Not so very long ago, the battle between Mercedes-Benz’s AMG performance division and BMW’s M was pretty clear-cut. Munich’s M cars were lithe, athletic sportsters with perky engines and sophisticated steering, their pistons and dampers in perfect harmony. They were, permit me the contextual comparison, the sniper rifles of the performance sedan segment, a balance between precision and power their calling card.
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AMGs, on the other hand, were always the big ol’ blunderbuss shotguns of the German performance industry. Oh, they’d get to their target quick enough, but one was never quite sure what havoc their great, thundering V8s and wayward handling would wreak on the way there. Muscles mattered; athleticism, not nearly so much.
That division was unmistakable, the difference between a turn-of-the-century supercharged E55 and an M5 of the same vintage is not just stark, but deliberate. It seemed that BMW wanted to be Ferrari with four doors, and Mercedes saw itself more as American muscle built by really conscientious German engineers. And, if memory serves, pretty much every pundit — Yours Truly included — assumed that BMW’s philosophy of performance would eventually win out. After all, if what you really want is a big, fat supercharged V8 with a gaudy interior, a Cadillac CTS-V would surely save you a bunch of bucks with no less torque.
And yet, here we are 20 years later, and Munich’s M5 is an overpowered 5,400-pound fatty. In other words, BMW has become more like Mercedes-Benz rather than the other way around. At the other end of the spectrum, Mercedes-AMG’s latest is the CLA 45 S, the personification of a tight little road-rocket. In fact, the 45 S is my favourite AMG. Here’s why.
A gem of an engine
We’ve seen the basics of the underpinnings of the CLA’s 2.0-litre four before. Indeed, it’s been ubiquitous throughout the lower echelons of Mercedes’ lineup. What we haven’t seen is the little four blown to an incredible 30 psi of boost. That was, not so very long ago, professional-drag-racer levels of forced induction, the kind of pressure that would melt pistons, snap connecting rods, and break crankshafts in half. Now, thanks to sophisticated electronics and micro-precise fuel injection, it purrs at idle, gurgles around town, and is warrantied for four years or 80,000 kilometres, whichever, as the fine print says, comes first.
Oh, and it makes supernatural power. To put the 45’s 416 peak horsepower in perspective, if Mercedes were to wind its twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 this tight, it would put out 832 ponies and threaten the like of Lamborghini and Ferrari for the title of most powerful European V8s. As it stands, it powers what is, after all, Mercedes’ entry-level sedan to 100 kilometres an hour (62 mph) in just 4.1 seconds. And that’s just the official figure. More than a few testers report the little CLA is capable of a sub-four-second sprint to 100 kilometres an hour, a figure once the purview of Porsche 911s and really fast Corvettes, not some jumped-up family car with four measly pistons. Performance, to say the least, is impressive.
So is its comportment. Big boost requires big turbochargers spinning very fast. When they’re not spinning 150,000 rpm, the turbos in that sort of combination usually dish out some serious turbo lag.
Not so much in the 45 S. For one thing, the new turbocharger is a twin-scroll unit that can amplify the exhaust-gas velocity at low speeds, keeping the turbo always at the ready. For another, it’s the first Mercedes turbocharger to run on friction-reducing roller bearings, which helps it “spool up” faster. As well, the little four-banger uses both direct and port injection, the former helping throttle response and fuel economy while the latter kicks in to maximize top-end power. Put it all together and the 45 S responds to any throttle input toute de suite.
The result is not only the healthy peak torque of a turbocharged powertrain — 369 pound-feet, in fact — but the throttle response of a perky, well-tuned naturally-aspirated engine. Indeed, I can’t think of any turbocharged engine — let alone one boasting around 30 psi of boost — with as much zing to its low-speed throttle response. It really is an amazing little engine, as intoxicating as four-bangers get, and when married to the amazingly quick-shifting eight-speed dual-clutch transmission, makes for my favourite ICE powertrain in AMG’s lineup.
It even sounds the business. More than a little rabid, even.
Multi-faceted performance
Dial the steering wheel-mounted rotary knob back to Comfort mode and the 45’s personality moderates considerably. Oh, it never quite gets Walter-Mitty milquetoast-y, but it certainly rounds off the edges. The exhaust note is also a little less harsh, shifting of gears not quite so abrupt, and the compression damping suitably softened. Indeed, this last is quite amazing. What was so damnably bouncy in Sport and Sport+ — there’s also a Drift mode I didn’t try, because I like my license — became borderline tolerable with the rotary dial flipped to “C.”
To be sure, compliance is not quite as cossetting as a full-sized luxury sedan. Hell, it’s not even in the same league as the base CLA 250 that costs roughly half the price. But, considering how serious-as-a-heart-attack the ride is in Sport+ mode, you’ll be thankful for the change in shock valving.
Handles like a lightweight
What makes the CLA 45 S stand out most is how truly small it feels. Pretty much every AMG of note drives like a much larger car. As I mentioned, “precision” is not the first descriptor attributed to the company’s cars. Oh, there’s always lots of grip and the suspension’s stiff enough to ward off roll during hard cornering. But “tossability” is not normally a word associated with Aufrecht, Melcher, and Großaspach.
But the CLA measures but 4,694 millimetres (185 inches) bumper to bumper, weighs but 1,715 kilograms overall, and the relatively light — at least compared with the big V8s AMG has so often stuffed into its cars — 2.0-litre four means those kilograms are more evenly distributed front-to-rear.
Toss in a quick-reacting 4Matic all-wheel-drive system — which can not only vary torque front to rear, but also from wheel to wheel in the rear — and 45 S is more fling-able than any AMG in recent memory. The steering is — and this is a descriptor I’ve never used before for a Mercedes performance sedan — downright delicate. I didn’t get a chance to ‘track’ the little CLA, but its aptitude at off-ramp boogie makes me wish I had.
A worthy cabin
This CLA’s cab is nothing if not ornate. Two-tone — red and black — the seats are a mix of brushed Alcantara and top-grade leather. Said trim extends to the doors and dashboard, there being little cheapening of this Charlie. Indeed, Mercedes, unlike other premium automakers with entry-level luxury models which tend to the reserved, has adorned the 45’s interior with no end of pretty, shiny bobbles.
All of the switchgear — save the haptic buttons on the steering wheel — are bright metallic-coloured. All of the digital screens — including the two little round displays on the steering wheel’s rotary controllers — are likewise bright, Mercedes not sparing the nits (candela per square metre). Indeed, the entire interior is glitzy, not something that can be said of all entry-level automakers. Call it the “little brother” syndrome of being baby to the S-Class all you will, but it is attractive.
The little CLA is capable of a sub-four-second sprint to 100 km/h, a figure once the purview of Porsche 911s and Corvettes, not some jumped-up family car with four measly pistons
As for the details, the CLA has the latest of Mercedes infotainment systems, which means it is powerful if a little confusing. Because the main controller is the touch screen — the tiny haptic slide-y thing on the steering wheel is nigh on useless — it might not be as easily modulated as some systems, but what is there is well-organized, if not necessarily easily accessed. That said, the 12-speak Burmester sound system really pumps up the jam. Like the engine, it’s an overachiever, pumping out some 710 watts.
As for size, despite that litheness-through-small-size I emphasized before, and the sloping coupe-like roof, the CLA is pretty roomy. The front seats are spacious and, surprisingly, my head didn’t scrape the clopping rear ceiling. Oh, anything more than my 5-foot-11 would have required a little scrunching back there, but that’s still better than I would have surmised just by looking at it. Ditto the trunk space which, at 16 cubic feet, is passable, given the CLA’s size and shape. So, it offers a modicum of practicality along with its outsized performance.
The bottom line
So far, so good right? Excellent performance, passable practicality, and an interior befitting the brand.
“Too good to be true” is perhaps the more accurate descriptor. The problem is price. Oh, the base price — $74,300 — is hefty but passable for what, is after all, a high-performance Mercedes-Benz, albeit a tiny one. The problem is that not all that much, save the high-performance aspect, is included in that base price.
Want those lovely two-tone seats I mentioned? Be prepared to hand off $3,175. The red metallic paint? Well, that’s an additional $2,275. Hell, if you want the brake calipers in a matching hue, it’ll set you back an additional 390 bucks. If you want the full “track” suspension, it’s another $1,800. Mercedes-Benz Canada says its dealers can charge you “up to” $4,835 for freight, delivery, and PDI, as well as OMVIC/AMVIC fees. Tally it all up, and you’re looking $92,645. That’s a trunk-load of money for something with just four pistons. Four glorious, high-revving, brappy pistons, to be sure, but four nonetheless. Especially since that just about doubles the price of a base CLA 250.
The bottom line? The CLA 45 S is my new favourite AMG product. The price sucks out loud though.
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