MORE MATURE DRIVE COSTA MOUZOURIS
Redesigned CLA sheds its entry-level status, offers wider range of driver-assist choices
“This is our forMUNICH, GERMANY mula for success: get them into the brand early, and keep them for life.”
That’s pulled from the press literature on the 2020 Mercedes-Benz CLA, but it’s actually somewhat substantiated.
Mercedes-Benz introduced the CLA 250 in 2013, and the compact sedan (its maker calls it a coupe, but it has four doors) succeeded in attracting new, younger customers to the German automaker. Available initially as a front driver, it boasted styling cues and features borrowed from larger, pricier Mercedes cars, but at a price that made it more accessible.
The CLA has been redesigned for 2020, and it is larger and has become more upscale. It has also matured in the market and has shed its entry-level status; that duty has been taken over by the A-Class.
The new Hungarian-made CLA is roughly 50 millimetres longer and wider, though height remains unchanged. From the front, the styling changes are subtle, with a reshaped grille and more slender LED headlights. From the side the changes are more obvious; the character lines have been ironed out, giving the CLA a smoother, more streamlined appearance.
The rear has been altered, too; the former large openings flanking the bumper are now narrow slits, and the licence plate has migrated to the bumper from the trunk lid.
The cabin is also sleeker and less cluttered. My test car is equipped with the optional 10.25-inch screen, which sits prominently behind the steering wheel, unencumbered by a visor or cowling. It has two portions: straight ahead from the driver’s seat is a configurable instrument display with three possible layouts, and to the right is a multimedia touch screen, which displays navigation, entertainment, drive mode, and vehicle info. It can also be controlled by a laptop-like touchpad on the centre console. A seven-inch TFT instrument display is standard.
Mercedes-Benz User Experience (MBUX) is now included, and it controls numerous functions. It recognizes hand gestures and can be programmed to call up various functions by moving your hand above the centre console. Lacking time to program this function, the central screen often changed displays while gesturing during normal conversation.
More conveniently, many functions can also be called up by declaring, “Hey Mercedes,” which activates the MBUX voice control. Using a normal tone it worked well for setting the climate control and selecting a destination for the navigation system, though limited seat time prevented me from further exploring the system’s capabilities. An interesting aspect of the MBUX voice control is that it will only recognize the voice that initially called it up after turning on the car, thus avoiding any confusing commands called up by other passengers.
The 2.0-litre turbocharged four returns, paired to a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox. Horsepower has been boosted to 221 from 208, while peak torque remains the same at 258 pound-feet. It can propel the CLA from zero to 100 km/h in 6.3 seconds.
On the road, the redesigned CLA feels more refined. In Comfort mode the ride is now genuinely cushy, without returning sloppy handling. The firmness of the previous model’s suspension has been toned down and the ride is significantly softer, though the CLA hasn’t lost its ability to corner precisely.
An optional head-up display is small, but well defined and easy to read. Other bits of technology aren’t as effective. One is the augmented reality navigation, which overlays navigational prompts onto a live image on the display screen. It proved no more effective than the digital images generated by conventional navigation systems. The other is the lane-keep assist, which annoyingly and abruptly applied the brakes on either side of the vehicle to pull it back into the lane if it drifted to one side.
A comprehensive suite of driver assists is available, including adaptive cruise control, lane-change and lane-keep assist, active brake assist, traffic-sign assist (identifies traffic signs and issues a warning if you, for instance, attempt to turn the wrong way onto a one-way street), blind-spot warning, and active steering assist. Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are standard.
Mercedes has dropped the frontdrive variant of the CLA, and only the 4Matic will be available, which means the starting price will go up. Pricing will be announced as the 2020 CLA approaches market launch in the fall.