Premium-level spaciousness, comfort, touch, feel and ergonomics

A compact car on the outside and a family car on the inside, with the space available in a mini van - the new A-Class also manages to combine these apparently mutually exclusive features by virtue of its unique sandwich concept. The new compact Mercedes car outperforms its predecessor and competitors in terms of all comfort-linked interior dimensions: the shoulder room has grown by up to 97 millimetres, the width provided for passengers’ elbows by up to 95 millimetres and the space at knee height in the rear by 30 millimetres. The distance between the front and rear seats is 805 millimetres and is therefore the same as that found in a medium-size saloon.

The choice of interior materials is based on scientific investigations conducted in the laboratories of DaimlerChrysler’s research department, where car drivers evaluated surface materials, switches and controls in terms of how they feel to touch and provided valuable insight into the development of interior parts which not only look good, but are also good to touch. This means that looks and feel complement each other and makes an important contribution to making car passengers feel at ease. The Mercedes formula for the best possible touch, feel and ergonomics has been developed on the basis of these scientific tests: the "TAF factor" (touch and feel factor).

Alongside the dimensional concept, seat design and ergonomics, the air conditioning system in the interior compartment also helps to increase the safety and well-being of car passengers. In the new A-Class, Mercedes-Benz is therefore offering a high-performance air conditioning system as standard or on request will fit the compact car with a THERMOTRONIC automatic air conditioning system which operates on the basis of data recorded by sensors on temperature, position of the sun, air humidity and level of pollutants in the outside air.

Other optional extras available from the Mercedes luxury class include the innovative COMAND APS control and display system, the Audio 50 APS navigation car radio and bi-xenon headlamps.