Those who want a slinky, lithe Tristar but with a lot more practicality thrown in, here's the ride you've been looking for. This is the Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class Shooting Brake, which tacks on a roof extension to the four-door "coupé" to offer more load-lugging capacity for the style-conscious.
The little sibling to the CLS Shooting Brake appears pretty much as expected from the outside, with the curved, low-slung roofline and banana-shaped side glass area losing nothing of the regular CLA's sex appeal. The CLA 45 AMG looks particularly delicious, with the usual hardened exterior addenda accentuated with a subtle roof spoiler. The drag coefficient figure is kept to an impressively low 0.26 Cd.
To add an extra edge, buyers of AMG Line models with the Night package can also opt for the "OrangeArt Edition," which adds orange accents to the lower air intake, rings around the bi-xenon headlight projectors, wheels, rear diffuser, seat upholstery and interior stitching. A bit retina-searing, if you ask us, but it certainly gives the car a polarising look that suits its extrovert persona.
The interior also closely resembles that of the sedan, but with the inclusion of the newer C-Class-style steering wheel design and reworked fascia buttons taken from the recently-facelifted B-Class. While the Shooting Brake is only three millimetres taller than the regular CLA at 1,435 mm, rear headroom has actually been increased by four centimetres to 94.7 cm.
Boot capacity has been upped from the standard car's already-decent 470 litres to 495 litres, while putting the rear seats into the more upright "cargo" position boosts space to 595 litres. With those seats folded, the Shooting Brake can swallow 1,395 litres, loaded to the roof. Boot width is a class-leading 1,328 mm.
Longer items like skis to be slotted in through a magnetic load-through flap in the rear seat backrest. A power-operated Easy-Pack tailgate is available as an option, as is a Load Compartment package that includes a collapsible box, a 12-volt power socket and an extra stowage net on the side of the load bay. The boot floor can also be lined with aluminium strips with anti-slip inlays.
The same turbocharged engine choices remain – a 1.6 litre petrol in both 122 hp/200 Nm CLA 180 and 156 hp/250 Nm CLA 200 guises, a 2.0 litre petrol in the 211 hp/350 Nm CLA 250 (also available with 4Matic all-wheel drive), as well as a 2.2 litre diesel in 136 hp/300 Nm CLA 200 CDI and the 177 hp/350 Nm CLA 220 CDI forms. Buyers can choose between a six-speed manual or a seven-speed 7G-DCT dual-clutch transmission.
Of course, there's also the CLA 45 AMG Shooting Brake, powered by a 2.0 litre turbo four that churns out 360 hp and 450 Nm, mated to a seven-speed AMG Speedshift DCT dual-clutch transmission and all-wheel drive. The 0-100 km/h sprint is done in 4.7 seconds, just 0.1 seconds slower than on the four-door, while top speed remains limited to 250 km/h.
The Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class Shooting Brake will go on sale beginning in January next year, with deliveries scheduled to start in March. The CLA 45 AMG, on the other hand, will make its world debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March, before sales begin that month itself.
Mercedes-Benz CLA 45 AMG Shooting Brake
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