Mercedes-Benz CLA Shooting Brake review

There are four trims to choose from in the CLA Shooting Brake range, which starts at £34,535 for the entry level CLA 180 Sport Executive model with the 134bhp 1.3-litre 4cyl engine. You can add £1.5k for the more powerful CLA 200 in that trim with its 161bhp version of the same engine, or there’s the CLA 220d for £39,265 with its 2.0-litre 187bhp diesel. 

AMG Line Executive trim starts at £37,705, AMG Line Premium trim starts at £39,925 and the top spec AMG Line Premium Plus costs from £43,475. The top three trims add the plug-in hybrid electric version, the CLA 250e, which pairs the 161bhp petrol with a 108bhp e-motor. Those come at a premium, which means the PHEV in AMG Line Premium trim tops the standard range at £51,130.

The Mercedes-AMG version of the car comes in three flavours – CLA 35 Premium and Premium Plus, and CLA 45 S 4Matic+ Plus. The AMG cars range from £51,085 to £69,175. The 45 comes with a heady 415bhp from its 2.0-litre petrol. 

What are the trims like? 

Entry level Sport Executive trim bags you 18in alloys, LED headlights, climate control, heated front seats, reversing camera and the twin 10.25in screens setup with the latest MBUX infotainment system including smartphone integration. 

The AMG Line Executive comes with fancier wheels, sportier brakes, keyless go, sports seats, ambient interior lighting and wireless phone charging, while AMG Line Premium knocks the wheels up to 19in, offers a fancier sound system, augmented reality satnav and dual-zone climate control. Top spec AMG Line Premium Plus gets an updated bodykit, black 19in alloys, fancier LED headlights, panoramic sunroof and electrically adjustable memory seats. 

Is it economical?

The PHEV version of the car has an 11kW onboard charger for its 15.6kWh battery, but the quickest you can juice it up from 10 to 100 per cent is three hours and 45 minutes. That gets you up to 53 miles of official range, which is more like 40 miles in practice. That will cost you around £5 on a public charger, so it’s definitely only worth considering (from a financial point of view) if you’re able to charge at home. 

That said, the 24g/km CO2 rating will make the plug-ins very tempting for company car buyers (plus £0 VED in the first year). You’ll get around 35mpg from the car without the battery and the smaller fuel tank (35 litres versus 43 for the petrol and 51 for the diesel) means you’ll be stopping more. The rest of the range is rated at around 50mpg on the official cycle, or 60mpg for the diesel. 

Which one should I go for?

You get a decent spec in the entry model, but the AMG Line Executive trim adds a certain sophistication – we’d be tempted to go for that car, given that higher trims add fancier materials and more high-tech stuff that you probably won’t miss too much. If we were on a company car deal we’d go for the PHEV. Live outside of the city and do lots of motorway miles? The diesel is a solid bet still. We’d settle on the CLA 200 with the slightly more powerful petrol as a decent all-rounder.