Sibling rivalry
FOR Better conceived and executed than the car it replaces AGAINST Pricey, doesn’t ride well, occasionally laggy gearbox. Get the GLB
The VW Group isn’t the only one spinning a shedload of cars off a single platform. In the last couple of years Mercedes has derived no fewer than seven different cars from the latest A-Class’s underpinnings, all of which use a common suite of engines and technologies and, therefore, look and feel much the same as one another. Seriously, you just pick the one that fits.
So here we have the new GLA, the five-seat crossover A-Class. And it looks exactly how you’d expect a crossovered A-Class to look. Bit taller, bit wider, with a pinch more ground clearance and some black plastic trim around the sills and wheel arches to make it look at least semi-rugged. Textbook stuff.
It is not a bad looking car, and Mercedes has at least mended the proportions. The new car is 10cm taller and a fraction shorter than the oddly shaped old one, aligning it more closely with rivals such as the Audi Q3, BMW X1/X2 and Volvo XC40. Now it looks more like a little SUV, rather than the jumped-up hatchback it nevertheless remains underneath.
But it is a bit bland, don’t you think? A bit on the nose. Not half as interesting a design as the GLB – the seven-seat crossover A-Class – even with the chrome brightwork and big alloys of the pricey yet popular AMG Line model tested here. After spending a couple of hours behind the wheel, I was forced to pull over to remind myself what it looked like from the outside.
You could levy the same criticism at the way the GLA drives. Bit dull, but it does the job. The only one we’ve tried so far is the GLA220d, which gets the more powerful of the two diesel engines available. There’s also a 200d using this same 2.0-litre, or you can have a 1.3 or 2.0-litre petrol. The 220d gets AWD as standard, and it’s optional on the 200d for around £1,600, but the petrols are FWD only. All-wheel-drive AMGs are coming, natch.
In the 220d 0-62mph takes 7.3 seconds, which is more than quick enough, while claimed fuel economy is a very reasonable 49.6mpg. We rate this engine in other Mercs, and it’s decent in the GLA too. Makes a bit of a racket when you nail it, but fades nicely into the background when you’re cruising.
Meanwhile the eight-speed auto is leagues ahead of the older seven-speed still used by the base petrol GLA200. But while the shifts themselves are smooth enough and usually well timed, it can be a bit hesitant to grab a gear
when you coast into a roundabout or need to make a quick getaway at a busy junction.
Then there’s the ride. Mercedes bills the GLA as the GLB’s more “sporty and lifestyleoriented brother”, but it’s not sporty, just firm. On AMG Line “lowered comfort suspension” the GLA thumps through potholes and doesn’t handle bigger bumps and dips particularly well. At least it doesn’t roll too much (we’d happily accept a bit more roll in exchange for a more pliant ride), and is easy to drive smoothly thanks to clean, predictable steering and brakes, but we wouldn’t exactly call it ‘fun’.
Happily the new GLA’s interior is more memorable than the way it looks and the way it drives. You sit higher than before, like in an actual SUV, and though the twin widescreens in high-spec versions are shared with the A-Class and thus a couple of years old now, they remain fairly spectacular.
They actually work, too. You can talk to them – which works brilliantly 90 per cent of the time – touch them, or use the laptop style trackpad on the centre console. The UI is smart, and after a bit of practice easy enough to wrap your head around.
“MERCEDES BILLS IT AS THE GLB’S SPORTY BROTHER, BUT IT’S NOT SPORTY, JUST FIRM”
There’s more space in here than before as well. Now you can fit actual adults in the back, and the seats slide about just like in the bigger GLB, which looks more interesting, has a bigger boot and seven seats, and of course uses all the same engines and tech because, don’t forget, underneath it’s essentially the same car as the GLA. It’s not much more expensive either – spec for spec there’s about £1,500 in it, or only a few pounds per month.
We haven’t driven the GLB in the UK yet, we’ve only had a go in Europe on the fancy adaptive suspension we don’t get over here. But it ought to be more pliant and comfortable. Which we’d argue is of more value in an SUV than schportiness.
Or if you’re looking at pricier GLAs – they start at £32,640, but the one we tried costs £43,250 – you might as well look at the recently facelifted GLC too, which costs from around £40,000 and is a very good car. Tom Harrison