Mercedes Benz CLA Shooting Brake

Sporty wagons are great cars to drive; add in a bit of luxury, and it’s hard to beat the stirring and practical driving experience.  What’s a good sport wagon?  How about looking in the Mercedes Benz showroom to get an eyeful of the new Mercedes Benz CLA Shooting Brake wagon.  “What the hell is a Shooting Brake?” you might ask.  I needed some sort of idea for what this term might mean; so a quick google search reveals that: “Shooting-brake” is a car body-style that has been taken from an early 19th century British term for a vehicle used to carry shooting parties with their equipment and game.  The upper-class section of society was often the most involved segment taking part in such activities, and while the name seems a little bit of a novel name for a small-to-medium size wagon, the term also brings to the imagination fast and accurate weaponry.  Upper class and weaponry are fine descriptive terms for the sporty new Mercedes Benz CLA Shooting Brake.

Smooth, refined and agile are other ways of describing the new Mercedes Benz CLA Shooting Brake.  There is a real sense of feeling at one with the drive, and the CLA’s dynamic handling provides nippy steering response and control for the quicker drives.  Ride quality is firm when the sport mode is selected but, naturally, if you have this mode selected you’re going to be asking questions of the car’s road holding and grip ­ which is really tenacious.  Select comfort mode, and your ride is cushioned and refined.  Mercedes Benz has a state-of-the-art adaptive suspension control system that gives the car excellent behaviour whatever the road conditions.

Mercedes Benz CLA Shooting Brake Interior

Interior room and comfort are good for the class, though the likes of a Honda Accord, Mazda 6 wagon are much larger and far better buying if you need more space.  Of course, the main rivals, BMW and Audi do offer a nice alternative, but I think for sheer class and style, the luxurious Mercedes Benz CLA Shooting Brake wins hands down.  As you would expect, the quality materials and components in the new Mercedes Benz CLA Shooting Brake are class leading.  Leather sport seats and electronic driver aids keep the wagon at the head of the pack.  On a more practical note, the luggage space (495 litres) is nice and accessible with an electronic, high lifting gate and low floor height.  Handy storage space in the luggage compartment, and throughout the cabin, makes it easy to store extra things for the journey.  A premium sound system from Harmon Kardon provides excellent sound tracks, and all the familiar features like satellite navigation, welcome lighting, dual-zone climate control, and electronic seats and windows keep the car’s luxury impression well and truly alive.  Accented seat stitching and a nicely sculptured dash design add elegance to the CLA Shooting Brake experience.  A touch screen accesses the Comand control function, while adaptive cruise control leads the way forwards.  Active safety features are superior and the car’s five-star safety gives the wagon the thumbs up for family safety.

So what powers the new Mercedes Benz CLA Shooting Brake?  Under the hood can be a range of engines.  Diesel lovers will enjoy the very frugal and elastic 200d.  It’s not as fast as I would have expected but the 200d Shooting Brake feels swift none-the-less.  A quiet and refined engine, the 200d manages well in any traffic situation.  Stop/Start technology ensures that the best fuel economy can be enjoyed when the traffic becomes congested and the lights are turning red far too often.  A stated combined fuel economy figure of around 4.5 litres/100 km is probably more likely to be around 6 litres/100 km in the real world, and this is very good for the small-to-medium wagon that the Mercedes Benz CLA Shooting Brake is.  The car feels very stable at high speed, and the cruising ability is excellent.  You do need to work the turbo-diesel engine, which is mated to the 7G Tronic automatic transmission, to get the best performance – though the car will respond happily.

There is a wide range of petrol engines on offer to keep the buyer happy.  Some of them are very fast – not least the AMG version (0-100 km/h in less than 5 seconds and a top speed of 270 km/h).  As a base model, the new Mercedes Benz CLA 200 Shooting Brake wagon is probably my pick of all of them.  A fine 1.6-litre, low-pressure turbo engine puts out a sparkling 115 kW at 5300 rpm and 250 Nm from 2250 rpm.  A limited top speed of 210 km/h and a 0-100 km/h dash that can be completed in less than nine seconds keeps the car at pace with swift motorway traffic.  Rear-wheel drive makes for a chuck-able chassis and the overall experience is great.

Looking very classy and with a presence second-to-none in its class, the new Mercedes Benz CLA Shooting Brake is pleasing.

The Mercedes Benz CLA Shooting Brake model series includes the:

• CLA 200 Shooting Brake
• CLA 200d Shooting Brake
• CLA 250 Sport 4MATIC
• CLA AMG 45 4MATIC

For any more information on the Mercedes Benz CLA Shooting Brake models 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 quote requests out to our national network of Mercedes Benz dealers and come back with pricing within 24 hours. Private Fleet – car buying made easy!