Mercedes CLA Review: The 500-Mile EV Gamechanger?
This is the new MercedesBenz CLA and it’s all electric. But wait, wait, wait. Petrol heads come back cuz it fixes all the problems you might have with EVs. First of all, the range incredible charging speed amazing and the price actually not as bad as you might think. Stay with me. The Little Mermaid, a fictional character from the mind of Hans Christian Anderson, immortalized here in Copenhagen. She gave up everything she knew, her past, her legs, even her voice to chase a future she didn’t fully understand. And it’s ironic that Mercedes are launching this new and very important electric car in Copenhagen because there’s a lot of parallels between them and her. They’re running away from combustion. They’re embracing electrification. all in search of a future that maybe they don’t fully understand yet. It’s tried before, of course, with its EQ range of electric cars, but let’s be frank, the EQE, EQS, and EQA didn’t exactly set the world on fire. But they’re back with a new effort that looks altogether more likely to help them land the prince. That’s you, the car buying public, in case you’re wondering. And do you want to know the good news? This next gen CLA looks really promising. They might might just get their fairy tale ending with this one. Here’s the elevator pitch. The CLA will be available as a hybrid or a full EV and in electric form will set you back from £45,000. For that, you get a huge 85.5 kWh battery giving a range of nearly £484 mi. Plus, a 320 kW recharging speed that lets you top up 200 mi of range in just 10 minutes. huge numbers that might make this a better long-distance car than equivalents powered by petrol. More on that in a second. Despite its extraordinary range, the actual design of the CLA isn’t that extraordinary at all. Really does look like just the regular CLA with a bit of a facelift. However, it is quite advanced. It’s based on a new MMA platform which Mercedes have just designed and it will come in hybrid and all electric flavors. Now, one thing they’ve worked on with this car is making it very aerodynamically efficient. This is the most aeroefficient car in its class by far. The drive coefficient is 0.21. I’m not going to bore you with how they’ve done it, but they’ve done it. And a lot of it is down to how smooth this front ending. This grill is quite interesting as well. There’s 142 individually backlit Mercedes LED three-pointed stars, and they animate. Plus this backlit emblem just there. Another three-pointed star. this light bar across the front with these multi-beam LEDs with another three-pointed star for the day running headlights and also another Mercedes star up here on the bonnet. If you love Mercedes stars, you’re going to love this car. There’s a lot of interesting lighting going on at the back, too, with the rear lights also featuring a three-pointed star design along with another light bar. It’s a saloon rather than a hatchback, so perhaps less practical than it could be, but boot space is a reasonably healthy 405 L. Plus, the seats drop to make loading and unloading awkward objects a little more convenient. If you want more convenience and storage, Mercedes is also developing an estate version. If that’s not enough space for you, then guess what? The new CLA also has a front boot or a front trunk, depending on what you want to call it. But look at it. It’s absolutely massive. That’s over 100 L of space, very generously sized. And guess what? When the hybrid version comes out, that too will also have a front trunk somehow, despite it having an internal combustion engine. Now, that’s a really good space for keeping things like your charging cable, a bit of shopping. So, for me, yep, a very generous addition. Thank you, Mercedes. I’ve got good things and bad things to say about the back of the CLA. I’ll start with some of the good stuff and that is it looks absolutely fantastic. Again, I’m a big fan of this white leather, the red stitching, the Alcantara. It just it looks nice, doesn’t it? Especially this red seat belt detail. Really cool. What I’m not a fan of is how cramped it feels back here. Not in terms of leg room. I’m 5’11. That front seat’s adjusted for me and I’ve got a decent amount of leg room here. I’m talking about how much in the fetal position I am. Look how high up my legs are. They’re kind of angled up towards the ceiling to the point where I feel like I’m curled up in a ball. And the reason for that is that the batteries are mounted quite high, which means your bum sits low and your legs go high and you end up feeling like you’re doing some sort of like uncomfortable yoga. And speaking of uncomfortable, why are the middle seats in so many cars, most cars, so disturbingly hard? Just make it out the same stuff as the outer seats for goodness sake. Anyway, I’ve had a rant about that. Some good stuff. These vents look really cool. Two more USB ports in the back. We’ve also got a armrest here with two cup holders and whatever this is. This looks like a mobile phone holder, doesn’t it? But if you do that, you put your phone there. It’s a bit difficult to watch unless you’re kind of crooking your neck like that. If you put your phone sideways, you can’t really see it. So, I’m not sure what the point of that is, but thanks, I guess, Mercedes. Here’s the other thing. I’m not a fan of this. The glass only opens halfway. Like, what is the point? Why not have it open the entire way? That just makes the car feel a bit claustrophobic. Although, to be fair, that massive sunroof does go some way to making up for it. So, as I said, bit of a mixed bag. First impressions of the interior, I am a fan. I really like this. The materials in here are on point. Normally in the lower end Mercedes materials are a bit questionable, but in this bad boy, lovely. Look at the seats. Very sporty looking. Loads of Alcantara in the center. You got this red stitching just here. White leather. And look at the headrests. They don’t go up and down. They come out and in. You ever seen that before? That’s mental. That’s such a good idea. I love that. Stop the review right now. That is that’s that’s five stars as far as I’m concerned. Okay. Other cool touches, the materials in the door really good. You got this fake leather here, but it looks quite real. You got red stitching. You got this leather in the center. This trim here looks really nice. And also physical controls for the seats on Mercedes cars. Normally, they’re not physical. They react to your touch rather than moving. But having these move, yeah, just adds another layer of haptic delight for me. I’m a big fan of that center console. This stuff here is a bit bright. It kind of reflects the sunlight into your eyes, but it does look cool. We’ve got a cup holder in the center. So, if you remove that, you have a big space. If you put it in, you got room for two cups. Center console. You’ve also got quite a bit of room, and that can be removed. You can store your loose change in there. You’ve also got some space underneath here for storing objects, plus two USB ports. I tried these earlier, actually, and I charged my laptop. They’re very powerful. And speaking of charging, it’s also got this big space here for a large phone which you can charge wirelessly. Okay, on to the tech. We’ve got a 10-in driver display. We’ve also got a 14-in infotainment system. We’ve also got the option of a third screen dedicated to the passenger on which you can play movies, watch games. No, it’s the other way around, isn’t it? Watch movies, play games. But if you don’t get it, instead they give you this weird looking trim with hundreds of Mercedes 3-ointed stars. as if we don’t have enough of those. Oh, these are quite cool though, the vents. They look amazing. We’ll talk more about the technology in detail a bit later on cuz there’s lots going on. But for now, let’s get on the road. Look at that. The power buttons on the stalk. Pretty cool. Let’s go. There are a couple of different versions of the new CLA. In electric form, it will either come in a CLA 250 or a CLA 350. In the UK, initially, we’ll only be getting the 250. So, that’s the version I’m going to focus on today. The 250 is probably the most interesting one, though, because that’s the one that will give you that massive range of 492 mi. There’s a few different things I want to focus on today. One, whether it’s fun to drive, two, whether it’s as efficient as they claim, and three, what it’s like to drive in general. Let’s start with the third one. First impressions, super refined, so quiet. The suspension in this car is really plush. The roads in Denmark are incredibly smooth. But even so, this thing glides over the surface like a flipping Rolls-Royce. Honestly, it is butter. They don’t use any fancy air suspension, just regular springs and dampers. And I am curious to see what it would be like to drive on rough roads as we get in the UK, but honestly, here it glides. The controls in this car are very smooth as well. The steering is so light, so it’s easy to maneuver. And the same goes for the accelerator and the braking. Everything about this car just feels smooth. On the topic of braking though, if you’re in a Mercedes EV, when you push the brake pedal, nine times out of 10, it’s not the brakes you’re using. You’re actually using the motor to slow the car down. And in the case of this CLA, there are a few different regen modes. There’s normal, strong, intelligent, or none. I think intelligent and strong are the two braking modes that are worth talking about. So, in intelligent mode, it only slows down if it detects a car in front of you or if you’re approaching a bend. And in strong, it basically gives you really effective one pedal driving. I’ll lock it into strong right now and show you how quickly it slows down. So, right now, I’m doing 60 km an hour, but I’ll now lift off. And look at that. I mean, down to a standill so quickly. Honestly, even when you’re on the motorway and you lift off, it feels almost like the car’s doing an emergency stop, but it’s not as bad as it sounds. It’s actually really easy to modulate the accelerator pedal to get the right amount of braking. Couple of other things that have really impressed me with this car. Good seats, really comfortable. Even though they look quite sporty, they are nice to sit in. And also, they hold you in really nicely when you’re in the corners and you’re pushing on. The level of support you get is really nice. That’s good. And the other thing is the quality of the stereo. They use this incredible Burmeister sound system that absolutely slaps the amount of bass and punch the thing has. And the level of balance between bass, the mid-range, and the treble, it’s astounding. Really, really nice system. Is it fun to drive? Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much, but this thing is actually It does put a smile on your face when you’re pushing on. The steering is maybe a little bit too light. It does firm up when you’re in sport mode, but then it’s probably a little too firm. I’d prefer a Goldilock setting somewhere in the middle. But either way, it’s really chuckable in the corners. And because this is the rear wheel drive version with a single motor at the back, it’s got this kind of built-in dynamic ability where you feel it drive you through the bend. And it does put a smile on your face. I’m pleasantly surprised. I wouldn’t say it’s fast by normal electric car standards, but it’s still nippy. It does naugh to 62 in around 6.7 seconds. And when you accelerate, it doesn’t just take off in the same way as a normal overpowered EV. The acceleration is quite progressive and feels more natural than a lot of these EVs which just slap you in the face with their acceleration. Having said that, the torque is very strong. You can definitely have a laugh in this car. And on that subject, can you hear that noise in the background? Mercedes have equipped this car with what they call sound experiences. A variety of different noises that occur whenever you accelerate or break. And the one that I’m in now is called granular fuzz. And I love it. Listen to this. It’s such an interesting noise. It’s like a spaceship. You can of course change it. So I’ll now go into fractal fusion, which sounds a bit different. We’ll try a bit of serene breeze. Again, a different noise, but yeah, definitely the best is granular buzz. [Music] The tech in this car is next level. I mentioned it briefly earlier on, but I want to talk you through some of the features so you understand exactly what you’re working with in the new CLA. So, this car uses the latest version of Merc’s MBOS operating system. And on top of that is the MBUX user interface. And what it means is that this central 14-in display has a lot going on, loads of features. By default, what you get is what’s called the zero layer. And that’s basically a map. And on top of that, a couple of icons of your most recently accessed stuff. In my case, I got my mobile phone connected also playing with the music. So, that’s why that’s front and center. But if that doesn’t make any sense to you, you can, of course, go into the app view to see what apps are available to you. I’ll talk you through a few of them. This parking one here is quite useful because it gives you a 360° view of the car to make it easier to park. That’s nice. Then on top of that, we’ve also got Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. One small gripe about Apple CarPlay is that it doesn’t fill the entire screen. It’s like a window within a window. Not a major deal, but it does upset me slightly that they’re not using the full screen real estate. We’ve also got FM and DAB radio, Bluetooth player, and ambient lighting. This is quite cool because you can choose monochrome, one color, and you just cycle through like that, or a multicolor gradient, which does look quite cool. Next up, we have the Vivaldi browser, which lets you browse a website. So, I can go on to little is one of my shortcuts. I can load up the little website and do my shopping. That’s quite cool. How do we get back to the main menu? like that. No, like that. There we go. Right. And then on top of that, for some reason, we also have a selfie mode which uses a camera built into the top of the screen so you can take pictures of yourself for no reason whatsoever. Hello. There we go. Oh, that’s a video. It does video and stills. I don’t understand why, but it does. If you’re into it, you might enjoy that. And then we got a load of video features, including Disney Plus, YouTube, and a couple of things that I’ve never ever heard of. So, loads of entertainment stuff baked right into the system. But it goes a step further. They wanted to give this car a kind of avatar, a personality that you interact with. So, it now includes several different AI agents from the likes of Microsoft and Google and you can talk to the car and it will give you quite rich data coming back to you. So, watch this. Um, hey Mercedes, I’m listening. Thanks. And then look, there’s a little avatar that kind of animates to let you know that she is listening. Tell me an interesting fact about Copenhagen. Copenhagen is home to the world’s oldest amusement park still in operation, Bakan, which opened in 1583. It’s nestled in a beautiful forest. See, if I didn’t have the latest CLA, I would never have known that. Plus, you can ask it things like restaurant reviews or where your local charge points are. Plus, it’s connected to the internet, so you can download updates into the car, so it always feels up to date. Pretty cool. What’s also cool is this car’s gaming ability. Yep, it has a high-owered processor that can run apps like Boosteroid, which lets you play games over the internet. The quality of the games is surprisingly good and includes titles like Fortnite, which can be controlled using your mobile phone or a Bluetooth controller. The system is so powerful, in fact, that you can run two separate games at once on each of the cars infotainment displays. Anyway, enough about that. You’re probably wondering if this car is as efficient as Mercedes claim. Well, that depends on how you drive it. Driven sensibly on a combination of B- roads maxing out at 60 mph down to town roads at 30 mph, I managed to coax around 5.6 m per kowatt hour from the car. Multiply that by the battery capacity of 85.5 kW hours and you get 483 miles. Almost exactly what Mercedes claim it will achieve. And that’s realworld driving with the air con turned on at 22° C ambient temperature, two people on board, and plenty of luggage in the back. At a steady 70 mph on the motorway, going with the flow of traffic, the car managed 4.7 m per kowatt hour, which works out to be just over 400 mi of range. Impressive. That’s further than the current petrol CLA can manage in theory. And what about recharging? Well, Mercedes claim it will top out at 320 kW thanks to its 800 volt architecture. We had to give this a go. So, I drained the battery to around 10%, navigated to a 400 kW charger using the satnav in order to precondition the battery, but the results weren’t quite as impressive as I’d hoped. Unfortunately, the CLA is not charging as quickly as advertised. Now, that could be for a couple of reasons. I’ll give you some background. First of all, I found a 400 kW charger. The car itself can accept 320. When I plugged it in initially, the most it got to was around 256 kW. Now the reason for that the car is telling me it could be the infrastructure as in this particular charger is advertised as 400 but maybe it’s not capable of delivering 400 or rather 320 in the case of this car for whatever reason. Um and it also says that the state of charge might be an issue as well. Now when I plugged in it was less than 20%. So the state of charge wasn’t really the issue. It’s probably just the fact that this charger isn’t delivering what they say it will deliver. But it’s actually not that bad because currently I’m getting 173 kW of charge and in about 12 minutes this car’s added about 160 mi of extra range which is pretty decent. So what are my final thoughts on the new Mercedes CLA? On the whole, you know what? I think they’ve done a phenomenal job. I think this is the best electric car they’ve ever made. The EQE and EQS were decent cars, but this just takes it to a whole new level. This thing is comfortable. It’s refined. It’s easy to drive. It looks decent. It’s incredibly efficient. And also, the price is pretty decent as well. Bringing it back full circle to the old tale of a mermaid dreaming of walking among humans. This is Mercedes dreaming of life as a true electric innovator. And with a CLA, it feels as if they finally found their legs. [Music]
The all-new Mercedes CLA is here. I went to test it to see if this sleek saloon really can do 500 miles on a charge, and whether it’s more than just a pretty face.
In this review, I dive into the CLA’s range, cutting-edge tech, interior design, and driving experience. Is this the smartest EV Mercedes has ever built? And how does it stack up against its rivals?
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