The Mercedes-Benz CLA-class is taking a two-pronged approach in its latest generation. While two of the three powertrains on offer in the U.S. are fully electric, Mercedes isn’t foolish—the execs see the sales numbers on our side of the Atlantic and know they need to hedge their bets. That hedge comes in the form of the CLA220, a 48-volt hybrid with a generously sized battery (for a non-plug-in hybrid). While the chassis is a willing delight, the electrically assisted powertrain did not prove to be the dance partner we hoped it would be.
Hybrid Happenings
The CLA220, available in both front- and all-wheel drive, is the first Benz to sport the automaker’s new hybrid setup. This comprises a new turbocharged 1.5-liter inline-four running the more efficient Miller-cycle combustion, an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, an electric motor sandwiched into the cog-swapper, and a 1.3-kWh lithium-ion battery. Total system output is 208 horsepower and 280 pound-feet of torque, with the motor providing up to 30 horses and 148 pound-feet on its own. The sprint to 60 mph ends in a Mercedes-estimated 7.1 seconds for the front-driver, though we think it may be a couple tenths of a second quicker once we get one to test.
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The battery’s capacity should allow for some measure of engine-off driving, so long as the motive force required is below the e-motor’s threshold. Whereas typical hybrids can’t manage electric-only driving beyond maybe a mile or two, the CLA220 can utilize the larger battery to extend EV operation, allowing you to remain silent in stop-and-go traffic for a little while longer. At least theoretically.
Mercedes claims that its 30-hp e-motor is enough to putter around the city in the default Comfort mode, but it really isn’t. A light breath on the gas pedal redlines the gauge cluster’s output meter while the car crawls forward at a pace just eclipsing that of a pedestrian walking briskly. Move the pedal a micron more, and the gas engine will kick in. The electric motor seems to need another 20 or 30 horses to do its job as intended.
The handoff between gas and electric motivation isn’t very smooth either. We experienced an above-average amount of bumps and bucks during normal around-town driving in Comfort mode, which prioritizes typical hybrid powertrain behavior that favors electricity whenever possible. A clutch in the driveline handles the four-pot’s decoupling, which may be the culprit here. Given this Benz’s entry-luxe positioning, we’d hoped for greater refinement.
The CLA220 is best experienced in Sport mode. This is the part where some of you roll your eyes so far back it hurts, but it’s not for the usual Denisovan reasons. Sport’s powertrain programming relegates the e-motor to a performance enhancer, feeding in torque as the engine is working its way up to full steam. This eliminates the wonky handoffs because the e-motor never runs the show. But no matter the mode, the internal-combustion engine tends to hold revs entirely too long when asked for a little more push.
Chassis tuning is a happier story. In both cornering and steady-state cruising, the CLA220 feels great. This model doesn’t have any sort of adaptive damping, but its passive setup provides enough firmness to feel composed in the corners without rattling over every errant pebble. The steering felt fine—sharp and nicely weighted, if a bit numb. Par for the course these days.
Inside and Outside
The CLA’s aesthetics are both new and familiar. The silhouette keeps its same slicked-back shape. The headlights and taillights both have linked segments, making the unibrow jokes inescapable. Within those lights is entirely too much branding. The daytime running lights on our example featured little three-pointed stars, and out back, the brake lights also have three-pointed stars.
The interior is also a mix of old and new. In the Old corner, wearing the red trunks, is the heavyweight known as Hard Plastics Almost Everywhere. Whether above or below the beltline, everything that isn’t faux-leather vinyl is plastic fantastic. We accidentally bumped the rear seatbelt against a panel near the C-pillar, and it sounded hollow.
In the New corner, wearing the blue trunks, is the Superscreen—an optional dash-spanning object comprising a 10.3-inch driver display, a 14.0-inch central touchscreen, and a 14-inch passenger touchscreen. It’s visually impressive, if a bit overbearing, but it’s got the real estate to handle all sorts of stuff at once, whether it’s using the augmented-reality navigation or asking the built-in AI assistant to define a series of increasingly vulgar terms—which it did, happily. Parents with hell-raisers for children might want to deactivate that feature. Otherwise, like its forebears, the latest MB.OS software can feel dense at first, but it doesn’t take long to use with minimal distraction.
One new element that we’re not a fan of is the redesigned column shifter, which is tasked with too many functions. Instead of using paddles, you must nudge the stick back and forth to upshift or downshift. More annoyingly, it also incorporates the starter, which has moved to the pushbutton at the stalk’s tip. However, pushing that button also happens to be how you engage Park—so, every time we put the car into Park, it turned itself off.
Despite the CLA’s sleek roofline, the back seat is fairly accommodating for passengers. Seated behind a six-foot front passenger, we didn’t have any unwanted contact between seatbacks and knees, though toe room was a little tight. A standard panoramic glass roof spans most of the length of the cabin, and while it’s far less fun to smack your head against glass versus a traditional headliner, that’s not a problem for passengers under six feet two or so. If you’re ferrying taller passengers, consider the new GLB instead.
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The hybrid Mercedes-Benz CLA220 has plenty of hits, which make its misses feel even more surprising. As you may have noticed, the CLA’s highest grades belong to the bits that are shared with the EV version. We don’t have pricing just yet, but if it comes within even a couple grand of the electric variant, we’d recommend you give its wholly silent—and undoubtedly smoother—sibling a strong look.
Specifications
Specifications
2027 Mercedes-Benz CLA220
Vehicle Type: front-engine, front-motor, front-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door sedan
PRICE (C/D EST)
Base: $47,000
POWERTRAIN
turbocharged and intercooled DOHC 16-valve Miller-cycle 1.5-liter inline-4, 188 hp, 221 lb-ft + AC motor, 30 hp, 148 lb-ft (combined output: 208 hp, 280 lb-ft; lithium-ion battery pack)
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
DIMENSIONS
Wheelbase: 109.8 in
Length: 185.9 in
Width: 73.0 in
Height: 57.0 in
Trunk Volume: 14 ft3
Curb Weight (C/D est): 3600 lb
PERFORMANCE (C/D EST)
60 mph: 6.8 sec
1/4-Mile: 14.8 sec
Top Speed: 130 mph
EPA FUEL ECONOMY (C/D EST)
Combined/City/Highway: 38/40/36 mpg
Cars are Andrew Krok’s jam, along with boysenberry. After graduating with a degree in English from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2009, Andrew cut his teeth writing freelance magazine features, and now he has a decade of full-time review experience under his belt. A Chicagoan by birth, he has been a Detroit resident since 2015. Maybe one day he’ll do something about that half-finished engineering degree.
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