‘As far as I’m concerned, the back seat is mainly there for its shape’
In 2013, to many people’s delight, Mercedes-Benz presented a compact and relatively accessible car according to the CLS recipe. This ‘four-door coupe’ could count on a nice crowd of fans, despite its somewhat strange appearance. The Germans corrected this with the second generation CLA. The car not only became more elegant, but (therefore?) also a lot more popular. What do you get with it? Owners and users provide the answer.
Part of the success will be the fact that the CLA is not only available as a ‘coupé’, but also as a ‘shooting brake’. Indeed, as a station wagon with a sporty sloping roofline. For the sake of fun, we will not discuss the misuse of these two terms, but we will look at what is there. And that is, as befits Mercedes-Benz, a wide range of powertrains. This ranges from the 136 hp CLA 180 to the CLA 45 AMG S 4Matic+ (correct…) with no less than 421 hp. In between you will find a CLA 250 e plug-in hybrid and a somewhat tamer CLA 35 AMG with 306 hp. Do we now hear you asking for a diesel? You are looking for that in vain for model year 2024.
Spacious CLA Coupé
We start with a bit of schadenfreude, because anyone who wants to be beautiful has to suffer pain. However? Well, with the CLA this is still quite nuanced. We’ll start with the Coupe. “With my 1.79 meters and normal build, I have more than enough freedom of movement in the front,” reports the driver of a CLA 200 Business Solution AMG. “I can also sit behind myself just fine. If you have to transport two people, they have nothing to complain about with the armrest.”
So many riders, so many experiences. For example, the driver of a plug-in hybrid CLA 250 e writes: “The size of the car is basically fine if you mainly sit alone or with two people in the car. With four adults you have to quickly adjust your seat to make room, which in my opinion reduces driving comfort. The trunk is not disappointing in terms of space, but due to the small ‘hole’, larger items simply do not fit through.”
The next driver takes a slightly shorter turn. “As far as I’m concerned, the rear seat is mainly there for its shape,” he writes about his CLA 180 Business Solution Luxury, “which is very short with hardly any headroom due to the low roof. The trunk is a bit strange. It is much larger than you might think at first glance, because it is extremely deep. The disadvantage is that the ‘entrance’ to the trunk is very low and small due to the small flap.” His solution? Traveling with weekend bags instead of suitcases.
Shooting Brake fills more easily
Not only this Coupé driver turns to bags, a CLA 250 e Shooting Brake driver also does so. “The trunk space is fine for us, we did buy a suitable set of bags for traveling and that works great, we have never loaded and unloaded the car so quickly before.”
The owner of a CLA 200 Shooting Brake asks the question himself and gives the answer. “CLA as a family car? I have seen this question several times on the internet. I understand the question, because you don’t easily label a Coupé as a family car. Coming from a BMW 320d Touring I can say that we have more space now. Both in terms of seating space in the front and back and in the trunk.”
A diesel-using Shooting Brake driver endorses this experience. “We have now completed our first holiday ride with our children. The space in the back is not overly large, but our children are still very young so it is fine for them. Everyone who sees the car thinks that there is no room in the trunk, but when you open the trunk it is actually not that bad. Just as big as most stations. This makes it quite a practical car, with style.”
Seating comfort
The preliminary conclusion: as long as you sit in the front, you will have plenty of room. But do you also have good seats? The driver of a CLA 180 in Luxury trim writes: “The ergonomic seat from Mercedes takes some time to adjust properly, but once you have found your seating position, it is fantastic. Even after an eight-hour drive (albeit including breaks along the way) I still climb out of the car completely armpit-free, without back pain or anything.” But it gets even more beautiful. “In fact, in these ergonomic chairs with heating, I often experience previous back pain disappearing rather than new back pain developing.”
“The chairs are very easy to adjust and I have never had any problems with my back, legs, shoulders or buttocks. That didn’t work in my previous cars! TOP!”, says another Luxury driver. “I consciously opted for the non-AMG package seats, I think this makes a big difference!”
However, the vast majority do have a car with this AMG package, which includes sports seats. These are also largely appreciated, as is the case with the following driver: “The contoured AMG sports seats are wonderful for me. With a small adjustment of the lumbar support I have the perfect sitting position, so that I still feel fresh after a few hours of driving. With some minor back problems, this has not been the case with every car for me.”
“The AMG seats are on the hard side and feel less ‘bucket’ than what they look like. The seat is also on the short side, there is an extender on it, but you always have it turned off because otherwise you have a very short seat.” Yet these chairs are a conscious choice. “I found the Luxury chairs even less comfortable and less attractive.” So you see, tastes differ.
Infotainment and controls
We will stay in the CLA for a while, because it is equipped with the MBUX infotainment system that debuted in the A-Class. Riders are mostly positive about this. “The ergonomics are excellent, everything is in the right place and is easy to operate,” says a CLA 180 driver. This is different for the advanced voice assistant. “The first time right percentages are not yet high. Could either be due to my Twente accent, or the lady needs some extra instruction.”
A second driver is also largely enthusiastic. “The MBUX can be operated in 4 ways. Voice, touchpad on the center console, touchpad on the steering wheel and touch controls on the screen. I don’t use the latter (I hate greasy fingers on a screen), the two touchpads work really sublime.” Just like our rider from Twente, this rider has had less good experiences with voice control. “I use it very occasionally to quickly switch to another radio station, but it doesn’t work very well. Many commands have to be pronounced exactly, otherwise she won’t ‘get it’. And with the radio on or talking in the car, ‘she’ often comes to help without being asked.” About the function that is appreciated by this, but also other CLA drivers: “A nice and useful option is that when you stand at a traffic light, it is shown on the screen. This is because the car is very low and you often cannot see the traffic lights without ducking forward.”
On the road with the CLA
Such a CLA looks sporty, and the names ‘Coupé’ and ‘Shooting Brake’ still create expectations. Does the car live up to that? In any case, the driver of a CLA 180 Business Solution Luxury is very satisfied with the driving characteristics. “It steers wonderfully. He takes corners with great pleasure and the mountain passes in the Pyrenees were a real pleasure in this car. The automatic transmission shifts exactly as you would want it to. Never feel like I have to intervene.” The driver of a 200 Business Solution in AMG trim is also pleased with the handling. “Don’t expect a super sports car, but the steering really has a fun factor, direct and communicates reasonably well what the front wheels are doing.”
The driver of an AMG-equipped CLA 200 Shooting Brake largely confirms that image. “Don’t expect a sporty car, it certainly isn’t. With the AMG package it looks sporty, but the engine is too light, the steering is not direct enough and the sports mode is too artificial. In sport mode the car becomes nervous instead of sharp and the sporty engine sound that comes (obviously) through the speakers adds nothing to the experience. This is not a disadvantage, I knew in advance, and the test drive at the time confirmed that, that this is a comfortable car.”
A CLA driver who previously drove a BMW 1-series is less enthusiastic. “These are completely different cars with a different character. I can now take entrances and exits less quickly; the car is less stable on the road and I don’t get enough of what exactly is happening under the car. I can therefore only say that the tuning of the chassis is clearly too smoothly adjusted for sporty driving.” He also points out another feature that more drivers complain about. “I hope you don’t live in a residential area if you chose this car,” he empathizes. “What a misery. I am someone who is very careful with my (lease) cars and always take speed bumps at a walking pace, often to the annoyance of the person behind me. And I STILL manage to scrape the bottom.” A second unanimous point of criticism concerns the lane assistant, which intervenes abruptly and has already led to startled reactions among several drivers.
Maintenance, malfunctions and irritations
Drivers of this second generation CLA are largely positive about the reliability of their car, they report no major problems and perhaps especially luxury problems. “The ambient lighting at the ventilation grilles goes out,” experiences a CLA 180 driver. “It is never a fixed ventilation grille. It alternates over the 5 ventilation grilles at the front. If you then start the car, they will do it again.”
No, then the problem of the next CLA 200 driver is a little more annoying. “After a year, the driver’s side window started to fail,” he writes. “After closing the door, the window no longer closes completely. You only notice this when you are up to speed and you wonder where that wind noise is coming from. Closing the window will no longer work, it will only work again after completely switching off the car and opening and closing the door. This ailment occurs a few times every 2 weeks. Garage cannot find the issue yet.”
A CLA 250 e-driver shuts down after 130,000 km. “No strange things happened during the maintenance, just the regular interval work. Only had a door panel/speaker checked several times (under warranty) because it resonated on certain tones. We also had some trouble with Mercedes Me for a while, but that turned out to be an error in the module that could be solved with a custom update.”
Contrary to what its appearance suggests, such a CLA appears to be spacious enough for most drivers, although the trunk of the ‘Coupé’ is somewhat difficult to load. Most drivers will like the seats and the infotainment is impressive. However, the nose of the car scrapes over speed bumps remarkably often and hardly anyone likes the unsubtle lane assistant. Despite these things, drivers of a Mercedes-Benz CLA are largely satisfied with it. And that’s a good thing, because it looks like this car will eventually be the smallest Mercedes.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl