Mercedes-Benz, like many other Northern European car manufacturers, uses a system of numbers and letters to name the vehicles it produces. With the Mercedes-Benz CLA Coupe, they have stuck to this system as usual. But the choice of letters doesn’t seem to be chosen blindly. These letters suggest a number of suitable words (in English, anyway): class, classic, clap, clarion and clairvoyant, for example.

One word beginning with CLA that is suitable for the styling of the Mercedes-Benz CLA Coupe is a rather obscure word: clarabella. To avoid inveigling readers into a game of Balderdash, this means “clear and beautiful.” And this is certainly a description that suits the Mercedes-Benz CLA Coupe down to the ground (touched by the 18-inch alloy wheels). The stylists have made extensive use of sculptured grooves along the side that blend harmoniously into the aerodynamic curves and angles of the front end. You wouldn’t quite call the styling chunky; nor would you call it sleekly curvaceous. The Mercedes-Benz CLA Coupe is sort of an Amazon warrior or (appropriately for a German car) a Valkyrie – beautiful and sleek but muscular and powerful, with just a hint of aggression.

The Mercedes-Benz CLA Coupe has seating for four and room in the rear seats is tolerable. However, given the classic coupé styling, this is probably best kept as a car for two. All the same, the rear seats do come with preparation for child restraints and good seat belts (and airbags). It would certainly be the classiest car doing the school run!

The Mercedes-Benz CLA Coupe is yet to come to Australia’s shores at the time of writing, but we can have a good guess about what we will be getting if we look at what’s been driving around the Autobahn and/or from Land’s End to John-O-Groats in the UK. This suggests that two engine variants for the Mercedes-Benz CLA Coupe should be available: one petrol (the CLA 180) and one diesel (the CLA 220 CDI). Both of these manage to combine frugality with fun. For the diesel unit, the power reaches its maximum at 125 kW (@34000–4000 rpm) and the torque is at its greatest at 350 Nm in the 1400–3400 rpm range. IN the petrol unit, the torque is a shade less, which is to be expected when comparing petrol to diesel, reaching a maximum at 200 Nm (@1250–4000 rpm) and the power peaks at 90 kW when the rev counter hits 5000 rpm. In the UK models, the diesel engine is harnessed to a 6-speed manual whereas the petrol engine is coupled to 7G-DCT 7-speed automatic transmission. I know which one sounds like the most fun for drivers!

The Mercedes-Benz CLA Coupe is not a large car. It’s one of the smaller coupés out there. This means the smaller engines are all you need to have fun and, at the same time, cut down on emissions and reduce demand on fossil fuels, etc. etc. Out of the two overseas engine variants for the Mercedes-Benz CLA Coupe, the diesel engine has the best miles per gallon figures (62.8 combined) but the petrol unit isn’t bad either, coming in at 50.4 mpg.

Another thing that remains to be seen is whether we will be getting both the Sport and the AMG Sport variants. With any luck, we’ll get both. That Mercedes-Benz CLA Coupe AMG Sport looks downright delicious! The AMG Sport gets the sports suspension, black beltline trim rather than chrome, privacy glass, black mirror caps rather than body coloured, a flat-bottom design to the leather-trimmed sports steering wheel and a few other little niceties here and there in the styling.

The line-up of convenience and comfort features on the Mercedes-Benz CLA Coupe looks fairly extensive, although the details of what we’ll have here Down Under are yet to be revealed. Just a small selection of the features include cruise control, ECO stop/start, active parking assistance, speed-sensitive power steering, classy-looking analogue dials in the instrument panel, the Seat Comfort package that allows you to adjust the cushion height and angle, dual-zone climate control, ABS brakes with Brake Assist, ESP with acceleration skid control, seat belt reminders, Bluetooth preparation and a 5.8-inch tablet-style colour display screen that works with the audio system. Whether or not Australian versions of the Mercedes-Benz CLA Coupe will get the navigation package remains to be seen.

The features that put the “clairvoyant” in the Mercedes-Benz CLA Coupe are the Collision Prevention Assist and the Attention Assist. The first feature uses radar to help you keep a safe distance from the car (or any other obstacle) in front of you. The second very nearly reads your mind. Attention Assist can learn your driving style and detect when you deviate from it in a way that detects that your mind is not on the driving and/or you’re getting drowsy or fatigued. If Attention Assist detects this, it will beep and flash (tastefully, of course) to make you more self-aware and bring you back to full alertness.

One thing is for certain: the Mercedes-Benz CLA Coupe is worth waiting for!

Current model series include:

• Mercedes-Benz CLA Coupe

For any more information on the Mercedes-Benz CLA Coupe, or for that matter any other new car, contact one of our friendly consultants on 1300 303 181. If you’d like some fleet discount pricing (yes even for private buyers!), we can submit vehicle quotes requests out to our national network of Mercedes-Benz dealers and come back with pricing within 24 hours. Private Fleet – car buying made easy!

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