New Mercedes CLA ride review: electric exec impresses from the passenger seat

Verdict

On paper (and from the passenger seat), the new Mercedes CLA has the potential to rewrite the wrongs of the brand's early EV efforts. The numbers speak for themselves, and on the move it feels solid, comfortable and relatively refined, even on snow-covered inclines and icy descents. We’re looking forward to seeing and driving the production car in 2025.

The twisting roads of the Austrian Alps in early December will never be the ideal location to sample a new car for the first time. Despite the bright sunshine, the temperature at 2,500 metres hovers around -15 degrees Celsius, with the frozen surface hidden by a light dusting of snow.

These conditions are far from what the average motorist might consider normal in the UK. But when the car in question is positioned as a true challenger to the Tesla Model 3, BMW i4 and Polestar 2 – as well as Chinese offerings such as the BYD Seal – it would be unreasonable of us to turn down the opportunity to experience it for the first time, alongside the people responsible for its development.

This is the all-new Mercedes CLA. A full reveal is pencilled in for March next year, before cars go on sale a few months later. It’s the first model to be based around the firm’s latest MMA platform, and will initially be offered with a single or dual-motor electric powertrain, before a petrol-electric hybrid arrives in 2026.

Our driver for the day is project leader for the new CLA, Oliver Zolke. He tells us Mercedes “wanted to change the procedure” by launching the EV first. “[We] wanted to do things differently.”

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While our car is covered in a red wrap to contrast with the bright white background, you can tell the new car’s design won’t stray too far from what made the first and second-generation CLAs so popular. Efficiency is key for this car, and while Zolke and his team won’t confirm a drag coefficient, he tells us it is “comparable to its predecessor”.

The cabin is also covered, with only the main instrument cluster and small slivers of the seemingly upright infotainment system projecting through cracks in the fabric. It all looks pretty familiar to our eyes; tech has long been a Mercedes strong point, and it appears the new CLA will carry this mantle into the maker’s new small-car line-up.

The CLA has never been a hugely spacious car, but the new one feels particularly enclosed. “You want headroom, but you don’t want to extend the height,” Zolke told us. “It’s a bit taller than the old car, but the trick was the glass roof; when you have a normal headliner, you need to have distance and you need to have foam in between and everything else.”

This glass roof will be standard on all cars, and stretches right back to above the rear bench seat. We weren’t able to sit in the back, nor were we given a look inside the boot. We know the battery will sit under the floor, but whenever we mentioned anything regarding the car’s dimensions, the engineers replied saying it was “a little more” or, again, “comparable to its predecessor”.

We soon set off up the mountain in convoy with a range of current Mercedes models. Our CLA – a 4MATIC with the biggest 85kWh battery (a 58kWh, rear-drive version will also be offered) – has no trouble keeping up with the various petrol-powered AMGs ahead of us. We’ve not been issued performance figures for the CLA as yet, and nor do we know the combined output of the 272bhp (rear) and 109bhp (front) motors – although the slippery surface puts paid to any idea of experiencing what a full-bore standing start feels like.

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From the passenger seat, this feels like a comfortable and well-sorted compact executive car and easily as quiet and refined as a Model 3. The compliant damping will make it more comfortable than a Polestar, but the handling, caveated again by the conditions, feels safe and secure rather than fun. Despite Zolke claiming the car is “very sporty and agile”, we reckon an i4 will get the measure of it on a dry road. When we ask our driver whether Mercedes is holding something back for any forthcoming AMG version, he simply smiles and shrugs his shoulders.

He tells us his team has been working hard on the CLA’s regenerative braking system, which can recuperate energy that would otherwise be lost at a rate of up to 200kW. Often a weak point of Mercedes electric cars, the transition between regeneration and the friction brakes is demonstrated by Zolke  – with no noticeable step or delay from where we’re sitting. He also shows us how the strongest setting can bring the car to a stop in a controlled manner – even on snow-covered surfaces.

Our “top tier” CLA should, in theory, be capable of up to 466 miles of range in its most efficient form, but a glance at the instrument panel shows just 195km (121 miles) at 85 per cent state of charge. It’s probably fair to blame the sub-zero conditions and Zolke’s unsympathetic driving style for that, but we’ll reserve judgement until we test the car properly in the spring. He tells us he’s targeting 12kWh/100km – roughly equivalent to 5.2mi/kWh.

Regardless, the CLA’s 800v electrical architecture will ensure super-fast charging times. Indeed, during the Merc’s recent 24-hour endurance test, the engineering team regularly saw speeds of 300kW or more – enough to challenge the presumably pricier Porsche Taycan.

Mention of the Porsche is particularly pertinent, actually, as much of the CLA’s supposedly strong efficiency can be attributed to the innovative new two-speed transmission – similar to what’s offered in the Taycan. While the CLA can intelligently shuffle power as required, it’ll essentially shift into top gear at speeds above 110kmh (68mph) to improve economy. Whether it works in practice remains to be seen.