2014 Mercedes-Benz CLA250: Temper Your Expectations

Disappointment is one of the most cutting of human emotions.  Nothing can ever fall so far in our estimation than that which we have built up to a dizzying height via our own expectations.  The 2014 Mercedes-Benz CLA250 is a car that I really, truly, wanted to like, and a vehicle that I looked forward to sampling.  After having spent a week behind the wheel of the CLA250, however, I am forced to report that I have become a victim of my own preconceptions – in particular, the idea that Mercedes-Benz had found the secret for shrinking its successful luxury formula.  There are good, small premium cars out there, but sadly, Mercedes-Benz isn’t building them.

It’s All About The Price

So much that concerns the 2014 Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class revolves around its price, which on our Canadian shores checks in at an affordable (for its class) $33,900.  Of course, as much as that sub-$35k figure accounts for the appeal of the CLA250, it is also responsible for several of the issues surrounding its palatability as a legitimate premium option.

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Consider the limited amount of standard equipment that comes with the CLA250, requiring buyers to pay more if they want to indulge in a navigation system, genuine leather upholstery, or that great Canadian aspirational feature, heated seats.  This essentially renders the vehicle’s attractive price of entry moot, as my tester tipped the scales with a sticker of over $41k.  Even if  you pony up for these items, you’ll still be stuck with an overly-generous helping of plastic inside the sedan’s cabin, which is unusual for a Mercedes-Benz.  Compared to other cars at its price point, its possible to do better in terms of gear, style, and quality – in some cases, even when looking outside of the luxury segment.

Form Over Function

It’s also important to note that the Mercedes-Benz CLA250 asks buyers to make a significant sacrifice in terms of day-to-day practicality that no other compact premium sedan demands.  This is due to the car’s ‘coupe-like’ shape, which is styling code-speak for an arched roof that significantly cuts into headroom for rear passengers and makes it difficult even for average-size individuals to enter or exit the back of the automobile (not to mention place a child in a car seat).  Some are enamoured of the CLA-Class’ styling and liken it to a truncated CLS-Class.  Personally, 'truncated' best describes the level of passion the sedan’s not-so-graceful looks stirred within me.  Legroom isn’t great in the back either, which further replicates the coupe concept that the CLA250’s designers were aiming for.

Uncertain At Any Speed

I found the least impressive aspect of the 2014 Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class to be its drivetrain, which consists of a 208 horsepower, 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine that feeds the front wheels by way of a seven-speed dual-clutch automated manual transmission.  Also capable of generating 258 lb-ft of torque, the plucky little unit is quite good when passing at highway speeds – but due to the inefficacy of the car’s dual-clutch gearbox, this remained the only environment where the CLA250 turned in a passing grade.

The seven-speed automated manual routinely hesitated to deliver the power being generated by the car’s turbo motor, leading to circumstances where I was sitting completely stationary while the engine revved up past 2,500 rpm, my right-foot ministrations unable to ease the CLA250’s dual clutches into action.  This occurred frequently in conjunction with the sedan’s unpleasantly abrupt automatic engine start/stop feature.  When driven more brusquely, I often found the Mercedes-Benz transmission backtracking as it pounded forward through the gears, only to suddenly change its mind seemingly mid-shift and go back to the higher cog – all of this with my foot unceasingly on the floor.  It was a confusing and decidedly non-Mercedes-Benz level of performance that left a sour taste in my mouth in any number of driving scenarios.

Topping it all off was uninspiring fuel mileage of 10 l/100 kilometres in mixed city and highway driving, and handling that suffered from imprecise response to steering inputs combined with a suspension system that seemed incapable of keeping up with the demands of Montreal’s pockmarked roads.  Some of that vagueness can be attributed to the CLA250’s front-wheel drive architecture, but this isn’t a blanket excuse as there are a number of front-wheel drive competitors that don’t suffer from the same milquetoast character.

Not Up To Par

It’s troubling to walk away from a car such as the 2014 Mercedes-Benz CLA250 with such a sour taste in my mouth.  Mercedes-Benz is quite capable of building absolutely amazing automobiles, and does so on a regular basis.  The drive to capture volume, however – to steal away shoppers who might have previously considered a fully-loaded Honda Accord when faced with the high cost of a vehicle like the C-Class sedan – is what has created an environment where quality is traded for economies of scale and a more marketable MSRP.

The thing is, it’s going to work.  I have no doubt that the CLA250 is poised to be the next big thing in the entry-level luxury class, its sales figures inflated by so many buyers who have always wanted to park a Mercedes-Benz in the driveway but who have, until now, not been able to meet the asking price.  All the German automaker had to do to create this juggernaut-in-waiting was trade in a little bit of its credibility as a premium brand, a slick move that will fill its corporate pockets at the expense of diluting the Silver Star’s resonance with the E-Class and S-Class buyers who fuel its economic engine.