4WD SHOOTING BRAKE
SOMETIMES you’ve got to be in the right mood… and I’m in the mood for a car like this.
And in the right place with the right weather, too.
The car is the Mercedes-AMG CLA
45 S Shooting Brake. Quite a gob full, and I’ve left a bit out (4Matic+ Plus, which – if I remember my maths correctly – should be 4Matic Minus as two pluses equal a minus).
We’re near Mercedes-Benz’s UK HQ at Milton Keynes and thrashing this newcomer around the excellent and quiet roads around Silverstone.
What a car. At the heart of it is the same 2.0-litre turbocharged engine that’s used in the A45 S hatchback. A record-breaking engine that produces an incredible 421bhp.
That’s around the same amount of horsepower that was produced by the Cosworth DFV Formula One engine in the late 1960s.
Sure, it wasn’t turbocharged like the Merc’s but it needed a rebuild about every 500 miles and wouldn’t have liked ticking over at traffic lights.
Mercedes gives you a warranty on its engine, and driving around town you wouldn’t know that it could produce such power.
The CLA 45 is available in non S form with a piffling 387bhp, but us power-mad Brits only get the fruitier S version. You can also get it in the CLA saloon but I’m a sucker for estate cars.
Besides, the extra practicality of the Shooting Brake is handy and it looks cooler. Perhaps your dog is also a speed freak and will enjoy
0-62mph in 4.0sec and, if you can find somewhere to do it, a top speed of 155mph.
That’s the restricted top speed. If you order the Driver’s Package it is lifted to 168mph.
Choosing the Shooting Brake over the hatchback adds an extra three grand to the price, making the total for our test car £59,470.
That’s a serious amount of money unless you convert it to bhp per £, in which case it doesn’t look quite so bad.
Ours is in Plus spec, which adds an aero pack, forged alloy wheels and leather upholstery.
As you can tell from the 4Matic in the name, it’s four-wheel drive.
With this performance, including a mighty 500Nm of torque, you would be buying two new tyres every week if it was two-wheel drive. The torque steer would be terrifying, too.
The 4WD drive system features a Haldex multi-plate clutch system that features a torque control mechanism using two clutches to apportion power individually to each rear wheel.
This system has enabled engineers in the AMG department to add a drift setting to the array of six driving modes. And no, I didn’t try it.
Even turning off traction control in a test car usually voids the insurance, so being found in a ditch with drift mode selected would not go down well.
Launch control is also standard. You don’t want to be caught using that on public roads either.
When I drove the A45 S hatchback earlier this year I was infuriated by the