2021 Mercedes-AMG CLA 35 track test and performance review
Category
🤖
TechTranscript
00:00Hey guys, Chris here from Car Expert. We're back at Queensland Raceway, our test track.
00:03Today we've got the Mercedes-Benz AMG CLA 35. Now we've already had the A45S on track,
00:10which was pretty quick. This is a step down in performance, so still a 2.0L turbo,
00:14but only 225kW and 400Nm of torque. So I'm interested to see how far off this is,
00:20also whether the dynamics of this bigger chassis makes any difference at all.
00:23I'm going to do an outlap, see how that feels, build up the speed and do some flying laps,
00:27get a lap time and then give you guys an overview of what I thought about the car.
00:31But first, let's test out the 0-100kmh time and also the braking performance of this car.
00:49So my initial impressions, steering wheel looks and feels great, love the dash layout,
00:54it's amazing, I actually really, really like the options on the dash, how you can choose exactly
00:59what you want there. I've got it set up for the track with the rev counter, speed and gear,
01:04but you can have G-force, all sorts of numbers all over the dash, so that's awesome. Seating
01:09position is decent, I do feel like I'm a little bit on top of the seat, not in the seat, and even
01:15there I just feel like I'm leaning over a bit straight away. Engine feels really responsive,
01:20as soon as you touch the throttle it cracks open which is great.
01:26Gear shift feels nice and crisp. I've actually gone on the sports suspension setting, not the
01:30hardest setting but the middle range one, I feel like that's just the best compromise for this
01:34track, it's a little bit bumpy and I don't like those firm feedbacks you get when you put it in
01:40sports plus mode, so that's designed for a really smooth track. But everything else is in the top
01:45performance setting that I could go engine, transmission etc. Steering feels decent,
01:52it feels light but pretty precise at the same time. I just would like a little bit more feedback
01:59through the hand when I could feel the tyre at the edge of grip there, I just didn't have the
02:03feedback I wanted and as we build up the speed I think that feeling's probably going to stay
02:09which is a shame. Feels nice and stable too, not too much roll. Let's test the brakes out.
02:19Nice and firm, a little bit long on the pedal but good firm stability under braking,
02:23like the chassis actually feels good under brakes. I don't know whether we're going to
02:27struggle with traction at all because we've got the all-wheel drive system and we're only 225
02:32kilowatts so I feel like we should always have good traction and that's why I've gone traction
02:37control off, I'm not too worried at all about that. All right let's see what sort of lap time
02:40we can get out of this.
03:37So there you go, 60.31 was the best I could get out of it so right there with the Audi S3,
04:02not a bad time and sort of in the middle of the leaderboard but a couple of seconds away
04:06from the A45 hatch and a lot of that's performance in terms of engine, like the engine's a big step
04:15up on that. This car by no means was bad, no major issues but just lacked in a few areas.
04:21My biggest complaint is going to be the seat and I mentioned that in the beginning and I just moved
04:26around so much and I couldn't place myself so if you're going to track one of these definitely go
04:30the upgraded seat option, it's pretty much a necessity. These ones are fine for everyday use
04:36but not great on the track. Steering was decent, just a little bit light, that's what I thought
04:40initially and just lacked the feedback as well that I'd want but pretty precise so that's good
04:45on a track. I could place the car pretty well and get it to move around, I ran with both traction
04:50control on and off to try and also the stability control off and the car does rotate if you get
04:56the rear sliding but has a slight tendency to understeer, a little bit more even so than the
05:02hatch I'd say as well but if you drive at 90% it works really nicely, nicely balanced so I felt
05:08like the all-wheel drive system worked really well, I had no issues at all with traction and it's not
05:13until you get to that 45 engine that you really start to struggle for traction so at this level
05:18of power this system works great. Engine response is great, I did get caught out a couple of times
05:25in the gear shifts just running out of revs so maybe would have liked slightly wider gearing,
05:29I just hit the rev limiter without even thinking. I did like how there was a shift light on the top
05:35of the dash and that was very useful, it was more in the corners when I was upshifting that I had
05:41trouble so it's good to have that on the dash and like I said before I love the dash layout,
05:45looks awesome but also super functional as well. Brakes were pretty good, just dropped away a little
05:51bit over the laps and I felt like I was putting a lot of energy through the front tyres as well
05:56and just heating up that front left especially on this track when there's so many right-hand
06:00corners. Chassis-wise it's actually quite supported, quite stable so I like the damping of
06:05it, it wasn't kicking off anything, I could ride the kerbs nicely, no bad side effects at all from
06:11the bumps, really well sorted out suspension and geometry-wise I thought that worked really well
06:17and I think you quite easily dial it between understeer and oversteer if you wanted to mess
06:22around with tyre pressures and things like that so I think the ability to tune the car a little
06:27bit is definitely there as well. So there you go guys the CLA35 AMG, now I'm not going to lie to
06:33you it wasn't the perfect car on the track, it did a decent time right up there with the Audi S3 but
06:38missing the details I wanted, missing the feedback and I definitely loved that A45 engine when we
06:43drove that earlier in the year so not bad, a great car on the streets but maybe if you're coming to
06:48the track step up to the A45 or the CLA45. My top three tips with this car are just looking for the
06:55seating position to be a bit better so I'd upgrade the seats to the AMG Performance seats and that
06:59would make a huge difference, I was moving around a lot in the car, be careful in the entry, it's
07:04got the ability to understeer if you over commit so be calm there, nice and smooth, get the car
07:09rotated and if you do turn the traction control off it can actually then send you the other way
07:13into a bit of an oversteer so be careful if you do that. Thanks for watching the video guys, if you
07:17enjoyed it hit the thumbs up button and don't forget to subscribe and push that bell icon so
07:21you get notified every time we publish a new video, I'd love to hear your feedback and also
07:25hear what else you'd like to see out on the test track and see what sort of times we can do.
07:29Thanks again for watching, hope you enjoyed the video.