What’s the difference between these two Mercedes-Benzes? S$70,000, for starters
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What'southward the difference between these two Mercedes-Benzes? S$70,000, for starters
Put side-by-side, you probably won't be able to tell the Mercedes-AMG A35 Saloon and the CLA45 Coupe apart, just your wallet certainly will.
For all intents and purposes, both cars are identical, with the CLA45 Coupe existence the (very slightly) longer, wider and lower of the pair. And likewise sleeker-looking of the two, with the A35 Saloon being the (over again, very slightly) boxier model. (Photo: Mercedes-Benz)
14 Aug 2022 07:09AM (Updated: fourteen Aug 2022 07:17AM)
Mercedes-Benz is a master of many things. Its ability to make best-in-form, cutting edge limousines in the course of the S-Class have seen them have a virtual stranglehold on the segment for well over half a century.
It is also the master of sub-dividing vehicle classes, as can be seen in its current model lineup, which is, to say the least, bewilderingly big. Take the A-badged family unit, making up the base of the vast Mercedes-Benz product pyramid (well, actually, its topography resembles more a sprawling urban center), for example.
You lot can have an entry-level Mercedes-Benz in no less than five flavours, ranging from hatchbacks, saloons, crossovers and even a slinky piffling station wagon, known in automotive circles every bit a shooting restriction.
Even more confusingly, in that location are a pair of saloons within that, badged the A-Class Saloon and the CLA-Class Coupe respectively. The latter existence a bit of a misnomer, since it has four doors and not ii, as is traditional.
For all intents and purposes, both cars are identical, with the CLA being the (very slightly) longer, wider and lower of the pair. And also sleeker-looking of the ii, with the A-Class being the (again, very slightly) boxier model.
But that's not all, because it gets even more inexplainable when y'all become to the AMG-badged models. Equally you know, those 3 magic letters are only applied to the three-pointed star'southward nigh rapid cars.
The odd affair being that the top-tier "45" model is only available on the CLA-Grade, with the A-Class Saloon but being available with the second-rung "35" variant. On the plus side, yous practice become a little more than headroom (thanks to the taller roofline) and you lot'll be saving yourself some S$70,000 in the process…
WAIT. RUN THAT BY ME Again?
The fact that the A-Class Saloon is non available in full-fat, burn-breathing "45" guise is a mystery to us all as well. Perhaps for the same reason Mercedes-Benz maintains the CLS-Class and GT four-Door Coupe further upward the range.
Yous can, however, get the CLA-Class as a "35", though you'll be paying some S$ix,000 extra for the privilege of those curvier lines. On the plus side, the CLA'south boot is forty litres larger at 460 litres, though you lot'll be trading off some rear demote headroom with its sloping roofline.
BUT THE Real MAGIC IS Under THE BONNET
Both the A35 and CLA45 come up with ii-litre turbocharged engines hooked upwardly to an all-bicycle-drive system, but that's about where the similarities end.
To be certain, the A35 isn't a slouch in the power department, with 306hp at its disposal and a century sprint time of 4.viii seconds. Just the CLA45 is a beast in every sense of the give-and-take, pumping out a thumping 421hp, giving information technology fifty-fifty more horsepower per litre of engine displacement than its large blood brother, the GT63 iv-Door Coupe.
Out in the existent world, the difference betwixt the A35 and the CLA45'south ability output truly is, as with their dimensions and styling, splitting hairs. Unless y'all're armed with a stopwatch, it's rather hard to tell the pair apart.
That existence said, the CLA45'due south motor is a curiosity of mod automotive applied science. Where the A35 can experience a little strained and brusk of breath if pushed likewise hard, with the CLA45 there'south a certain inexhaustibility of thrust, along with some old-school turbocharged charm.
In a modern turbocharged car, one almost expects linearity, just there's a distinct dead zone in the CLA45's rev range under nigh 3,000rpm, and afterwards that the engine explodes to life. This may sound like a bad thing, only the surge is simply addictive, exhilarant and is primal to the CLA45'south (considerable) entreatment.
In the example of the A35, its engine is far more linear, with no dead spots in the rev range unless yous get to its upper registers. It pulls strongly and cleanly, like a strong, insistent push against the kidney-punch brutality of the CLA45.
As for which one is more usable daily, in that location'due south honestly not much difference out in the real world. The A35's 306hp will get you in trouble in no time flat, and with the CLA45's 421hp, you can only imagine. Suffice it to say, both cars have more than power than y'all'll e'er need, simply where you will find a perceptible departure between the A35 and CLA45 is in its interiors.
AN INSIDE Job
Apart from the engine and the (numerous, too many to listing here) chassis tweaks the CLA45 has, where information technology actually has a leg up over the A35 is in its interior. To exist fair, though, you lot are paying some 70 grand more, so it'd ameliorate be.
Both cars get a monolithic freestanding screen that virtually covers the entirety of the dashboard. This comprises both the infotainment display and instrument cluster, though with the CLA45, you get some displays and telemetry data only available to top-shelf AMG products.
The CLA45 also has a model-specific steering wheel with configurable "ears" (to turn off the stability control, open up the exhaust flaps, amid other things) and a rotary dial to control the driving modes. In the A35, you'll have to make do with the controls mounted on the center console next to the infotainment organization'south touchpad.
In add-on to that, the A35 also has "regular" seats (albeit ones with contrast stitching and upholstered in Alcantara), as opposed to the deep, thin-backed bucket seats on the CLA45.
Is there a existent difference? Well, if we're beingness honest, yep. Along with the above, there's a tangible sense of the CLA45's cabin being a more upmarket place to be. You lot know what they say, you get what you pay for.
Simply Southward$seventy,000 IS A LOT OF MONEY…
Oh, no doubt. It certainly is. The CLA45's current toll tag of S$337,888 is huge, coin you could well use to go yourself a slinky little ii-door sports car, or a mid-sized SUV, similar Mercedes-Benz's own GLC.
On that annotation, the A35 isn't exactly what you'd telephone call a deal-basement buy either, with its Southward$260,888 cost tag just S$2,000 less than a GLC200. Of course, the GLC200 has far less operation potential than the A35, let solitary the CLA45.
Both the A35 and CLA45 are clearly not cars you'd purchase with your caput. Fast though they may be, there will ever be a nagging thought in the back of your head that y'all only paid summit dollar for cars that nominally sit down at the foot of the vast Mercedes-Benz family tree.
Then again, that'southward why they're then attracting. There's a certain sort of hilarity in small cars with hugely powerful engines, in that these are vehicles that could feasibly run rings around "proper" sports cars.
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