This new Mercedes changes EVERYTHING!
This is the new Mercedes CLA and apparently it can do almost 500 miles on a single charge. But what’s the reality? Well, in this video I’m going to find out. No, I don’t want to kill anybody. I kind of have to turn right. Ah. Oh, I hate the traffic lights here. I’m also going to try out some of the car’s brand new technology to find out if it’s a gadget or a gimmick. I’m not into walking, but we could drive together. We’ll also look underneath the skin of the car to find out what makes it so special. Oh yeah, this is new. Rub that. Rub it. That’s number one. And of course, I’ll leave no stone and turn to thoroughly test every aspect of the car to let you know if it’s any good or not. I’ll even reveal a brand new Mercedes based on this car. And finally, we’ll go on a tour of the city of Copenhagen in Denmark to put the car through a series of challenges. I’m M Watson and you’re watching Car Wow. You know how I normally like to drive electric cars until they die. I’ve really made the drastic error of all errors. Bollocks. Well, I can’t do that today on this launch. But what I am going to do is reset the trick computer of this new Mercedes like that. And we’re going to see over my time with the car the efficiency and work out what its real world ranges. Now, the car that I’ve got the most range out of ever is a Porsche Tyke on the new one. 368 mi. It’s supposed to do 422. So, it’s going to be interesting to see what this can actually do. Now, one of the key secrets to this car’s efficiency is that it has a really streamlined body. So, very low drag coefficient and also really low rolling resistance. So, to test it out, I’m going to drive the car up to about 20 km an hour, whack it into neutral, and then see how far it will roll down this road, which has a very, very slight slope on it. I have got a bit of a headwind as well today. So, this aerodynamics is really going to play a part. So, I’m just going to measure the distance here precisely using my phone’s GPS. Let’s do it. Get up to 20 km an hour. That is 20 neutral. How far we going to go? Still at 20 km an hour. 19. Starting to slow. 17. The car’s searching for parking spaces here cuz I’m coasting along a road with lots of parking spaces. 16. It’s not slowing now. Oh. Oh. 15. Will I make it to the end of the road? This is just rolling for days. Come on, you can make it. We’re still going. Am I going to make it to the end of the road? Never gone. Now the road has leveled off here. It’s completely flat and it’s still going. 5 mph. I’m calculating the best route to the destination. Fan muscle carbon hound meds bent 1 mph and we’ve come to a stop. He managed to roll for 300 m. 300 m. It’s quite a long way. That actually rolled a lot further than I thought it would come from all the way up there. I’ve never felt a production car roll so effortlessly and smoothly as this. Could that be the secret to this car beating by some margin the range that I got out the Porsche Tyam? Well, we’re going to find out. But first though, we need to dig a little bit deeper into what exactly are the secrets behind this car’s impressive claimed range. Well, a lot of the CLA’s technology came from the groundbreaking EQXX. That experimental Mercedes was built to push the limits of electric car design and to break records. Its 100 kWh battery was half the size and a third of the weight of a normal EV’s battery, thanks to technology borrowed from Formula 1. And the chassis used 3D printing to reduce the overall weight to just 1,750 kg. That’s almost a ton less than the longest range Mercedes EQS currently on sale. All this contributed to the EQX having an astounding range. It drove from Stutgart to Silverstone, that’s over 747 mi, by the way, on a single charge. Now, part of the reason for that impressive range is because the car had such low rolling resistance, which on the flip side meant that it felt a little bit weird to drive. This feels almost like a marble going down a hill. The way it picks up speed, you can tell there’s very little friction. This is also partly down to the EQXX’s clever aerodynamics, which included the world’s first extendable rear diffuser. Overall, it had a drag coefficient of just 0.17 CD, which is more aerodynamic than any other road car. But which bits of this technology has Mercedes adopted for the new CLA? You’ve got minimal panel gaps. You got very smooth design here with this full length light bar at the front. You got the blanked out Mercedes grill there with all the little stars on it. There is some cooling down there for the battery, but those vents can shut up as well to improve air. You’ve got these air breathers down the side, which are real. No fakery here. Moving down the side of the car, you got alloy wheel designs. Once again, designed to reduce drag. Plus, if you look at things like this around the windscreen, this all help smooth air flow over the car. We got smaller door mirrors than you’d probably have on a C-Class. You got the poppy out door handles. Oh, I’ve lost the key. It’s down there. Poppy door handles. Uh, which I can now operate. I used to be able to operate them. help once again smooth air flow down the side of the car. It’s got very streamlined shape. Underneath the car is completely flat. There’s even plastic covering over the rear suspension. Once again, reduce drag. Then here at the back end, you got this longish boot lid which kicks up to smooth air flow at the back of the car and a full length light bar there as well. And bits of chrome trim to just make it look expensive. Do you know what they’ve done? They’ve achieved a drag coefficient of. 21 CD. Now, it’s not quite as good as the EQS, which is.20 20 CD, but it is better than an EQE which is 22 CD. And yet, think about this, right? This is a goodlook car, whereas the EQS and the EQE just look like they’ve been a bit melted, whereas this new CLA looks way better. But it’s not just the Aero, which helps boost the efficiency of this car. The CLA has the very latest battery technology. Its 85 kWh pack has an energy density of 680 W hours per liter. That means a section of the battery the size of a drinks can could power a 50-in television for about 3 and 1/2 hours. That’s 20% longer than a similar battery from an EQS or EQE could manage. And the CLA’s batteries are so compact you could fit all the cells needed to power two cars into the boot of a Mercedes Aclass hatchback. And he’d still have 100 L of space left over. But despite this, Mercedes claims the CLA can manage up to 492 mi on a single charge depending on the trim level. Also, it’s compatible with 320 kW chargers, which can supposedly add 200 mi of extra range in just 10 minutes, and that’s something I’ll be testing shortly. However, using rapid chargers like this too often can shorten the range of electric cars by wearing out the batteries and other electrical components. It’s the equivalent of regularly heat cycling an internal combustion engine by doing lots of short journeys. And EVs are usually much more difficult to fix than petrol or diesel cars, partly due to their high voltage electrical systems. But Mercedes might just have solved this problem. It isn’t actually the battery itself that fails on electric cars usually. It’s the electronics that control the battery. So Mercedes have made the systems very easy to get to. You can actually access these here from underneath the vehicle. Also, they’ve given it a special switch so you can actually disconnect the high voltage battery with a manual switch. So if you’re a technician working on it, you’ve got that piece of mind of everything’s off, I’m good to go. Being German though, obviously Mercedes just couldn’t help itself by adding some complexity. Just like the Porsche Tyan, the 272 horsepower CLA 250 Plus has a two-speed gearbox for its single rear motor. This helps improve high-speed efficiency while maintaining the strong low down punch you expect from an EV. The 354 horsepower CLA 350 has a second motor up front with a single speed gearbox. This can decouple from the front axle to return similar efficiency as a single motor CLA. However, there’s a significant gap in terms of performance. Mercedes claims the 350 can do naugh to 62 mph in just 4.9 seconds, while this 250 plus is supposed to take 6.7 seconds. But let’s put that figure to the test. Right, I got my specialist timing gear here. We’re in sports mode. Left on the brake for the throttle sort of launch control. Go. Spotty noises. Oo, 6.07 seconds. To be fair, that was slightly downhill. So, I’m going to do it the other way and we’ll get an average. 6.23 seconds up the hill. Hey, Mercedes. How may I help you? What’s the average of 6.07 and 6.23? The average of 607 and 6.23 is 6.15. There you go. That’s your number. I’m not into walking, but we could drive together. What? She’s weird. Apparently, this Hey, Mercedes assistant is actually smarter than ever because it’s now powered by AI. It uses Bing for search, Google for mapping data and queries, and chat GPT for harder questions like the one I just asked. I’ll ask it some much more difficult questions later on. Hey Mercedes, can you predict the age of Matt Watson, 41 years old as of now? I wouldn’t trust Chat GPT. But this AI isn’t the only new feature Mercedes has added to the CLA. The graphics are really sharp and detailed. Look at this mapping. It’s fairly responsive as well. The layout of all the menus and systems super easy to use. You can even get this camera look. Hello. Hello. How you doing? Yeah, you can do Zoom calls through it. Bit annoying though. Climate control is through the screen. There’s no physical buttons for that. The digital drivers display once again really clean and very slick. And you’ve got various views which you operate using these touch sensitive buttons on the steering wheel, which I find a bit annoying. Now, these two screens standard on every single version of the CLA, but you can get an extra screen here for the passenger. It’s not on if there’s just the driver in the front. But Louis, if you just jump in and sit down, you’ll see that now when I dab the screen, it should come on. There we go. And so they can have a play with that kind of stuff. Now, what it will do is the car will monitor you. So if you’re driving along and you’re like getting distracted, it will turn off that screen. The overall design, I quite like it, don’t you? Looks nice in terms of quality. Most of the materials you touch feel expensive, but as with every single Mercedes, there are some bits down here that feel a bit scratchy. And do you know what? I think these kind of materials are better in a Tesla than in this. While we’re at it, let’s just check out the glove box. That’s a bit small. We do have some cup holders here. Place for your phone there with wireless charging. The classic split central storage unit you get on Mercedes. There’s more storage down there with your USB ports as well. There’s some decentiz door bins. I’ve just noticed this though. You don’t have separate switches for the rear windows like in a VW ID3. You have to press a button to toggle to operate the rear windows, which is just some horrible cost-saving measure. Anyway, one thing I do like are the seats. Yeah, they’re really nice and comfy. Plus, check this out. You have headrest you can push forward. You can have the CLA with a wide range of interior colors, including two-tonones and seats in real leather or man-made alternatives. And to see if you’ll be able to tell the difference, I’m going to conduct an experiment with cameraman Lewis. Shut your eyes. Keep them shut. Come with me. Come with me. That’s it. Over here. I’m going to make you touch something. Nothing rude. So, here’s Touch number one. Hold hand. Put your hand flat. Rub that. Rub it. That’s number one. Rub this. This is number two. Rub this. This is number three. Off the top of your head. Don’t look. Don’t open your eyes. Which one is fake leather? Two are leather. One’s fake leather. Two. Okay. Open your eyes. Leather. It’s that one. This one here. It’s fake leather. It’s not that fake, is it? No, it’s not fake at all. No idea. That’s science. As well as the different seat coverings, there’s also a choice of interior trims, including something that’s apparently never been used in a production car before. Well, not legally, anyway. So, this is open pore wood. This is aluminium. This once again is open pore wood but with aluminium strakes in it. Come back to that one. And this is more aluminium with some strakes in it as well. This though is a new material. It’s actually made from paper with a special coating on it. The paper is actually made from hemp which is cannabis. It’s interesting. It feels nice and it’s um sustainable as well. The carpet is made from a yarn that’s from 100% recycled materials including stuff like fishing nets. Then you have the jacking point for the car that is made from old car bumpers. And then we come to things like the backing for the fake man-made leather or suede that is made from 100% plastic bottles from Asia. Thankfully, all these materials have been thoroughly cleaned and processed. So, the CLA won’t smell like a recycling bin inside. However, there is another reason why sitting in it might be slightly uncomfortable, at least in the back. Well, knee room’s pretty decent. Head room’s all right as well. The seats themselves are reasonably comfy. Plus, look, you got Oh, come on. You can do it through loading and the other back seats fold down as well. You got a couple of USBC’s down there. That’s all good. What’s not so good is this that the seat base is quite close to the floor because the batteries are underneath there. So, you don’t have much under thigh support. So, really that affects your comfort. You sort of have to sit like this. Um, another thing that’s annoying is, well, I want to show you how far the rear windows go down, but obviously the switch to control it is buried in the menu and I can’t find it. But then you go down halfway, which isn’t great. However, there is something I do really like, and it’s this full length glass roof, which is the biggest single piece of glass fitted to any Mercedes to date. But how have they managed that? Mercedes was able to fit this huge glass roof without central brace because the CLA has a particularly strong chassis. It uses the right amount of high strength steel in the right places to make sure it’s safe but not too heavy. All in, the CLA weighs in at just under 2,000 kg, which is about 70 kg less than a comparable BMW i4. Plus, the Mercedes has lots of extra safety kit you don’t usually get on cars in this class. You’ve now also got this new central airbag to stop the two front passengers colliding with each other and a knee airbag for the front passenger. Mercedes has always been a pioneer in vehicle safety ever since it introduced the first crumple zones in the late 1950s. Since then, it also developed the first ABS, seat belt pre-tensioners, electronic stability program, and auto emergency braking. But all this stuff adds complexity, weight, and takes up space. It’s one reason why modern cars aren’t necessarily more practical than the generations that came before, even if they’re significantly larger. But can the CLA break this pattern? Well, this 22-year-old Mercedes C-Class is just over 4.5 m long and has a 455 L boot. The new CLA is about 20 cm longer. So, surely it’s got a bigger boot, right? So, the boot capacity is 405 L and yes, I can fit in here no problem at all. But there is more room in a Tesla Model 3 that’s got almost 600 L of boot space. And you can see my full in-depth video review of that car by clicking on the pop out banner or scanning the QR code on screen now. Also BMW i4. It has 470 L of boot space. But that car is a hatchback which is more practical than this saloon boot style. However, there is another car based on this platform which does have a more practical boot. And we’ll be seeing that car a bit later on in this video. But I’m wondering whether this CLA suffers from some of the same problems of other Mercedes electric cars. For instance, the EQS and EQE don’t even let you open the bonnet. That’s why you have to fill up with windscreen wash using a flap in the front wing. Let’s first find out if there’s actually a release in there to open the bonnet. So, yeah, I can see it already. That’s good news. It’s a double puller. Now, let’s see if they’ve made good use of any space under here. Oh. Oh, look at that. Is huge. That is a really big front boot. Seems bigger than a Tesla and definitely bigger than that on a BMW i4. Let me just get in it. I think this is the best front boot yet. There’s 101 L of space in there, and it’s the same in the dual motor 350, so you don’t have to choose between practicality and performance. However, there is one choice you will have to make with this new CLA. These are the 10 different colors you can get the car in. Which do you prefer? This silver, this matte black, the white, this sort of like pebbly color, black metallic, red metallic, the blue of our car. This is only available on the launch edition. It’s a another like matte black. And we have another shiny black here and another sort of crayon one. Let me know which is your favorite in the comments. I’ll let you have a look at them. If you can’t make up your mind, you could always ask Chat GPT for help. In fact, I might need a bit of AI help, too, because now I need to rack up some miles to see how accurate this car’s claimed range of 492 mi really is. Hey, Mercedes. Yes. Can you take me to a restaurant that is open now that serves duck on the menu and has a user rating of four or more stars? Restaurant Carla serves duck on the menu. Take me there. Let’s go and see if it really has duck on the menu. Now look, it’s the latest iteration of the augmented reality satnav. Love this. The CLA is also packed with loads of sensors and it has a special screen that warns you when it detects nearby hazards. And in Copenhagen, there are a lot of hazards. It’s quite interesting cuz it actually shows buildings as well. Pick up the cyclist, the cars. The sensors aren’t quite smart enough to differentiate between a bike and one of those kind of sit down bikey things. But I’ll let it off. It’s very much like the Tesla one, but just with a bit more information. And if you don’t want it on screen, unlike the Tesla, which is always there, you can just swipe and get rid of it. The refresh rate on that camera isn’t great, is it? It almost looks like a video game. Is it a video game? It looks like it’s actually taken the image and created a digital version of it. Tesla fanboys are probably commenting that the Model 3 system is better, but they’re wrong. And they probably also won’t like the bumper stickers that some Danes put on their Teslas. Look at the message on the back of that Tesla. Oh dear. Are they being ironic? They quite like their car, but they just don’t like the guy in charge of the company. And that brings me on to another useful bit of tech you get on the CLA, which is idiot proof. Well, at least it’s supposed to be. This is where I find this augmented reality setting. I’ve just bang on where I know I’m going to have to go off, but it’s telling me to stay in this lane for now because I’m in a different country. I might be tempted to just go in the bus lane and probably get a fine. But look, it’s keeping me right here. I actually think this is wrong and I want to go into that bus lane or not. But I think I need to go there to get down that side road bit. Ah, it just go. This could be just catastrophe and fines. No, I it this is totally wrong. Why didn’t I listen to the machine? I’ll cross a bus lane. No, I think I think this is right. I think this wasn’t Oh, no. It’s still me there cuz look, I No, I want to go straight across, but I kind of have to turn right. Ah, why did I just follow the augmented reality satnav? It was so right. I just I I didn’t trust it. Hey, Mercedes. I’m listening. Find me a parking space nearby as fast as you can. I found these parking options. Where do you want to go? Yeah. Yeah. Perfect. Right. Be back in a moment. If the traffic warden comes, just drive off or just talk to him. Just talk to him for a bit. Ask him if he’d like some duck. Hi. I’ve got a very strange question. All right. Do you guys have duck on the menu? No. Sorry. Only at Christmas time. Mission failed. We’ll get him next time. Ah, no. No, duck. Let’s try again. Hey, Mercedes. I’m listening. Take me to a restaurant that’s nearby, that’s open now, that has a rating of over four stars that serves duck on the menu right now. Today, restaurant Carla, a highly rated place with an authentic Danish cuisine, serves duck on the menu. Please let me know if you want to go. That’s the one I’ve just been to. There’s another one called restaurant tight. So, let’s go to restaurant tight. Don’t let me down. Then I spotted something using my old-fashioned regular intelligence. Up there is a Vietnamese restaurant. And Louis thinks that they’re probably going to serve duck. I’m just going to check before we go. He’s walked straight past it. He’s gone to that one on the corner. That’s not Vietnamese. That’s the Vietnamese. Hi. Do you serve duck? Fried duck. So, you do? I don’t feel like I can use this restaurant because Mercedes didn’t pick it up, but it it does duck. I feel compelled to do the one that it’s suggesting to find out if that actually does do duck. You got a bit lost, didn’t you? Yeah. I went to a different restaurant. See, I need sat now for sure. I’m a little bit disappointed by this. If this one doesn’t do duck, we’re calling it off. Calling it off. Will it do duck? We headed off again on our frustrating duck hunt. But I couldn’t be too cross though, as Copenhagen is apparently one of the happiest places in the world. With days as short as 7 hours in the winter, Danes like to spend as much time as possible in their parks. But this is no ordinary park. It’s also a cemetery. Look. Hello. My partner watches you every Really? Oh my god. Oh, tell him hi from me. So illegal what I’m doing. It’s so illegal. I know, but I love it. There we go. What? You’re supposed to be happy. It was just a guy taking a photo illegally in his car. Now turn second right. What am I? No, I don’t know. Oh, I hate the traffic lights here. I would not be happy living here. Look at this on here. Look, it’s just it’s Oxford circus going on. Ah. Ah, no. I don’t want to kill anybody. Oh, me. This is stressful. There’s the police. Let’s um stack natural. Act natural. Lewis reckless they sell duck. Oh no. It’s tie a lines. There was a big tie restaurant. I can see it tight. Is this it? Is this parking in here? See if they got duck. Just shout. Have you got duck? Excuse me. Is this it? Yeah. Hi. Hello. Do you sell duck? I’m going to try and park here. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Just give us a moment. Oh god, she didn’t mind about her wheels. I was just doing the most ridiculous maneuver and I caused her to go up the cub and do her wheels and she smiled. Copenhagen. It’s a happy place. Is it going to be happy for me now? I’m going to get some duck. What’s the odds? What do you reckon, Louis? Have they got duck? No, they haven’t got lucky. Didn’t look like duck, did it? But let’s go for it. Probably duck at Christmas. Hello. Listen, I’ve got a really odd request. Do you sell duck? Is you got duck on the menu? No. At Christmas time. There might be. Let’s But not today. No. Okay. It’s good, isn’t it? AI. Oh, well. Hello. Hi. I don’t think it fits. Unless you if you can move the car all the way in. I’m going to get out. You’re leaving. I’m I’m I can’t park. I’m not very good at parking as you can tell. All right. You’re in the wrong place then. I’m definitely in the wrong place. I was looking for duck and there’s no duck. But he was cheerful as well. It’s like you’re parking like an idiot, but you know, I’m happy about it. I’m moving here. No, I’m not actually. I haven’t got enough duck. I was desperate to have one last try. Hey, Mercedes, find me a restaurant that is open now with a score of over four stars that serves duck on the menu. I discovered Fuhao, a Chinese restaurant open now with a rating of four. The reviews are mixed, but people seem to enjoy the dumplings and soups. Would you like to check it out yourself? Take me there. This is the last. Starting the route to the destination, Fuo. Oh, look. There’s another Elon sucks message. Must be the done thing around here. Wagamama. Wagamama. Why didn’t he choose Waga Mama? It’s wrong to call it artificial intelligence. Should be called artificial stupidity. Oh, look at that. Isn’t that cool? Sorry, Mercedes. Wrong brand. Let’s just park here. Right. This is it. This really is it. Oh, it’s looking promising. Have you got any duck dishes? Duck. Is you got duck on the menu? Will it be duck? Result. Finally, we have duck. Sweet and sour duck to be precise. Do you want to share some? Yes, please. Come on then. I’m not going to eat in here then. I want to spill it over the cabin. Although the wild duck chase was a bit stressful, the CLA wasn’t. It’s super relaxing to travel in because of decent visibility, light steering, and a silky smooth drive. Often electric cars can have stiff, bouncy suspension to cope with the extra weight of their batteries, and as a result, they have a bumpy ride. But because the CLA is actually quite light for an electric car, it can be fitted with softer suspension to make it more comfortable. In fact, let’s see just how smooth it really is. I’ve got this glass. I’m going to place it down there. I’m going to fill it to the brim with water. Look at that. That is so full. And I’m going to drive round in a circuit and we’ll see how much of that water leaps from the glass. Hopefully not too much. Come on, suspension. You can do it. Here we go. Don’t spill. Don’t spill. Don’t want to have to break suddenly. Thanks for waiting. Oh, it’s quite a big bump. That was not a drop. Not a single drop. Can I just break smoothly? What are the brakes like? Are they grubby? It can be on electric cars. No. Smooth. Progressive. I cannot believe that. Let’s find out what speed I have to go to actually spill some. I’ve got the devil in me. It’s 20 20 km an hour over here. Oh, now we’re starting to get some spillage at 22 km an hour. Not much though. Oh, don’t pull out. I don’t want to suddenly break. And we’re off the cobbles. Mercedes knows how to build cars that ride really smoothly. And that is your proof. Don’t worry, I bought some napkins. Nothing to see here. Look, hardly any spilled. So far, the Mercedes was impressing me. So, I decided to head out of town to rack up some more miles and put it through another test. First thing I’m going to do is whack on the adaptive cruise control. There we are. Set it at the speed limit. 110. Got lane keeping assist as well. Look. Oh, look. I don’t want to take my hands off the wheel, but I’m not doing anything. It’s very good. Now, let’s do a lane change. I should have this on as well. Will it work? There’s a car just there. My blind spot. Got my blind spot warning. Now I’m going to indicate. Will you change lanes for me? Will you? Will you do it? He wanted to. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Go. Do it now. It’s very cautious. Come on. There’s no cars there now. Thought I had lane change assist. Bollocks. Have to do it myself. Staying in lane and changing lane where possible and permitted. function will provide active assistance for lane changes initiated by manually operating the turn signal. Let’s try it again. Let’s go back into lane. Go. There’s literally nothing there. Why aren’t you? Why? Try again. This way. Oh. Oh, it’s sort of doing it now. Did it way? I’ve got it. Lane change assist. Turn signal. Is it going to do it? Do I have to do the first little bit of turn? No. Come on. No. Will you do it? What’s What’s wrong with you? It’s perfectly fine to do it. I don’t really know. Also confusing. Anyway, that’s enough of that. I’m not convinced by that lane change assist. It’s not obvious. It’s much more obvious in a Tesla. Anyhow, when you’re cruising, it’s very quiet, very relaxing. It’s lovely to travel in and I don’t really have range anxiety at all because I’ve just got so much battery remaining. Almost 500 km. I mean, what’s a stress? or this new battery tech and clever weight saving measures should help make the CLA better to drive because it has less weight to haul around and a very stiff chassis. But is it actually more fun than an EQS or EQE? Yeah, it’s pretty good. Having the low center of gravity means it doesn’t lean much in the bends. Feels very composed, shore-footed, even if you push it quite hard. There’s plenty of traction when you accelerate out of a bend, even in this rear wheel drive version. And the steering, it’s not too heavy, not too light. It’s got a bit of feel to it, and it’s nice and accurate. The car gives you plenty of confidence to drive it quite quickly on a twisty road. It’s no sports car, but it’s no I want an analogy for a car that doesn’t handle particularly well. Hey, Mercedes, can you give me an analogy of a car that doesn’t handle particularly well? I’d laugh if it says BMW. Instead of focusing on cars that don’t handle well, let’s consider how MercedesBenz vehicles are engineered to provide exceptional handling and driving dynamics. They are designed to offer a smooth and controlled experience on the road. If you’d like to know more about the features of MercedesB Okay, thanks. Thanks for that. You had an opportunity to be a bit funny then, but no, you played it straight and boring. At this point, I’d venture quite far out of the city for my range test, but I needed to get back quickly to see a secret new Mercedes with a very cool feature. This is the CLA shooting brake. So, it’s more practical, the estate body style of the CLA. Some people prefer the look of an estate car and it it’s quite cool, isn’t it? You also get these roof bars on it. So, they can take 75 kilos of weight. Plus, look at this. The way the glass roof seems to extend into the back because they got this two-tone spoiler. That brings you onto the roof itself. Unlike the roof on the CLA, the shooting brake has an inbuilt shade. Watch this. If I press a button on the screen, it’s going to shade it out. And if I’d rather have a sort of like pattern, I can have it half shaded. Uh, now there’s another thing. So, if I just set that to clear again and I go into the ambient lighting, it also has this feature. Mercedes stars. Plus, you can change the color of them. Hey, look at that. Now, while you’ll be able to get that sunblind effect on the CLA at an later date, you won’t be able to get the stars. They’re reserved for the shooting brake. Another benefit of the shooting brake model is more headroom in the back and of course a bigger booze. You got 450 L of space and obviously it’s square uper on the saloon version. You got this lift back tailgate. And when you fold all the seats down, you have over 1,000 L of space. However, there’s a catch. The shooting brakes larger boot produces a bit more drag than the saloons, so it’ll have a bit less range. And we’ll find out exactly what the CLA Saloo’s real world range is in a bit. But first, I needed to test another claim. Mercedes says this car can charge 200 miles of range in just 10 minutes. Can it really? Um, let’s find out. So, let’s use the AI again. Hey, Mercedes. How may I help you? Find me 300 kW charging stations near me. Will it do it? I’ve found these charging stations. What’s the plan? Where? 150 222 input. Yeah, you can just be quiet. Let’s just scan on the screen. Good old AI. Here we go. Here we go. Look, it’s showing some. It’s actually showing them on screen. Occasionally, they pop up there. There’s one. Let’s try that. Let’s go. I didn’t have to drive far because Denmark is a small country with about 31,000 EV chargers. That means there are approximately two chargers for every square mile. In the UK, we get less than half that coverage. And when it comes to fast charges over 300 kW, the Danes have three times as many per square mile than we have in Great Britain. Maybe that’s why the Danes are so happy. They just don’t suffer from range anxiety. Right, we’ve got 53% of the battery remaining. We’ve got a range of 353 km. So in 10 minutes, we should add 200 mi, which is 320 km. So in 10 minutes, it should charge to 673 kilm. Will it do that? Got my card. Let’s go. But as soon as it started charging, I was a little disappointed as the rate was only 150 kW, not the full 300. So, how many extra miles would I actually get in 10 minutes? Okay, we going. Let’s start the clock. Now, the car is charging and the timer is ticking. I’m going to tell you about prices. The new CLA. So, the range starts off with the Sport from just under £46,000. It’s pretty well equipped, but if you want all the bells and whistles, you need to go for the topsp spec A M A M A M A M A M A M A M A M A M A MGline Premium Edition, which starts from just under £52,000. Now, if you want to compare this car’s value to things like the Tesla Model 3 and the BMW i4, I’ve actually created a really useful page where you can compare the trims like for like and the offers available through Car Wow, so the price you’ll actually pay for them, plus leasing deals available on all those cars through CarWow. So, if you want to do that now, check it all out. Just click the pop out banner appearing in the top right hand corner of the screen or scan the QR code on screen now. Alternatively, there’s a link in the description of this video or the pin comment. You’ll find it really useful. Want to save up to £3,750 Right, that’s it. That’s it. Let’s stop the charging. Stop. Let’s see how much range we have added. So in 10 minutes we’ve gone from 53% battery to 78%. So that’s 25% battery. So a quarter full range has gone from 353 km to 532 km which is 179 km which when I calculate that for miles it’s 111 mi of range in 10 minutes. So not quite 200 mi then. So what’s the reason for that? It’s all to do with the charging curve of the CLA’s batteries. They can charge very quickly when they’re almost empty. But the more charge they have, the longer it takes to add an extra kilowatt hour. It’s a bit like inflating a balloon. The larger it gets, the harder you have to blow to add in more air. In fact, most car makers say the most efficient way to charge at a rapid charger is to stop when you get to 80% full. As the last 20% takes so long that it’s just a waste of your time and money. Speaking of money, adding 111 mi of range to this car cost me 88 chron, which is about £10. That’s a few pounds less than it would cost me to travel the same distance in a new Mercedes C-Class diesel. But does this benefit outweigh how often you’ll have to stop to charge the CLA? Well, to know that, I have to calculate how close I could get to Mercedes claimed range of 492 mi. Can it beat the 368 mi I managed in the new Porsche Tyan? Time to find out. During my time with the car, it’s saying that I’ve averaged 14.7 kW hours per 100 km. So, it’s working out that this car is averaging 4.2 2 m per kowatt hour. And when I multiply that up by the battery capacity of 85 kwatt hours, real world range comes to 357 mi on a full charge, which is some way off the 492 mi the Mercedes claim for this car. It’s actually 73% of that claimed range. Also, it’s slightly less than the 368 mi I achieved in the Porsche Tyon on that range test. During that range test, the Porsche was averaging 3.8 m per kowatt hour. So, this car is definitely more efficient. It’s just got a slightly smaller battery. If I can get the efficiency up on this though, I think it could do better. How close it will get exactly to that 492 mi range? Well, I’m going to be doing a range test on this car in future. And to make sure you don’t miss that, subscribe to this channel, okay? Cuz that’s coming soon. I also wanted to check that I hadn’t just been driving the car badly. So, I went and looked at the trick computers of a bunch of other CLA’s that have been driven by other motoring journalists. Some were worse than my car and some were a bit better, but the absolute best I found was 13.5 kwatt hours per 100 km. That works out to 4.8 m per kowatt hour, which is a real world range of 408 mi, or 83% of what Mercedes claims. And that brings me on to my final verdict. Well, I reckon you should go right ahead and buy the new CLA. It looks good. It’s fabulous to drive. And it’s packed full of all the latest technology. And while I might not quite have got close to what Mercedes says this car will do, the real world range is still very, very good. Anyway, I hope you’ll enjoyed the video. Let me know what you think of this car in the comments below. And if you want to watch some other videos, click on the video windows. Thanks for watching and I’ll see you next
Save up to £3750 on an EV with the Electric Car Grant: https://bit.ly/Electric-Car-Grant-1707
This is the all-new Mercedes CLA!
The CLA has gone all-electric for the first time, and Mat has flown over to Copenhagen to put this all-new, ultra-modern saloon to the test!
Let’s take a closer look at the car, starting with the design. Mercedes claims the CLA has a range of an amazing 492 miles, so it’s no surprise that the car is super sleek to help it glide through the air. There are minimal panel gaps across the car, and at the front, there’s a full-length light bar, vents that can open and close to cool the battery, and vents on either side. Along the side, the alloy wheels have been designed to reduce drag, there are smaller side mirrors, and pop-out door handles. At the back, there’s a long boot lid to help reduce drag, and another full-length light bar just like the front.
The interior of the CLA is super modern! The main statement piece is the full-length screen that stretches across the entire dash! This encompasses the digital dials, the main infotainment screen, and a third screen for the front passenger (the latter being an optional extra). The majority of the cabin is covered in soft-touch materials, and there’s a good amount of storage throughout. The seats are super comfortable, and the infotainment system is super clear and responsive. It also uses the latest version of Mercedes’ infotainment system, so it comes with ChatGPT integration.
The CLA is powered by an 85kWh battery. The car we have here is the CLA 25+, which can produce 272hp and hit 60 mph in 6.7 seconds, while there’s also a more powerful CLA 350 that produces 354hp and hits 60mph in 4.9 seconds. It comes with 320kW DC charging, which gives 200 miles of range with just 10 minutes of charging. That’s perfect for the 250+ edition, given that it comes with a claimed range of 492 miles!
The CLA Electric range starts from £45,615, with the range-topping AMG Line costing from £51,770. So is it worth it? Or should you pick up a competitor like the Tesla Model 3 or BMW i4 instead? Stick with Mat to see for yourself!
Change your car with Carwow: https://bit.ly/Change-Your-Car-15-07
Tesla Model 3 review: https://bit.ly/Tesla-Model-3-Review-1507
The Best CLA Electric Alternatives: https://bit.ly/Best-CLA-Alternatives
Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:56 Aerodynamics
02:49 Range
04:28 Design
05:52 Battery Tech
07:23 Motors & Performance
08:05 0-60mph
08:57 Interior
13:00 Back Seats
13:54 Weight & Safety
15:06 Boot
16:31 Colours
16:59 Infotainment Sat Nav Test
25:22 Suspension
27:05 Motorway Driving
28:53 Country Road Driving
30:02 CLA Shooting Brake
31:40 Charging
33:08 Price
34:35 Charging Results
35:49 Real-world Range
37:20 Verdict
