Mercedes-Benz CLA review

It’s more than five years since we first laid eyes on the material and technical razzmatazz that Mercedes has since wound into all of its current-generation compact cars – the CLA running alongside the A-, B-, GLA- and GLB-Classes, all of which got the same twin-screen digital instrumentation and infotainment consoles, glitzy chrome and gloss black trims, and multi-colour ambient lighting features.

It’s been a concerted effort to put big-Merc tech into its smaller and more affordable models, and with the benefit of perspective it’s interesting that none of Mercedes’ rivals has followed its lead in quite the same way. The facelifted CLA doesn’t move the standard on much. It has a new steering wheel design (in higher trim levels, at least), a new-generation MBUX infotainment system, a tidied-up transmission tunnel console (without the old fingertip input pad and menu shortcut buttons) and some new digital instrumentation display modes. Otherwise, though, it has the same mix of glossy black and matt chrome trim decoration, and generally the same material look and feel. 

This isn’t an adult-appropriate, four-seat executive car, really. Children under the age of about 12 ought to be fine in the back – but I wouldn’t buy one with older second-row passengers in mind.

Matt Saunders

Road test editor

It’s an undeniably glitzy, chintzy take on how to put premium material appeal into a compact car, with plenty to take the eye but perhaps less to appeal to the touch – but it does work. The CLA’s heater controls do feel as expensive as they look, for instance. Some of its background cabin mouldings are a little hard and scratchy, but there is tactile quality to most of what you interact with and rest on, and once you’ve picked a colour you like and adjusted the brightness so it doesn’t impact on your night vision, the car’s ambient cabin lighting can be quite attractive too.

Sporty-looking seats with integrated head restraints feature in both rows of AMG Line cars (you have to buy bottom-end engine and trim to avoid them) and, although most testers would have preferred separate, adjustable headrests in principle, none complained about the positioning of those afforded, or the general comfort and support of the seats. The driving position is ergonomically sound, with good adjustability in the seat cushion height, length and angle, and decent lumbar support. The car’s control layout – while slightly different from the wider saloon norm thanks to a column-mounted gear selector stalk and a fascia-mounted electronic handbrake switch – doesn’t take long to become intuitive.

Despite the car’s swooping profile, it’s cleverly packaged enough up front that – even with a panoramic sunroof fitted – our test car made just enough room for a comfortable 6ft 3in driver. However, in the narrowness of its interior and its shortage of head room (more so in the second row, but noticeable in both), it is undeniably small even by ‘compact premium’ class standards.

The second row is one you would only really consider squeezing two occupants into – and they certainly wouldn’t be fully grown adults. Space is tighter than the class average for both heads and legs, and the oversized interior door handles are so big that taller occupants can quite easily – and painfully – trap an outboard knee between them and the front seatback while swinging the door closed.

A large boot is the sweetener you get in return for being prepared to suffer that second row. At 460 litres, it’s roomier even than the one you’ll find in the much larger Lexus ES.

If that isn’t enough, the CLA Shooting Brake expands on that up to 485 litres below the window line, or a little less in the case of the 250e - with a lot of extra loading space available when loading higher. The wagon version doesn’t offer much below-floor space, though, and it has a fairly narrow boot opening and a deep loading lip to lift heavy items over – so don’t confuse it for a natural load-lugger your money might buy.

Multimedia - 4 stars

All UK-market CLAs get Mercedes’ 10.3in touchscreen MBUX infotainment and digital instrument screen joined to it, as part of an apparently seamless sweep of the very latest and most sophisticated display technology you could hope for in a £40,000 car.