Winter, here we go!
Winter is coming, slowly but steadily. It’s a good thing, as a car owner, if you are prepared, in terms of both looks and technology, for example, with a rim that fiercely defies all assaults from ice, snow, gravel, or road salt. Just like the AEZ Berlin black which, thanks to SRC (Salt&Sun Resistant Coating), takes the horror out of the cold season.
The Berlin, available in the colour schemes black and dark, is the latest creation from AEZ, and its star-shaped design has been customised especially for Mercedes cars. Curtains up for our dream team: The Berlin black meets the king of hot hatches, the Mercedes-AMG A 45 S, which has a few interesting features in stall, especially for winter, apart from all the other general superlatives.
The world’s most powerful four-cylinder
At its launch, Mercedes-AMG praised the A 45 S as a “hatchback supercar”, and very rightly so. Starting with the engine that is manually assembled by one dedicated mechanic, as is common practice at AMG, and at the first go, setting a new record: With 421PS from two litre cylinder capacity, it’s currently the most powerful four-cylinder produced in series.
The sprint from 0-100km/h in 3.9 seconds sends a strong message from a hatchback. Optionally, a top speed of 270km/h (in series 250km/h) is possible, which testifies to the “supercar” claim, at least in terms of performance.
Sporting a sporty look
Unlike its “civil” siblings, the A 45 S does not hold back when it comes to its looks. Massive air vents in the front, a four-pipe exhaust gas system with 90-mm diameters, an eccentric roof spoiler, rear diffusor, and the bonnet’s dominant power domes not only make an impression, the A 45 S AMG’s promising looks also deliver the goods. The combination with the AEZ Berlin black in the dimension 9x19 inches (ET52) with tyres in size 255/35/19 is seamless. The twenty intertwined double spokes with the distinctly polished rim flange will catch your eye, even in view of the AMG’s wild look. In fact, they manage to subtly emphasise the wheelhouses.
AMG drivers need not bother about approvals because thanks to ECE in the dimension 8.5x19 ET46 with 245/35 tyres, it’s all about “Plug&Play”, which is true for many other car models.
You can find additional rim designs that are perfectly suitable for winter use due to their SRC finish in the AEZ rim configurator.
Wild dog on short leash
Especially in winter, the sophisticated, in-series all-wheel drive 4MATIC+ that transmits power in combination with an eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox, pulls a few tricks out of the hat. In daily use, it provides optimum traction on snowy roads while on the racetrack, it increases driving dynamics using torque vectoring by smartly distributing the driving torques not only among the axles but also between the two rear wheels.
And for highly ambitious drivers, there’s a drift mode that demonstrates how cool the AEZ Berlin black look during rapid rotation, which should only be done at a closed off track.
