You must know what you’re getting yourself into when purchasing a Mercedes-Benz CLA , a car that apart from the styling and badge is, worlds away from any Three Pointed Star sedan to come before it. It’s front-wheel drive, it’s not particularly spacious or practical, nor is it as cosseting as a Benz should be to drive or/and be in.
These are some of the conclusions drawn in this first drive of the CLA done by Consumer Reports. Their car is a CLA250 model, the one most will go for in the States, though they called it poorly equipped in and around its base price of just under thirty grand .
They moved that closer to forty ($36,500) by ticking not that many boxes at all: a ‘premium package,’ special paint, opening panoramic glass roof, wood trim inside and bi-xenon headlights.
In the end, they were not won over by it, primarily because it doesn’t feel like a Mercedes ought to and the attractively low youth-corrupting starting price quickly rises and the CLA almost ends up costing just as much as the proper rear-wheel driven Mercs that we’re used to.
Check out the full video below.
