I have yet to schedule a test drive. I'm thinking maybe a lunch time this Friday at the dealer near my work. Or some time next week in the evening at one of the dealers near where I live. We have so many MB dealers to choose from I really have no excuse for not test driving one yet.
Has Anyone Else Bought Or Test Drove One??
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Oh no. Was it towed by the dealership, AAA, or you called a tow truck? Also, did you get a loaner car?We picked up the car Monday night. White with Bi Xenon Package, P1 and Sport Package. Vehicle won't put in reverse last night. Towed to dealership within 24 hours. LOL
Back from test drive
OK, so I'm back from my test drive. While waiting to take the test drive I was browsing around the showroom and was checking out the attached CLA250 Edition 1. The sticker was $41K and change. The Edition 1 package alone was $10K+. The car is beautiful and I love the color combo. What I thought was odd was that along with the package it included the 18" AMG black polished wheels (which are beautiful) and drilled rotors but only the front rotors are drilled. The rear rotors are your standard solid variety. I thought that was weird and looked odd and mismatched. Right next to it was a pretty much stock Cirrus white CLA250 coming in at just over $31K with a couple of standalone options, no packages. So even before I got to drive the car I got to thoroughly check out both CLAs. The seating position was good and the seats felt comfortable in both. I love the small yet thickly wrapped steering wheel. The switches are located in the perfect positions but the car was quite small so nothing can be that far out of reach. The visibility out the front and sides were good but not so much through the back. The rear window is quite small but not too small to be dangerous. With the front seat adjusted to my height I jumped in the back (both driver and passenger sides) and there was a decent amount of room. Big caveat here, I’m only 5’8”. In the back sitting up straight there was about an inch between the top of my head and the roof. I had a few inches between my knees and the seat back. Having 4 people is quite comfortable but 5 will be very tight in the back. The rear seat back folds down 60/40 with no pass through. The trunk isn’t as deep as I expected but does go back farther than expected. There’s some additional storage space under the trunk floor because there’s no spare tire. All models have run flat tires regardless of wheel size. As for storage in the cabin, there is some but not a lot. The glove box is quite small as well as the storage space under the center arm rest. Below the center dash near the front of the center console there is a cigarette lighter and a ashtray. If you don’t smoke then I suppose you can put some spare change in there. Just in front of the center arm rest are cup holders. In the back seat there’s a 12v socket and another small compartment in the middle with vents just above them. Then you have the usual bottle holders and map storage on the doors. That’s about it for storage. In the compartment under the center arm rest there’s another 12v plug. So in all there are 3. I think there’s also a USB plug in there, too. I’m not sure.
So finally I get to go on my test drive. Unfortunately they only had cars with the stock 17” wheels available for test drives. I got one with the panoramic roof, HID lights (which I didn’t need because it is day time), and Premium Package. I left it in ECO mode to see if I can get use to the Stop/Start feature and I can’t. It wasn’t as smooth as the VW Passat one I rented in Germany where I didn’t even notice it. With the ECO in the CLA the engine shuts down when you come to a complete stop and your foot is on the brake. As soon as you take your foot off the brake you can hear the engine start up but it didn’t start up as smoothly as the Passat did. There was a definite lag between taking my foot off the brake and getting going again. Once I got going I could really hear the engine and it didn’t take off as smoothly as I has expected. Once it got going then it started to feel much better. The engine was quite responsive. The suspension was a bit on the sporty side but not too much to be annoying (note: this was with the 17” wheels. I didn’t get to try out the 18”). It handles around turns and curves quite well and overall the car felt good. As mentioned before, the rear view vision wasn’t that great but the blind spot warning system worked well and helped out.
Overall it’s a nice car and has its pros and cons. Although the car is comfortable to ride in, it is a small. I would say the car is comparable to a Civic in interior space. It looks nice and has a lot of style. I’m not 100% sold on it just yet. I’ll have to check out the competition when they come out with their comparable models.
OK, so I'm back from my test drive. While waiting to take the test drive I was browsing around the showroom and was checking out the attached CLA250 Edition 1. The sticker was $41K and change. The Edition 1 package alone was $10K+. The car is beautiful and I love the color combo. What I thought was odd was that along with the package it included the 18" AMG black polished wheels (which are beautiful) and drilled rotors but only the front rotors are drilled. The rear rotors are your standard solid variety. I thought that was weird and looked odd and mismatched. Right next to it was a pretty much stock Cirrus white CLA250 coming in at just over $31K with a couple of standalone options, no packages. So even before I got to drive the car I got to thoroughly check out both CLAs. The seating position was good and the seats felt comfortable in both. I love the small yet thickly wrapped steering wheel. The switches are located in the perfect positions but the car was quite small so nothing can be that far out of reach. The visibility out the front and sides were good but not so much through the back. The rear window is quite small but not too small to be dangerous. With the front seat adjusted to my height I jumped in the back (both driver and passenger sides) and there was a decent amount of room. Big caveat here, I’m only 5’8”. In the back sitting up straight there was about an inch between the top of my head and the roof. I had a few inches between my knees and the seat back. Having 4 people is quite comfortable but 5 will be very tight in the back. The rear seat back folds down 60/40 with no pass through. The trunk isn’t as deep as I expected but does go back farther than expected. There’s some additional storage space under the trunk floor because there’s no spare tire. All models have run flat tires regardless of wheel size. As for storage in the cabin, there is some but not a lot. The glove box is quite small as well as the storage space under the center arm rest. Below the center dash near the front of the center console there is a cigarette lighter and a ashtray. If you don’t smoke then I suppose you can put some spare change in there. Just in front of the center arm rest are cup holders. In the back seat there’s a 12v socket and another small compartment in the middle with vents just above them. Then you have the usual bottle holders and map storage on the doors. That’s about it for storage. In the compartment under the center arm rest there’s another 12v plug. So in all there are 3. I think there’s also a USB plug in there, too. I’m not sure.
So finally I get to go on my test drive. Unfortunately they only had cars with the stock 17” wheels available for test drives. I got one with the panoramic roof, HID lights (which I didn’t need because it is day time), and Premium Package. I left it in ECO mode to see if I can get use to the Stop/Start feature and I can’t. It wasn’t as smooth as the VW Passat one I rented in Germany where I didn’t even notice it. With the ECO in the CLA the engine shuts down when you come to a complete stop and your foot is on the brake. As soon as you take your foot off the brake you can hear the engine start up but it didn’t start up as smoothly as the Passat did. There was a definite lag between taking my foot off the brake and getting going again. Once I got going I could really hear the engine and it didn’t take off as smoothly as I has expected. Once it got going then it started to feel much better. The engine was quite responsive. The suspension was a bit on the sporty side but not too much to be annoying (note: this was with the 17” wheels. I didn’t get to try out the 18”). It handles around turns and curves quite well and overall the car felt good. As mentioned before, the rear view vision wasn’t that great but the blind spot warning system worked well and helped out.
Overall it’s a nice car and has its pros and cons. Although the car is comfortable to ride in, it is a small. I would say the car is comparable to a Civic in interior space. It looks nice and has a lot of style. I’m not 100% sold on it just yet. I’ll have to check out the competition when they come out with their comparable models.
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