The 46,000 Mercedes-Benz A220 is the newest entry point to the famous luxury brand. We tested it to see if the 2019 Car of the Year runner-up is worthy of the badge.

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The 2019 Mercedes-Benz A220 is an entry-level four-door in the luxury carmaker's A-Series lineup, which has only recently hit US shores.

The nearly 50,000 car I tested was packed with performance extras and technology.

Budget-minded buyers might look elsewhere, but the A220 is fun to drive, easy on gas, and a great introduction to the Mercedes way of life.

It's one of the best small sedans I've driven, and that's why it's a 2019 Car of the Year runner-up.

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Editor's note: Business Insider will name its 2019 Car of the Year on November 23. Each day this week, we're taking another look at the five vehicles that were runners-up selected from a pool of 16 finalists. Thus far, we've named the Lamborghini Urus, Nissan Leaf SL Plus, and Cadillac XT4. Our fourth runner-up is the Mercedes-Benz A220. You can read our full 2019 Car of the Year coverage here.

Mercedes-Benz has been selling cars in the US for decades, but until quite recently, Americans were denied the rinky-dink A-Class vehicles that Mercedes had delivered elsewhere on the globe.

The A-Class was created in 1997. I saw my first one in the early 2000s I'm pretty sure it was a Brazilian-made car that had been sold in Mexico and had made its way to a parking structure in downtown Los Angeles.

Fifteen years later, the A-Class has finally made it to the USA, for its fourth generation. I had never driven one before, so I was delighted to check out a 2019 A220 sedan with Mercedes' 4Matic all-wheel-drive system. My tester didn't have an official sticker price, but by my estimation it was roughly 46,000.

That ain't chump change, but my A220 did have pretty much every option that could be added; base-priced examples hover around 32,000, which is about 10,000 cheaper than the lowest-grade C-Class. Bear in mind that you are getting a Merc that, unlike other sedans in the automaker's long history, is based on a front-wheel-drive architecture the same idea behind Honda Civics and Toyota Corollas.

I tried to avoid allowing my bias for rear-drive German luxury sedans to come into play with the A220. And when it was all a wrap after a week in the New York-New Jersey area, I was perfectly happy with the Benz's engineering.

But what about the rest of the ride made the A220 good enough to be a 2019 Car of the Year runner up? Read on to see what I thought.

Photos by Hollis Johnson.The A220 is a subcompact four-door that now slots in below the C-Class. A-Class rides are Mercedes' new point-of-entry. In "Iridium Silver Metallic," the A220 looks sharp, but it also blends in.

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If I had to sum the A220 up, I'd say the front is sleek and elegant, while the stubby rear ... is not.

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The compact stance definitely works better up front. My A220 had a special AMG Line package 2,600 extra that included a diamond-block grille, vented front disc brakes, and a dropped suspension.

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See the rest of the story at Business InsiderSee Also:Cadillac's 52,000 XT4 crossover is a tiny but mighty compact luxury SUV. Let's see if the 2019 Car of the Year runner-up is worth the money.Aston Martin just unveiled its 189,000 DBX SUV in China. Here's a closer look.The 44,000 Nissan Leaf Plus is a promising update to the best-selling electric vehicle in the world. We drove it to see if this 2019 Car of the Year runner-up is ready to take on Tesla.FOLLOW US: On Facebook for more car and transportation content!

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