I owned a C180 Kompressor 3 door hatch for 5 years: it did everything I wanted, it's only downside was the lack of performance. It died at 11 through a MOT fail that wasn't economic to repair.

Any replacement had to have a hatch opening large enough to take a couple or 3 bails of wood shavings for the horse. The outgoing A Class was too narrow. What to do? I bought a BMW M140: brilliant engine and transmission, terrible ride. When the new A35 came out, I tried it and changed.

I ordered the premium plus model, to keep the price under £40k I had to forego a few options, mainly adjustable suspension and head up display. I chose yellow, one of 3 no cost paint colours. The colour suits the car.

It is large enough, quick enough and the interior is second to none at the price point. After 4000 miles what are my thoughts?

Ride quality is better than the BMW, but for the broken minor roads of South Wiltshire softer suspension would have been good
The dual clutch box isn't a patch on the box in the M140i. It can be jerky and is obsessed with changing into the highest gear possible. Driving it in sport mode helps, but manual mode is much better, sadly fuel consumption is worse. .
Brakes and steering are great, roadholding excellent, but with AWD it should be.
The LED Dynamic headlights are incredible, fast to respond, yet they keep the N/S kerb well lit even when dipped for on comming traffic.

The yellow paint makes it really easy to find in a car part and its load carrying capacity is really good. And the interior illumination? Totally over the top if you want. Turn up the heating, or ask "Mercedes" to do it and the vents go red, turn down and they go blue for a couple of seconds: pointless, but it makes me smile every time!

I bought the car on a PCP in order to get a "dealer support" discount and other extras. After 3 months I concluded the car was a keeper, so paid off the PCP. I'll keep the car 5 or 6 years.

In summary, it is a refined "hot hatch" with enough character to make driving it a pleasure.
If you are in the Hot Hatch market, try one