No Longer A Cut Above? DRIVEN: Mercedes-Benz CLA Fails To Make The Grade

get over it and wait for the C Class next yr, the CLA's goal is to be the best looking entry level luxury car, pushing volume and market share.

so far, Mission Accomplished

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Merc does not focus on making the best entry level anything. Mercedes main focus is on high end models. They understand to exist they must offer cheaper offerings but to think mercedes puts a lot of effor into these cars like they do you upper offerings is bit nuts. This car will sell like hot cakes. It's been out for a week and a half. It's sold over 2,000 units. Mission accomplished.

I think "fails to make the grade" is a bit harsh of a description. Does it not live up to MB's usual rep? Probably not. Is it competitive and appropriate for the price class? Probably so. And Mercedes isn't stupid. They know the appeal of their product as a status symbol and don't need to make this a literal baby CLS. Even before a full month of sales, it's already put over 2000 CLA's on the books.

Test drove the CLA 250. Will not buy. Harsh ride, no spare tire, turbo lag galore (can you say "wait a minute"), poor DCT transmission (can you say "what gear are we in"). Wife loved the looks and driving position - maybe it's a car for the ladies.

Making the CLA is an effort by Mercedes to get younger buyers but as long as fit & finish aint up to Audi levels, I wont purchase it. The competition is stiff. Furthermore, the Asian cars these days looks more and more Euro. And more Euro cars looks increasingly Asian. The CLA could be a Hyandai or something Eastern a few years ago. Fact is, with copy and paste these days, the cars nowadays are all reasonably good, but also same-same. The only difference is in the Brand emblems. The Chinese are catching up too but yet behind compared to other Asian brands. I saw a few Chinese crawling under Frankfort show-cars taking pictures and we all know what they use em for..

Get a VW and be happy.

Built for those who want the badge, but have no idea of, or care to have a true luxury driving experience. Same reason why Lexus does well. For that reason, it will do well in certain segments. Not for me though.

This doesn't make sense, as Lexus was ALWAYS known for excellent interior materials, and the IS and GS are regarded as excellent handling vehicles now.

It has a Hyundai-inspired look that leaves me cold.

Saw a CLA on the road a few days ago. There is NO mistaking a CLA for a Sonata. And let's not forget. The Sonata (released in 2009) is aping the original CLS (released 2005).

cidflekken: Let me clarify -- The CLA LOOKS like it's styling was inspired by Hundai. I cdon't believe that it actually is.

I have seen the CLA in person and it is dismal. The truck face is laughable. The gross cheapness for the price is shocking. It is terrible to drive. The dealer had a base model, but the others on hand were priced at $45K rather than $30K. For $30K the Jetta GLI does it better. If you want even better quality/reliability than the Germans go with a Fusion SEL or Platinum, or a Kia Optima SXL. I drove my fiance's Optima SXL to look at the CLA and it was the CLA that drove like a Kia would have 15 years ago. It was slow. It shifted badly. The handling was not well sorted out. Now factor in the frequency that Mercedes cars seem to need to return to the dealer to fix something minor (It's always minor but it's so often that it's a sign of inattention to detail and low quality in my opinion). For the real price of a CLA--$45K--the current Hyundai Genesis is an infinitely better car and it is due for replacement shortly with an even better car. The CLA is laughable and other manufacturers have to be laughing at it.

The CLA is a pretty pathetic attempt by Mercedes to go down market. The engines suffer from turbo lag, the rear seats are extremely cramped, the materials quality is laughable, and the options are astronomically priced.

The Audi A3 sedan will offer much smoother engines, more room, significantly better interior quality and more reasonably priced options at a lower base price.

Mercedes should not have cut so many corners to keep prices down because they're final product will get outclassed by the competition.

dont care too much for the base cla, but i am looking forward to seeing the cla45 amg and how that, looks, dirves, and feels..

They achieve what they want.....a high volume car for people that likes the MBs but cant afford them. This is a commercial car , and is doing a LOT Better than anything from bmw or audi in the class of price....Regarding CLS45AMG, well A45AMG already kick the but of ALL other competitors....So yes CAL45 most likely wont get good reviews but as long as its numbers surpass the others ..is OK for me.