So last night I had a short tryst with the CLA 45 AMG (CLAccent/CLAP). As I wasnt able to put it through truly strenuous testing etc I wont be doing an article on it for TCR, but here are my comments: The CLA 45 AMG had the potential to be truly great, yet it has several flaws that are inherent from the groundwork laid by the base level A class models - namely chassis and suspension. The chassis is entirely disconnected front-to-rear. The rear end is inert and offers no feeling to the driver under any circumstances. The suspension compounds this offering an oversprung, underdamped ride that feels jarring and rough, bouncing about over poor terrain, and offering such a stiff rear end, that even front seat passengers/driver are chucked forward when the rear mounts a speed bump. The stiff rear suspension would be acceptable, if it created dynamic driving. However, the inert chassis, and Haldex system negate the idea of driving dynamics. The Haldex needs to be forced into power shifts with vicious driving, and only then does power shuffle around to the rear. Under hard cornering, under full throttle and high revs (Should the gearbox not decide to up-shift mid-corner), the car feels on the verge of understeer, until the ESP intervenes and locks brakes on the inner front wheel, causing the car to jerk inwards, and if lucky, evoke some oversteer, purely brought about by the fact that the rear has nowhere else to go. Then you have the steering, which is about as soulless as cold dishwater. whether understeering or oversteering, there is zero feel through the steering wheel as to what the car is doing. The steering wheel itself is lovely, but the system offers no feedback as to what is happening in front, below, or behind the driver. Then theres the gearbox. Oh the crappy gearbox. In sport mode, when it is supposed to hang on to gears, and shift down to keep power in the power band, it is indecisive and unpredictable. Mid corner, under heavy load and hard throttle inputs, it upshifts, resulting in loss of power, and poor traction response, as well as the inability to force power to the rear via Haldex. Then, when cornering at lower speeds, when a shift to 1st gear is required (2nd at least expected), the gearbox remains in 4th gear, resulting in limp exit speed followed by a reluctance to downshift for 5 seconds after the corner. The only way to counteract this is via paddle shifting. This raises another issue, as the paddleshifting is required 5 seconds ahead of when the shift is required. The gearbox takes that long to respond, most of the time. There is also the issue that when downshifting 3 gears (6-3), the DCT doesnt select 3rd gear straight away, but shifts from 6-5-4-3, with an accompanying rev shift, transmission jerk, and time-waste. Just when you think youve figured out the system well enough to predict your use of paddles, the DCT decides to respond as you pull a paddle, resulting in power and weight shift at the wrong time altogether. The gearbox is also rather lousy at launch control, which is a tedious process that is required if you wish to pull off at any decent pace. Yet 9/10 times, it fails to engage properly, or engages and then decides you took a split second too long, and then, it decides to disable itself altogether, citing you need to look in the owners manual to figure out what has happened. Now, a key point, the engine! The engine is quoted at 265kW, yet the power, acceleration, mid-gear acceleration, and overall power delivery feels less than 200kW. A current generation Ford Focus ST feels far more vicious in its delivery, and offers power on tap with less lag, which is admittedly exacerbated by the shockingly dim-witted gearbox. Together, all the above aspects combine to create a car that goes fast, but responds slowly, doesnt shift gears when expected or required, doesnt shift power or weight correctly, cooks its brakes by virtue of ESP intervention, and yet offers no communication through either the suspension, chassis, or steering. Space-wise the CLA offers none, and the boot is pathetic. Boot space is compromised due to an independent rear suspension, which quite frankly would have been better off if it were a torsion beam setup. Torsion beam would have allowed a connection between the front and rear, progressive oversteer, predictable, and linear in response, would have been just as comfortable (or uncomfortable), and would have offered more space in the boot. The CLA 45 doesnt understeer much under normal conditions, and one can eke out a bit of oversteer, but at no point in time is there any drama whatsoever. Its unpredictable, yet mute and numb to the feel. Even when surprise oversteer arises, the heart rate doesnt rise, and the car just sorts itself out with no joy, and no involvement. Its not a bad car, but its not spectacular. It promised much, but left me feeling meh. There was no involvement, and even less predictability. The gearbox and Haldex handle and respond differently 10 out of 10 times on exactly the same surface and under the same conditions. This unpredictable, cold steering, poor chassis, and erratic gearbox combined to create a car that gives any idiot the ability to go fast, but it takes no skill to do so, and will never really create any sort of joy for the driver. Oh, and did I mention the engine sounds like any other 4 cylinder, and the exhaust burp from the DCT sounds like something is breaking. Also, the body kit has false vents, front and rear, that serve no purpose, not even for air intake, and it has false exhausts. The CLA 45 AMG is not a bad car, its just not spectacular in any way. Its a car any idiot can drive fast. It left me feeling frustrated at the lack of emotion, and highly disappointed that it had the ability to be great, and yet it simply isnt.
Posted on: Tue, 28 Jan 2014 14:22:39 +0000
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