This week, both BMW Malaysia and Mercedes-Benz Malaysia launched their latest B-Segment performance powerhouses – the M2 and the A45 AMG.
The thing is, despite the similarities on paper, these two cars are very different in just one aspect. See if you can spot it:
| Mercedes-Benz A45 AMG | BMW M2 | |
| Cylinder Arrangment | 2-litre inline-4 | 3-litre inline-I6 |
| Power Output | 381hp@6000rpm | 370hp@6500rpm |
| Torque | 475Nm @2250-5000rpm | 465Nm @1400-4750rpm |
| Combined fuel consumption from (l/100 km) | 6.9 | 7.9 |
| Combined CO2 emissions from (g/km) | 162 | 185 |
| Acceleration 0-100 km/h (s) | 4.2 | 4.3 |
| Top speed (km/h)
| 250 | 250 |
| PRICE (OTR w/o Insurance) | 348,888 | 498,800 |
Is it the engine and displacement? Nah, not too different. They’re both turbocharged and have cylinders arranged in a line. The real difference is of course the price.
It’s true, the ‘BMW’ name and ‘M’ badge carry more weight in the heads of many. But for close to RM150,000 MORE, BMW are selling you a car that has a less powerful engine, releases more CO2 per km, consumes 1 litre more petrol per km, and gets to 100km/h slightly slower than a Mercedes-Benz equivalent.
It is worth noting that the M2 has a larger boot and is 17cm more metal between bumpers. Merc has about 381 litres of trunks space while the BMW manages 390. And there’s something about the ‘M’ badge that speaks to people.
So has BMW done enough to the M2 to justify the enormous price difference or has Mercedes-Benz found a way to give its customers an accessible way to great power?
