At a glance, the GLA-Class is not a real Mercedes-Benz SUV. It's made in Hungary, comes with standard front-wheel drive and only delivers four-cylinder engines. However, company officials from the US have stated they expect this to be an even bigger success than the CLA-Class. Time to take a closer look!
The specific model we are looking at is the GLA 220 CDI, forbidden fruit to all North American buyers for now. Instead of the 2-liter petrol engine all US-spec cars get, this has a 2.1-liter diesel making 170 PS and, crucially, 350 Nm of torque. The 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) sprint takes 8.3 seconds (official number) and the top speed of 215 km/h (133.6 mph) means this car is relevant on the highway.
This next video was shot by Youtuber Automann-TV and shows the diesel motor has decent punch in the middle of the rev range and a sporty exhaust note, which you usually don't associate with diesel engines. Instead of a normal automatic, this has a 7G-Tronic twin-clutch gearbox which Mercedes developed. It makes shifting much faster than a conventional auto, but we discovered in certain conditions it can be grabby off the line when we drove the CLA.
The particular car in this video has the optional AMG Line body kit that gives the car a sportier appearance that mirrors the GLA 45 AMG. It's very nice to look at, but if you plan on doing any offroading, you might want to reconsider buying this. It's also worth a quick note that with all-wheel drive, options and a body kit, the 220 CDI pushes around €45,000 (equivalent to $58,000).
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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