You can feel the desire when Janis Joplin pleads, "Oh, Lord, won't you buy me a Mer-ce-des-BENZ?" But if the Mercedes had been the entry-level CLA four-door coupe, she might have reconsidered. The CLA looks like the real thing, with the proud three-pointed star on the grille and the sexy styling of the posh and costly CLS. But that's where the resemblance ends. Once you're behind the wheel, the CLA just doesn't deliver the driving experience that its image leads you to expect.
Rather than a comfortable, quiet, and sporty rear-wheel-drive sedan, the CLA is a cramped, noisy, front-wheel-drive compact with a stiff ride, impaired visibility, and exceptionally difficult access. It also lacks the handling finesse and refinement we expect at this price.
The CLA is pretty agile in corners. Turn-in response is quick, and the body stays nice and flat. The steering is well-weighted, although it falls short on feedback. When pushed to its handling limits, the CLA proved secure and forgiving, and posted a high speed in our avoidance maneuver. But it tends to run wide when pushed and lacks the balance and sporty character of other Mercedes sedans.
The 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine is mated to a seven-speed automated manual transmission. All-wheel drive will be optional down the road. We recorded an impressive 28 mpg overall on the required premium fuel.
If you really hammer it, the CLA accelerates pretty quickly, but many of us complained that it felt sluggish off the line in normal driving. That's partly because the car defaults to Eco mode at every restart, which reduces throttle response and adjusts shifting to eke out better fuel economy. A start/stop system shuts off the engine to save fuel at traffic lights. But restarts aren't always smooth. You can disable the system at a modest penalty to fuel economy.
Inside, the CLA is well-crafted, although several staffers thought the center screen, perched atop the dash, looked like an afterthought. Drivers have ample knee and foot room, but taller drivers might find head room tight. The aggressively contoured 14-way adjustable sports seats are great if your body fits within the bolsters. Cushioning is firm and supportive. But several drivers complained that the fixed head restraint sat too close to the back of their head. Save the rear seats for young kids; the rear cushions offer decent comfort, but an average adult's head will brush the ceiling. You'll need to be plenty limber to fold yourself in through the small and low doors.
The sleek coupelike styling hinders the view out. The glass area is too short to the sides, and a high rear deck and thick roof pillars limit rear visibility. A backup camera is optional, which is a bit galling because it's standard on every $17,000 Honda Fit.
As in other Mercedes models, controls take some getting used to, but they aren't as complicated as in Audis and BMWs. The climate controls are mounted low on the dash, and the audio controls are a bit spread out. The electronic shifter can also be fussy and unintuitive to use, and the car lacks some desired safeguards to prevent it from rolling away when parked, should the driver accidentally not select Park.
A smart phone is easy to pair and reconnected each time we got in the car. Voice-command capability for the audio system is optional. Because our car came with run-flat tires, no jack, spare tire, or inflator kit was included.