Even though the headlines are all about CLA 250 this and 45 AMG that, we think most people who buy this car in Europe will want to balance out the looks with a bit of real world fuel economy by buying a diesel rather than a petrol engine.
The CLA 220 CDI is our car of the day. Equipped with a 2.1-liter four-banger, it delivers 170 hp and 350 Nm of torque for a 0 to 100 km/h sprint of 8.2 seconds. That's sort of Golf GTD acceleration that won't leave others eating your dust, but will keep plenty of cash in your pocket, since the diesel requires 5.3 l/100km in the urban cycle 3.1 less than the CLA 250.
The guys at autoforum.cz recently tested the 220 on a piece of straight highway. It's a quick car off the line off to about 80 km/h due to the close ratios of the DCT gearbox. On a downhill top speed attempt, the car manages to best its official time of 230 km/h with a GPS-indicated speed of 242 km/h. This isn't the car's true top speed, but for a 170 hp diesel engine, it's still impressive, a testament to its aerodynamics.
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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