The A-class is great at lots of things, but swallowing holiday-levels of luggage with four or five people on board isn’t one of them.
The issue is not its good-sized maximum seats-down capacity, which is a useful and relatively accessible 1157 litres. No, it’s the average-only 341 litres rear seats-up space.
Of its prestige rivals, the Audi A3 and BMW 1-series offer bigger boots, only the Volvo V40 is smaller. Luckily, Mercedes UK, ever helpful, offered us loan of a roof box.
With its aerodynamically styled hat in place the A-class still looks fine and although its lid rattles a bit over bumps, the base feels solid and its content secure at motorway speeds.
And with Stansted Airport the destination and zero-tolerance, weight-excess freaks Ryanair the airline, there’s no other comfortable way to transport four 10kg carry-on bags and one massive 20kg suitcase for the family holiday.
With the box in place, though, two 10kg bags fit easily in the roof box – with room to spare – while the other three bags slot into the boot. Excess baggage problem solved. Phew!
