2014 Mercedes-Benz CLA45 AMG Review
2014 CLA45 AMG REVIEW
What’s hot: Slippery body, riotous power, and grip to make your nose bleed
What’s not: Exhaust has been ‘toned-down’; long, long waiting list
X-FACTOR: An almost-sensible family car for the dedicated ‘track head’? The CLA 45 AMG is a bad boy in a designer suit.
Vehicle style: Premium performance small sedan
Price: $86,900
Engine/transmission: 265kW/450Nm 2.0 turbo petrol | 7spd DCT auto
Fuel consumption listed: 7.0 l/100km | tested: 11.0 l/100km
OVERVIEW
Like its mad-hat brother, the A 45 AMG hatch, the CLA 45 AMG is ferocious on road.
Fast? Not even close... it’s blistering.
It’s also stuck like glue, really smart inside, fully kitted, and, at full noise, makes an intoxicating rapid-fire crackle when spearing through the shifts.
Mercedes Benz doesn’t do half-measures. Its new CLA 45 AMG is absolutely the full bottle.
Under the bonnet is the most powerful series-production four-cylinder turbo engine in the world. And that engine is itself cloaked in the panels of the world’s “most aerodynamic production vehicle”.
So, 4MATIC all-wheel-drive, 265kW and 450Nm waiting to be unleashed, launch control and a seven-speed twin-clutch transmission poised under the fingertips, what is there not to like about the CLA 45 AMG?
INTERIOR | RATING: 4/5
Quality: Even in a car as ‘out there’ as the CLA 45 AMG, there is a sense of understatement to a Mercedes interior.
It’s not burdened by fussy lines or extravagant detail, but there is no mistaking the feel of quality or of style and good taste.
There are some nice retro touches to the CLA – like the round air-vents and flat galvanised dash panel – and throughout the fit and finish is exactly as you’d expect.
The red-cut seats with red panel highlights look great; the leather is flawless and small touches like the solid metal AMG monogram in the seat-backs (and illuminated sill plates) add a sense of exclusivity.
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