Mercedes-Benz CLA Review 2024

The latest Mercedes CLA is not the most practical choice, but if you want practicality, you don’t buy a coupe, you buy a saloon or an estate, right? Smaller and more compact that rivals such as the Audi A5 Sportback and Volkswagen Arteon, but not a lot cheaper, either. Still very competitive, though.

When is a coupe not a coupe? Why, when it’s got four doors, of course.

Not the funniest joke, perhaps, but it raises a valid question. Purists and pedants will argue until the cows come home about whether a car with four doors can ever really be described as a coupe, but does it really matter? Besides, a victory either way won’t stop car makers applying the term to their slinkily styled saloons. 

And yes, Mercedes has plenty of form in this area. The first CLS - a swoopy version of the E-Class - didn’t invent the phrase but certainly bought it into the modern-day public consciousness, while this, the smaller CLA, is now in its second generation.

Based on the A-Class, the previous CLA didn’t have much of a start in life, because the mechanicals that lay underneath were a little bit rubbish. The latest A-Class, though, is much more like it, so does that translate into a higher level of dynamic excellence for the CLA, too? Happily, yes it does.

Now, before you go assuming that the CLA’s slinky lines guarantee it to be some sort of sports car, we’ll scotch that particular rumour from the get-go.

Yes, it handles capably and securely, but this car is more about comfort and refinement than agility and speed, and as a result, it’s a really nice, relaxing car to spend time in as the miles slip by. Granted, the entry-level engines could do with more poke and better noise isolation, but stick with the perkier versions and you’ll lead a very quiet life.

You’ll also be bedazzled by what sits directly in front of you, because the CLA, like every other modern Merc, is packed with high-tech infotainment kit.

It works well and looks absolutely fabulous, while it also supports all the functionality you could reasonably expect from it. Other luxury kit is in plentiful supply, too, and if anything, the huge amount of standard safety kit on board is even more impressive.

The interior is also really impressive for quality, even if it’s not quite so impressive for practicality. Rear headroom is tight, particularly in versions with the panoramic roof, and while the boot is a decent size, the space is a little difficult to get at.

That said, if you want ultimate practicality, you buy a saloon or an estate instead, and the CLA will be roomy enough to customers who only use their rear seats occasionally, or exclusively for kids.

No, it’s not a cheap option, with prices similar to those of bigger rivals like the Audi A5 Sportback and Volkswagen Arteon. Even so, a very appealing choice that’s well worthy of your consideration.

While both the Merc’s main competitors - the Audi A5 Sportback and Volkswagen Arteon - have a slightly firm edge to how they ride in the pursuit of sportiness, the CLA takes a slightly softer, more relaxed approach. It’s all the better for it, too.

It soaks up minor road imperfections very effectively, and it doesn’t thud too much over sharp-edged potholes. Take to an undulating road, and you will find the body floating around a bit over the dips and crests, but it’s nothing that’ll have the kids going green around the gills.

Having said that, the body roll is progressive and predictable, so fast direction changes aren’t unsettling, while there’s plenty of grip and precise, accurate steering. True, the steering might be a little light for some tastes, but it does help make life easier when pottering through tight urban environments, the CLA’s smaller dimensions compared with rivals help here, too.

The petrol range kicks off with the CLA180, which uses a turbocharged 1.3-litre engine that produces 136PS, but we haven’t tried that one yet, either. We have, however, tried the CLA200, which has a 163PS version of the same engine.

It feels fairly responsive from low down in the rev range, making your progress fairly easy and relaxed, but if you work it harder, you might be surprised that it doesn’t deliver more.

If you ignore the sporty AMG 35 and 45 models, the range-topping petrol engine is the CLA250, which has a 2.0-litre unit with 224PS. We haven’t tried it yet, though.

The one diesel option in the CLA is the 220d, which comes with the same 190PS 2.0-litre engine found in the C-Class and E-Class. It’s hugely muscular right from the bottom of the rev range, so it never needs more than a gentle prod of the accelerator to get you going at a decent rate, and it has a very tidy turn of pace when you work it harder.

The CLA has already achieved the maximum five-star rating after being smashed up by the experts at Euro NCAP, and with the super-impressive amount of standard safety equipment on board, that’s really no surprise.

As well as all the usual airbags and stability aids, you get automatic emergency braking, lane keeping assistance, and a system to detect whether the driver needs a break. There’s also an active pop-up bonnet to give better protection for pedestrians.

All cars have super-bright LED headlamps, while AMG Line Premium Plus cars have cleverer multibeam ones that can beam their light around oncoming cars so as not to dazzle fellow drivers.

There’s also an option package that bundles up a range of even cleverer driver assistance systems, including blind spot monitoring, cross traffic alerts, adaptive cruise control and automatic adoption of speed limits, but you can only add it to the very top trim level. There’s no spare wheel on any version, either, with a pot of tyre sealant provided in each case.

The slinky roofline means that rear headroom is rather on the tight side, and if you’re six-foot tall or above, you’ll find your hairdo hitting the headlining.

There’s bags of kneeroom, so taller passengers can scooch down in their seats, but this will only provide so much relief. The CLA’s small, oddly shaped rear door openings can also make getting in and out of the rear seats slightly awkward. 

Things are a little mixed in the boot. There’s a very decent amount of space, although it’s not quite as much as you get in an A5 Sportback, and considerably less than in an Arteon, but it’s rather hard to get at.

That’s because the boot opening is decidedly narrow and shallow, and there’s a hefty old lip that you’ll need to drop heavy items over. The rear seats split-fold in a 40-20-40 configuration, but the car’s slinky shape means that not all that much more space is opened up.

The quality of the materials is high enough to fool you into thinking that you’re travelling in an executive saloon, and importantly, it’s good enough to match any of its rivals.

The twin screens and big, blingy air vents also help give the interior design plenty of theatre, more so than in rivals, and the various injections of stitched leather, brushed aluminium, chrome and glossy black panelling means there’s real variety in the colours and textures on show.

However, while it’s a match for an Audi A5 on swishness, it doesn’t feel quite as solid or substantial: pokes and prods in certain places result in a few more creaks and flexes.

The CLA’s cabin is dominated by two screens that take most of the car’s various functions, plus the information that would usually be delivered on conventional analogue instruments, and presents them all in one integrated unit. 

You operate the system by tapping and swiping at the left-hand screen, or by using the laptop-style touchpad and shortcut buttons located on the central partition between the front seats.

The graphics are sharp and the menus have a logical layout, so it’s easy to find your way around. However, the touchpad controller is less precise than the iDrive rotary dial you get in a BMW. Alternatively, you can also operate the system using a sophisticated voice control system that recognises natural speech rather than specific pre-set commands, and it works well.

In all models, the middle screen measures 10.25 inches. In AMG Line cars, the instrument screen measures 7.0-inches, but if you upgrade to AMG Line Premium or above, this becomes the same size as the centre screen. In all models, the system supports DAB radio, Bluetooth, wireless phone charging, navigation and Apple Carplay/Android Auto.

At the time of writing, prices for brand new examples of the CLA kicked off at just over £31,000 for the CLA180 in AMG Line trim, which rose to almost £33,000 for the CLA200.

The CLA250 cost closer to £35,000, while the CLA220d diesel was marginally more expensive than that. What’s more, every step buyers took up the trim structure - from AMG Line, to AMG Line Premium, to AMG Line Premium Plus - would cost another £1500 each time.

Compared with prices for the A5 Sportback and Volkswagen Arteon, these prices are a little lower, but not by all that much. Mercedes’ website often offers various finance promotions, though.

At the time of writing, we saw the CLA 180 being offered for around £345 per month on a four-year PCP deal following an initial deposit of just over £5,200, which equates to a discount of around £1500. The CLA holds onto its value better than rivals, too, so depreciation losses won’t be as heavier, but it will mean slightly loftier prices for used car buyers.

The latest WLTP tests reckon an average of more than 56mpg should be achievable, and while this figure is probably rather optimistic, you should be able to get reasonably close to that in the real world if you treat it very gently. All the petrols, meanwhile, will better 40mpg according to the figures, with the CLA180 and CLA200 giving you more like 46mpg.

You wouldn’t expect a desirable car like the CLA to cost a pittance to insure, but you wouldn’t expect it to be ruinously expensive, either, and that’s about how it shakes out.

The CLA 180 is the cheapest to cover, sitting in group 27 (of 50), while the 200 is only a fraction higher in groups 29 or 30, depending on trim level. The priciest ones to insure (assuming you ignore the high-powered AMG 35 and 45 models) are the 220d and 250, sitting in groups 34 and 35, respectively.

Check out the various reliability surveys doing the rounds, and you’ll find that Mercedes doesn’t perform as well as you might expect, usually figuring towards the foot of the table for manufacturers. It usually outperforms Audi and BMW, though.

The CLA is intended to be a posher product than the A-Class on which it’s based, so only top-end trims levels are offered.

The AMG Line trim is the first of them and it comes with pretty much everything you need. Aside from all the infotainment and safety kit mentioned earlier, you get alloy wheels, cruise control, sports seats, four powered windows, leather upholstery, a leather steering wheel, heated front seats, keyless go, dual-zone climate control, a reversing camera, front- and rear parking sensors and a system that helps steer you into parallel parking spaces.

Stepping up to AMG Line Premium upgrades your infotainment system with more speakers and augmented reality navigation, and it also adds 64-colour ambient lighting and keyless entry. At the top of the pile is the AMG Line Premium Plus trim, which adds a panoramic roof and electric front seats.