Mercedes shoots for the stars

Mercedes-Benz certainly hasn’t played safe with this second-generation CLA Shooting Brake, giving it the sort of bold, exciting styling that characterises its four-door coupe stablemate.

Look a little closer and you’ll realise the slinky roofline is a clever slight of hand from the stylists and there’s real practicality on offer.

Like its predecessor, this secondgeneration CLA Shooting Brake aims to offer a stylised interpretation of what a small estate should be.

The original version was launched back in 2015 to sell alongside the stylised four-door coupe CLA; this MK2 model arrived in the summer of 2019 and delivers a high-tech cabin that Mercedes reckon takes screen and infotainment technology to the next level. It gets a slightly bigger boot, too.

Mercedes markets this car as a “sporty” alternative to its more conventional C-class estate. The CLA Shooting Brake’s sporty styling leads you to expect that. Though this car shares its chassis, steering and braking architecture with A and B-Class models, it does get its own suspension set-up, with various changes made to improve comfort and make it a bit less “crashy” over poorer surfaces.

There’s torque vectoring to help with the handling and Direct Steering to sharpen things up at the helm.

The range kicks off with CLA 180 and CLA 200 variants that both use a 1.3-litre petrol engine co-developed with Renault and are, respectively, capable of producing either 136hp and 200Nm of torque or 163hp and 250Nm. Next up are the CLA 220 and CLA 250 derivatives, which use 190 and 224hp versions of the brand’s 2.0-litre petrol engine.

There’s also a 2.0-litre diesel, the CLA 220d, which offers 190hp. All models use a 7G-DCT seven-speed automatic transmission. There are two MercedesAMG performance variants: the CLA 35 4MATIC, which uses a version of the 2.0-litre petrol powerplant tuned out to 306hp, and the CLA 45 4MATIC that uses a bespoke AMG-tuned 2.0-litre turbo developing a frantic 421hp.

Mercedes says that the CLA Shooting Brake is “a designer car”, referring to its elegant proportions: a long bonnet, coupe-like window lines, muscular shoulders over the rear wheel arch and a supplely crouched rear, which is intended to show sports car genes.

The outline of the frameless windows is identical to the outline of the coupe’s up to the B-pillar. This MK2 model is 48mm longer than the original, plus it’s 53mm wider but 2mm lower.

The flat headlamps, the low-slung bonnet and the diamond radiator grille with the central star mark the typical Mercedes-Benz sports car look.

The interior of the passenger compartment is identical to that of the coupe. Both CLAs offer unique cabin architecture, primarily thanks to their avant-garde instrument panel: the widescreen display is completely freestanding with no hood on the wingshaped main body of the instrument panel.

This stretches continuously from one front door to the other. At 871 millimetres, the boot opening is significantly wider than in the previous model and the luggage area is 10 litres bigger, measuring in at 505 litres.

Expect to pay somewhere in the £32,000 to £40,000 bracket for mainstream versions of this CLA Shooting Brake – and anything between £40,000-£60,000 if you want one of the high-performance Mercedes-AMG variants.

In the mainstream range, there’s a choice of three trim levels: AMG Line, AMG Line Premium and AMG Line Premium Plus. Even base AMG Line models come decently equipped, standard kit including the MBUX multimedia system that includes Hey Mercedes voice recognition and is accessed through a 10.25-inch centredash touchscreen. This incorporates navigation,aDABradioandsmartphone integration, including Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

There’s also a 7-inch digital cockpit display, LED high-performance headlights, privacy glass, Thermotronic luxury two-zone automatic climate control, a parking package and heated front seats with leather upholstery.

Standard safety features include Active Lane Keeping Assist and Speed Limit Assist.

AMG Line Premium trim adds a larger 10.25-inch digital cockpit display, a dash cam, ambient lighting with a choice of 64 colours and keyless entry.

Finally AMG Line Premium Plus spec adds a panoramic sliding sunroof, Multibeam LED headlights, memory seats for the driver and front passenger and an Energizing pack that uses a number of the car’s systems to boost driver fitness and wellbeing.

The CLA Shooting Brake almost replicates the economy and emissions figures of the saloon, which means it’s very, very good indeed. The kerb weight goes up slightly and, rather surprisingly, the drag coefficent of the Shooting Brake isn’t quite as good.

Still, it’s hard to complain when you have a practical and stylish MercedesBenz estate that can return figures like the ones quoted here. The CLA 180 and CLA 200 Coupe variants can deliver up to 52.3mpg on the WLTP combined cycle.

The CLA 180 emits 128g/km of CO2 and the CLA 200 emits 127g/km. The CLA 220 and CLA 250 deliver up to 46.3mpg and emit 142g/km. The CLA 220d diesel delivers up to 65.7mpg and emits 115g/km.

Mercedes markets this car as a ‘sporty’ alternative to its more conventio– nal C-class estate