Louth Motors: The New Mercedes-Benz CLA

The CLA to my eye has always been a very good looking and striking car. It has benefitted, and so have the owners, from the hand-me-down styling from the CLS.

​If you think of the words sleek, cool and coupe the image in your head would not be a world away from what Mercedes has delivered in the new 3rd generation, CLA. I suspect Mercedes thinks the same because the shape of the CLA through squinted eyes hasn’t changed much at all since it was first introduced in 2013. Apart from getting the latest S Class developments and revised front and rear lights, the car is unmistakably a CLA much the same way as say a Mini, a Fiat 500, a Defender and their own G-Wagon are.

When you have a winner you don’t mess with it. What you do is improve it and widen its appeal. You also physically widen it and make it longer and taller than the previous model. Bigger it seems is always better and the extra interior space is most welcome. The exterior styling gets a sporty ‘shark-nose’ front and flush fitting handles on that beautiful air-piercing silhouette. Those revised lights get the star shaped treatment to ensure you know it is a Mercedes-Benz and if you miss that heritage nod then the star-studded grille won’t let you. The new CLA comes as a hybrid petrol model or all-electric but not as a diesel, which in 2025 was the number one choice of engine here in Ireland by CLA buyers. Do you still believe the market decides or is the market told what to buy?

Anyway, what’s the CLA like to sit in and drive? Being a luxury car you expect a luxurious experience and in the main you get it. The tech is next level and if you want the future of every car now you get it first in a Mercedes. At the centre of the dashboard is an advanced, upgraded MBUX infotainment system, with the option to add a dedicated passenger display that spans the entire cabin. Buttons provided are confined to the doors and steering wheel with a few below the central screen.

Again, did we ask for all this touch or are we being told touch is the best? The haptic controls on the steering wheel can be inadvertently bumped though when driving which isn’t good. When you get in via the still adorable frameless door your immediate impression is of luxury. It feels fantastic and what you’d expect of a car starting at €57,960 for the entry model, the CLA 180, with a 1.5L turbo-charged petrol engine with 136hp. The entry electric model starts at €53,425 with the best range of 793km coming from the CLA 250+ version. My test was in a CLA 200 with 163hp available.

It looks impressive and the layout is fine apart from the space below the floating central compartment that houses two cup holders. It’s just very hard to use the lower space and I wish manufacturers would steer clear of this trend. The soft materials are fine but some of the plastics and switches feel inferior to what were fitted in previous models. The air vents for instance are shiny and feel thin and scratchy. They also feel like they won’t last through normal use alone and the door handles could feel a lot better, especially since you handle them every time you use the car.

Driving the CLA is a whole different story. It seems they spent most of the money on getting this right - and they have. Sporty luxury is nailed in the CLA. I immediately became part of the car when driving it as opposed to being in it. You can achieve the perfect driving position effortlessly in the CLA with the range of seat and steering wheel adjustment. Once you set the driving position for you all you want to do is find a traffic-free road and exploit the brilliant chassis. That’s the highlight of this car and it’s addictive. The steering is precise and perfectly weighted, the suspension banishes road imperfections, the grip is very adhesive and body roll is beautifully controlled.

In Sport mode (a very noticeable change) the steering is properly heavier and weighty for the expected style of driving you are about to embark on. Aside from those few minor interior switchgear missteps and the lesser quality materials, the new CLA 200 delivers an irresistible blend of striking style and genuine driver engagement and more importantly enjoyment. In normal mode around the urban and city locations it is a cinch to drive and park. I revelled in this car and it is the best driving car I’ve tested this year with those seamless gearshifts from the 8-speed automatic gearbox. If motoring enjoyment is your thing, and it should be, then the experience in the CLA is to be aimed for. Expect 4.9l/100kms if driven frugally but in reality you’ll probably achieve 5.9l/100kms for normal driving.

Front passengers get a fantastic ride with rear passengers catered for with some compromises mainly due to the sloped roof. It’s a 5-seater but best suited to four adults. If adults are not in those seats you can fix child seats via the Isofix and put 405litres of theirs and your stuff in the boot. It’s less space than the outgoing model which was sacrificed for more space for the rear passengers and behind its main competitors but not that far. Competitors like the BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe or the Tesla Model 3 will be worried that this cracking car will sway more and more buyers towards the three-pointed star despite it being the most expensive of them all.

Mercedes has only won Irish Car of the Year once, back in 2017 with the deserving E-Class. In Europe, it was a similar story - a drought stretching back to 1974 until last year, when the CLA picked up their second ever gong. Ireland has only aped the European Car of the Year winner 10 times in its 48-year history, and this new CLA proves Mercedes still knows how to build a deeply desirable four-door coupe. That gives it an excellent chance of being the 11th car to do the double this November.