German tuner Renntech has turned Merc's A45 AMG into a 452bhp, 186mph monster. Is this a good-value way to get from 0-62mph in 3.9sec, or an ill-advised effort to make the A45 yet more expensive? Maybe it’s the comically offensive exhaust. Think reverberant metallic boom, punctuated by a resounding crack on the upshift, and often finished with the cymbal hiss of the dump valve’s release. Or perhaps it’s the styling that – to these eyes at least – has stuck two fingers up at tasteful and gleefully gone on to embrace flamboyancy.More likely than any of that, it’s the no-prisoners performance served up by the 452bhp, 398lb ft 2.0-litre turbocharged motor.Regardless of the specifics, the Renntech Mercedes A45 AMG is an oddly addictive thing.For £3599, the Nürburgring-based tuners will take your stock A45 AMG, update its software, turn the turbo boost pressure up from 1.85 to 2.05bar and deliver you a car that will do 0-62mph in 3.9sec and strop right on to a faintly ludicrous 186mph. That’s improved from 4.6sec and a limited 155mph in the (hardly faint-hearted) standard A45 AMG, which produces a mere 355bhp and 332lb ft.Naturally, Renntech will upgrade the chassis and brakes, too. For £2050 including fitting, you get a set of Pagid brake pads and Bilstein coilovers (tuned and set up by Renntech) in the softer of two available set-ups, catchily titled the ‘Fast Road B16’ package. Opting for the firmer Clubsport set-up, as fitted to our test car, will cost a further £1626. Finally, our car also came with Renntech’s sports exhaust downpipe and catalytic converter, at £1935.You can opt out of the carbonfibre bonnet and garish decals if you wish, and the £6000 19in forged alloys that our car sits on are also probably an unwise expenditure. from Autocar RSS Feed http://ift.tt/1FGGevK
via AGYA
