Motor Trend Review of 2020 Mercedes Cl250 Dec 10 2019
| Car Reviews
2020 Mercedes-AMG CLA35 First Drive Review: Try Another Gate
The CLA35 exists in a sort of no homo'south country in terms of power and toll. Does it satisfy?
SCOTTSDALE, Arizona—Mercedes-Benz likes to call its CLA-Class sedan a "gateway model," we suppose in the fashion that marijuana was a "gateway drug" in pre-recreational parlance. The beginning one definitely isn't free at Mercedes, only the idea is the aforementioned: That you'll chip in for a minor handbag of CLA, and wake up one mean solar day huffing leather in an AMG-badged Due south-Class, with a depleted bank account, and no memory of who handed y'all the keys.
Evidently, the addiction model has been working: For the first-generation CLA of 2014, which Mercedes famously dangled at a street-corner price of around $xxx,000, seventy percent of buyers were get-go-timers to the make. 65 percent of those people ended up buying another Benz. The flip side of all that up mobility was a familiar fence in entry-level luxury, on whether the CLA was a "real" Mercedes or not.
This 2d-generation, 2020 CLA won't be troubled past those whispers. This still-curvaceous sedan moves upwardly itself, leaving the dirty piece of work of brand recruiting to the new A-Course; just as the C-Class has steadily risen in size, luxury, and positioning to become arguably the virtually expensive compact sedan on the marketplace. It's difficult to call anything "entry level" that can cost $68,000 and charter for $870 a calendar month, and that's just for a well-optioned AMG C43, let alone a full-diddled AMG C63.
That leaves plenty of room for a redesigned, front-wheel-drive CLA250 at $37,645 to commencement, with 221 horsepower and 258 lb-ft from a turbocharged, 2.0-liter four. Add together $2,000 for 4Matic all-cycle drive, and you're looking at a nigh $twoscore,000 Mercedes sedan before a single pick is tallied. A lot has inverse since 2014 and that $30K cost. Fortunately, the CLA has changed, as well, with requisite gains in luxury, features, refinement, and cargo space to help justify most $vi,700 in cost inflation over the original, and a $3,550 leap over the 2019 model.
The new 2020 CLA35 AMG 4Matic benefits from that higher baseline, and then raises it with 302 horsepower and 295 pound-anxiety from an AMG-massaged version of the 2.0-liter, twin-scroll-turbo engine. Mercedes figures a 4.5-2d cannon shot to 60 mph, and that number felt about correct—despite a lack of tire chirp or other drama when I engaged its automated Race Start launch-command mode. Meridian velocity is limited to a familiar 155 mph.
The Mercedes CLA35'due south visual impressions proved more exciting, equally it's a "four-door coupe" that however recalls a smaller doppelgänger of the arching CLS, correct down to its frameless windows. Drivers peer out over a hood with dual, peaked power domes. That's fronted by a probing, shark-like nose, an AMG-specific bumper with twin louvers, a yawning radiator grille and wide wheel arches. 18-inch wheels are standard, with our test example flaunting a 19-inch, matte-black multispoke design whose $1,030 upcharge was the first of many on this item auto. The side sills are accentuated, too, while out dorsum slender, fly-shaped taillamps soar over big circular exhaust outlets and a gloss-black diffuser. A pert trunklid spoiler completes the pretty AMG picture. And that moving-picture show is enlarged with four additional cubic feet of body space versus the previous CLA.
Hopping into the CLA after an economy flying from New York to Phoenix, I'm met by a more first-class experience. Cherry-red-piped sport seats rising like Greek columns and feature integrated headrests. Hither, they're covered in black leather but microfiber treatments in reddish and blackness or blackness and gray are bachelor. Ambient lighting adjustable to i of 64 hues accentuates the door trim and the lovely brushed-aluminum, bullseye-style vents. More than splashes of color—in this example blithe 3D-style—come from the new MBUX infotainment setup, which replaces Mercedes' former Comand organisation with dual, ten.three-inch screens joined beneath a single glass encompass like the earth'south coolest iPads.
MBUX and its panel touchpad may be a bit clunky for your fingers, especially before you've acclimated, simply its reconfigurable displays and loftier-res graphics are incredibly like shooting fish in a barrel on the eyes. That includes a digital instrument cluster with Classic, Sport, and Sport+ displays, the latter flashing a video-game-worthy central tachometer bookended by animated bars. AMG-specific readouts include driving programs, AMG Track Pace, and telemetry data. A pianoforte-blackness AMG console adds buttons to toggle the adaptive suspension, stability control, and transmission-gearchange function. As in the standard CLA, there are gesture controls for reading lights and basic infotainment functions, and Mercedes' Voice Assistant remains a not fully broiled Apple Siri or Amazon Alexa. Central options—and our exam car bristled with virtually of them—include a Burmester environs-sound system, and the Commuter Assist package and its myriad camera- and radar-based back up systems.
The chassis gets the usual AMG beef-up, including a revised front axle and an aluminum shear plate beneath the engine to help overall stiffness. A mechanical suspension is standard, with our car's AMG adaptive dampers an $850 option. That one seems a must for pothole-strewn cities, and we found a nice bandwidth of both suspension and engine functioning every bit we traversed five driving modes: Slippery, Comfort, Sport, Sport+, and Individual. That latter mode was helpful, assuasive us to lock the steering into its most felicitous Sport setting while choosing a softer ride. The brakes are enlarged and the steering retuned, and the CLA35 gets a and so-called Performance 4Matic AWD system with brake-based torque vectoring. The dual-clutch, seven-speed Speedshift transmission gets sportier overall programming as well.
It'south all a long dissertation, merely the upshot is a CLA that's stuffed like a calzone with luxury and performance gear. So why wasn't I blown away by the CLA35? First, the price may singe your eyebrows, once this little Benz is equipped to your liking. And like the rival Audi S3, and a few other mid-range AMG Sport models, the Mercedes feels more than capable than captivating; more than a luxury limited than a wicked sport sedan.
The sweet-voiced engine certainly gets the job done, whipping the standard CLA250 in the race to 60 mph by more than two seconds. The steering is firm and accurate, and the new red-stitched AMG steering bicycle feels neat, with its flat bottom, perforated leather grips and galvanized-steel shift paddles. Merely the powerband is packed sardine-tight, with peak torque available in a narrow ring between 3,000 and 4,000 rpm; BMW's loftier-functioning turbo fours are more flexible and free-revving. Tire grip is enormous, but to the point that I felt the CLA was really carrying too much tire: On long coulee summits and descents, with snowmelt leaking across polish Arizona pavement, I tried and mostly failed to go the Mercedes to slide or rotate. Between the sticky 19-inch tires and the safety-outset 4Matic system, the CLA mostly transitioned into tedious, front-bulldoze-style understeer when I tried to flirt with the cliffs.
Our Mercedes' $47,895 price, already a $9,200 premium over a base-model CLA250, then rose to $65,765 out the door. Of grade, yous're non required to slap on $12,000 in options. But even if yous back off a bit, that'southward a lot of money for any four-cylinder, front-bulldoze-based meaty sedan. At these prices, I could no longer ignore the being of, say, the All-Stars-winning BMW M2 Contest. It's priced from just under $threescore,000, with a sickening 103-hp advantage from the M3's 405-hp inline half dozen nether its hood. Sure, that i's a rear-bulldoze coupe and non an AWD sedan. Simply if BMW decides to give its iv-door, ii-Series Gran Coupe an Grand treatment involving a version with its overachieving, 385-hp turbo-six, this CLA will be down two cylinders and oodles of horsepower—and be thoroughly outgunned.
Ultimately, the redesigned CLA250 manages to uphold the Benz bluecoat, and does a amend task of balancing luxury and value. The CLA35 AMG moves quicker and doesn't skimp on the toppings. But if you're going to spend this much, enthusiasts might just consider going all-in for the CLA45 AMG, featuring the world's most powerful four-cylinder engine: The two.0-liter M139 turbo, with a crackling 382 horsepower (or 416 in Europe's "S" version) and a resulting factory-stated four.0-2nd sprint to 60 mph. We're not sure what the CLA45 volition cost, only we do know this: No 1 volition accuse it of beingness entry-level.
Looks good! More than details?| 2020 Mercedes-AMG CLA35 Specifications | |
| ON SALE | Now |
| PRICE | $47,895 |
| ENGINE | 2.0L DOHC xvi-valve turbocharged I-iv; 302 hp @ 5,800 rpm, 295 lb-ft @ 3,000-iv,000 rpm |
| TRANSMISSIONS | 7-speed dual-clutch automatic |
| LAYOUT | iv-door, v-passenger, front-engine AWD sedan |
| EPA MILEAGE | 21/31 mpg (city/hwy, est) |
| L x W 10 H | 184.8 x 72.2 10 55.3 in |
| WHEELBASE | 107.4 in |
| WEIGHT | iii,505 lb (mfr) |
| 0-threescore MPH | four.5 sec (mfr) |
| TOP SPEED | 155 mph |
Source: https://www.motortrend.com/reviews/2020-mercedes-amg-cla35-first-drive-review-photos-specs/
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