers, and returns north of 40mpg on the official combined cycle.
This incredible motor develops more punch than the V8 in the back of a Ferrari F355. It is, regardless of the moral dubiousness of The Horsepower Wars, a remarkable engineering achievement.
So it’s fast, then?
Yes, both on paper, and on a road. The raw stats claim 0.4 seconds have been trimmed from the A45’s 0-62mph sprint, which falls to 4.2 seconds. That beats Audi’s 4.3 boast for the RS3 (never mind that Top Gear has already timed a fully fuelled RS3 at 3.9 seconds over the same discipline).
The top speed? I ran out of clear autobahn before the A45 stopped pulling, north of 160mph. It’s extremely fast.
The diminutive engine is nonetheless tractable, and pulls keenly from zip, though it really prefer life above 3500rpm. And, at last, we’ve got a gearbox that agrees.
Tell me more about that gearbox.
The A45’s transmission is all about raw speed, and thanks to shorter gear ratios for third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh, the acceleration is relentless. Oh, and launch control has graduated from ‘amusing’ to ‘downright uncomfortable’.
The way the A45 initially moves from standstill to, say, 15mph does things to the squishy bits of your body that verge on abuse.
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