mReview: Mercedes-Benz CLA200 Hybrid – Out With The Old

The new Mercedes-Benz CLA200 begins a new era for Mercedes, with the car being offered as both a hybrid and a fully-electric vehicle, and we've given the hybrid variant a go to see how it runs.

What’s Great

• The new CLA doesn't stray too far from the established CLA look, and it looks smart, especially with its front light bar and light-up grille surround.
• The CLA's full hybrid powertrain can drive in EV mode at up to 100km/h to provide up to 19.6km/L of fuel efficiency, though in our testing, we found consumption numbers closer to 15.2km/L in real-world usage.
• The Cat B COE variant of the new CLA comes standard with the MBUX Superscreen, which includes a 14-inch touchscreen display for the passenger, in addition to the 10.25-inch digital gauge cluster and 14-inch infotainment display.

What’s Good

• The included cabin-facing camera can be used for taking Zoom calls from the comfort of your CLA, but with the video feed only being available while parked, of course. The car even comes with three years of unlimited cross-border data.
• Decent rear legroom for a car in this class, even for a 1.8-metre-tall journalist like yours truly.
• The latest version of mbOS, Mercedes' infotainment system, runs quickly and without lag, a crucial point when so much of the car is operated through the screen.

What’s Not Great

• The CLA's drivetrain can feel lethargic at times, with a rather indecisive gearbox leading to noticeable lag when you want to get a move on. Driving around in Sport mode solves this issue, though.
• Mercedes has removed the start/stop button in favour of an EV-style solution that cuts the engine every time you put it in Park, a feature that got old very quickly.
• The automatic regenerative braking cannot be adjusted or switched off, which leads to situations where the car slows down more or less than expected, which can be quite disconcerting while driving. 

The new CLA follows what's become the new signature Mercedes design philosophy, with a refreshed rear light bar and taillight design giving it a distinct appearance on the road.

The 1.5-litre turbocharged 4-cylinder heart of the new CLA makes 161hp and 250Nm of torque in Cat B trim, good enough to get from zero to 100km/h in eight seconds.

The new CLA is longer than the previous generation and has a taller roofline for added passenger space and greater comfort.

The interior has received a big refresh with updates galore, chief of which is the MBUX Superscreen that dominates the dashboard. Elsewhere, physical buttons on the dash have gone the way of the dodo, leaving just a row of haptic touchpads below the centre air vents.

The start/stop switch for the engine has been moved to the gear selector stalk. Pushing P for Park also now means P for Power, as the car will shut off every time Park is selected. Instead of paddle shifters, the manual override for the gearbox has also migrated to this stalk. Now you push forward for an upshift, and pull towards you for a downshift.

The key difference in exterior design between the hybrid and electric CLA is how the front end lights up. On the hybrid, the grille surround gets the lighting feature, while on the EV, the stars in the front grille get lit up.

The door panel controls have also been streamlined. The seats are now controlled by a fetching two-piece unit, but there are only two window switches, necessitating an extra button to toggle between the switches operating the front or rear windows.

Rear legroom is plenty good enough for the segment and noticeably better than in the previous-gen CLA, though there still is a small central hump to contend with. 

Dynamically, the CLA feels most eager when driven in Sport mode, which kicks the engine on permanently instead of switching between EV and ICE propulsion. However, the steering assist does not seem able to fully switch off, which leads to the car feeling like it's moving the wheel by itself from time to time.

At 405 litres of cargo capacity, the new CLA actually has less cargo space than the previous-gen's 460-litre boot, perhaps a result of the newer CLA's addition of electrical gubbins. 

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