Mercedes-Benz is in the habit of making high-performance AMG versions of almost
every model that builds in the u.s. these days and so it didn't take long to
figure that the new bargain-priced cla-class would sprout one and here we
have it finally the all-new cla45 AMG so let's see how it does cla250 already
comes with a turbocharged two-liter force order its Angie sibling also has a
2-liter turbo four but here it's good for 355 horsepower 332 pound-feet of
torque with all-wheel drive and a dual-clutch seven-speed automatic
transmission Mercedes says this thing hits 60 in just four and a half seconds
pretty good right unfortunately most of that seat of your pants kind of feeling
of power doesn't really come to 3 4000 RPM on the attack
I blame some of that on the transmission it up just very smoothly but delays on
downshifts sometimes hunts gears is trying to kick down to three years at
the same time especially in the drivetrains see mode that stands for
controlled efficiency you might as well also say it stands for something like up
the fund or something
there's a sport mode in s mode here that doesn't prove things a little bit but
overall the whole mo of the car seems to be upshift very soon and fight you on
downshifts given how the balance of power is really at the top end of attack
that doesn't really give it a visceral sense of fun unless you're throwing the
car around do that in cla45 disguise its front wheel drive reach pretty well the
all-wheel-drive system biases power up front of the normal circumstances and
that does give the car a little bit of those heaviness that kind of initially
starting that turn into a corner but overlong sweepers it's pretty easy to
get the rear end to come out into play up with just the gas pedal now our car
has the base AMG sports suspension there's an optional AMG Performance
Suspension but as it stands body roll isn't too much easy to kind of throw
this car around steering isn't lightning-quick but it's good enough to
play along and definitely makes the kharfun nimble in corners a lot of fun
to take a backroad all that comes in a package that's ok as far as probability
is concerned
mercedes tradition of accelerator lag teams to be alive and well here it's not
as bad in the CLA as it is in some of the automaker's larger cars but even in
sport mode 45 still takes kind of a beat getting off the line there
ride quality again this car has the AMG sport suspension with 18-inch wheels not
19 and the performances pension as it is it's decent around town a little bit
bumpy but not out of
you'd expect for a performance car actually pretty livable on the highway
to now our test car has been based seats forward to 45 AMG I'm they called him
pretty well in corners but the back rest is kind of flat in the seat cushions at
the bottom here a little bit too small for my legs and I'm six feet tall
there are AMG Performance seats available that's going to change the
whole picture there so check them out as well some of the clas bargain price
roots show through even the AMG here
leather is optional in the 45 our car has mb-tex thats pink leather upholstery
really look or feel much like the real thing
materials along the upper dash and Ecuador fairly consistent but there's
kind of some hard parts here along the lower parts of dashboard where your
knees kind of potentially knock up against these door locks stems here
they're from the old c-class they need to go like yesterday they are horribly
chief between the BMW m235i in the audi s3 the cla45 AMG has a number of loose
competitors typical of AMG cars kind of establishes itself as the performance
tour of the group with decent ride quality but characteristic of its
architecture not so good visibility or Headroom in front or rear seats it has
its moments but we're still scratching our head over pricing pricing starts for
the cla45 right under fifty thousand dollars that means it's actually the
cheapest AMG you can buy right now in the United States up but it's also more
than 15 thousand dollars above and all-wheel-drive cla250 in terms of
standard features you get beyond the 250 xenon headlights a little bit of extra
body work and larger wheels not a whole lot else so really what you're paying
for is the extra performance is that worth it
mm that's up to you