Mercedes-Benz CLA Review, Specs & Performance

Overview of the Mercedes-Benz CLA

THE NEW MERCEDES CLA-CLASS ADDS A GROWN-UP TOUCH TO THE JUNIOR COUPE SECTOR

INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR

The exterior design looks great, with the big wide ‘pin head’ grill and that large three-pointed star taking centre stage. Then we have that sloping roof line and 18” AMG wheels as standard. We would go so far as to say it looks and feels expensive. The ‘Shooting Brake’ version is much the same really, except a bit more, well estatey...

As for the interior, it’s a very nice place to be. Stemming from the new A-Class it comes with a 10” touch screen with sat nav, a 7” digital drivers display, dual climate, reversing camera and heated front seats all as standard.

For a bit more money you can opt for the Premium and Premium Plus packs. These offer all kinds of high tech kit, such as a larger 10” driver display, multi-colour LED Interior lighting, augmented reality sat-nav (yes, really and it’s good too) and an opening panoramic roof.

Seating is taken care with full leather AMG sports seats and the trim across the dash is very well done, with stitched faux leather and gorgeous round almost aero style silver air vents.

Boot capacity comes in at a relatively healthy 470 litres, not too far behind the big brother the C Class at 490 litres.  The main thing is that you can fit a set of golf clubs (just) or a push chair or a couple suit cases in there, for a smaller sporty car it’s a decent space.

A COMPREHENSIVE CHOICE OF ENGINES FOR THE CLA CLASS

There is a fantastic range of choice from Mercedes when it comes to powering your new CLA-Class.
Four petrol engines, two 1.3 litre turbo variants in different states of tune and two 2.0 litre powerplants to choose form. The 1.3’s come with either 136bhp for the CLA180 or 163bhp for the CLA 200. Moving up the 2 litre variants give 190bhp in CLA220 and finally 225BHP in the top engine the CLA250.

As for the old oil burners, well there is one. The CLA220 and it packs 190bhp and can offer up to 55.4mpgs.
As this is a sexy coupe (or shooting brake) you can have any transmission style you desire…. as long as it’s automatic. No seriously, automatic only and really when it comes to Mercedes-Benz, is probably no bad thing.

NEW MERCEDES CLA HANDLING AND DYNAMICS

 As the CLA is only offered in the AMG Line guise it’s safe to say that the handling is relatively sporty. Over the A-Class however, it gets a different rear suspension set up and has a wider track fitted front and rear which makes it hug the road even better. We found it to be on the comfortable side of sporty overall but that it gave a good account of itself on the British B-Roads.

SUMMARY

The Mercedes CLA Class comes to market with its second generation and is more accomplished than the last car. It can do things like set the cruise control speed to the road you're driving on (using GPS) and the air vents can change colour depending on if you're putting the heat up or down! Obviously, these depend on what model and spec you chose, but the fact they are on offer means Mercedes are very serious about this car and this comes across.

To learn more about the Mercedes-Benz C-Class please check out the Mercedes-Benz website.

If you would like to consider alternatives have a look at the following car lease deals from FVL:- Audi A3 Saloon  Mercedes-Benz C-Class