AMG’s fire-spitting four-pot turbo gains more horses and twist. Improvement or overkill?

Of the three body shapes on offer in Mercedes-Benz’s range of compact cars, the CLA is probably the most polarising. Drawing inspiration of a four-door coupe from the more established CLS, the middle child of the MFA (Modular Front Architecture) range, which slots between the A-Class and GLA, is a beautiful thing to look at. But many who crossed the line between look and feel found it painfully impractical, its inner beast called style pummelling its nemesis, substance, out of existence.

Naturally, those who complained weren’t buyers. But Newton’s third law insists that every action has an equal and opposite reaction, which meant that every bitter cynic, ourselves included, was matched by a deep-pocketed yuppie who was sold on looks alone. As a matter of fact, the CLA outsold the A-Class and the GLA by differences exceeding 100 units each in 2015. Last year’s figures weren’t available at the time of writing, but we won’t be surprised if the trend continues and justifiably so. Because the CLA recently got better. Or so we hoped.

We wasted little time and aimed for the top of the table when Mercedes-Benz Malaysia asked us if we wanted to give the facelifted CLA a go. This meant it was no longer a Benz, but a Mercedes-AMG CLA 45, now strapped with 21bhp and 45Nm more than before. It’s a colossal growth in output also reflected in the A 45 AMG given that the pre-updated 360bhp M133 mill was already the most powerful production four-cylinder engine of its time. Now endowed with 381bhp, Merc’s AMG-badged compacts boast more power than the Porsche 911’s new six-cylinder turbo. Overkill, perhaps?

Oddly enough, the revision has made the CLA 45 more balanced than before. The engine speaks two very different languages either side of the throttle’s mid-point. A tap of the right foot is greeted by a soft-spoken hum, with the expletive-laden dialect only unleashed upon demand. This is especially true in the car’s default Comfort driving mode, with the patience separating calm from crazy thinning with every turn of the AMG Dynamic Select knob (to Sport or Sport+).

Our tester lacked the extra step to Race mode found in the facelifted A 45 we drove last year. But this isn’t a car that will wait on a letter R for permission to go berserk on a red-band trail. Mind-boggling as they are, the performance figures – 4.2 seconds to 100kph, 250kph limited max – are not hard to believe once you’re snugly caressed by the Recaro seats as your toes reach for the floor. There’s an understandable whiff of lag given the exertion on such a small engine, but the Mercedes-AMG CLA 45 is as quick as you’d imagine a 380bhp compact car to be, and more. The straight-line thrill is made more genuine by the AMG-heavy cockpit, Nappa leather-wrapped steering and all, which feels closer to a proper sportscar’s than that of a heavily tuned variant of something pedestrian. Not that the CLA was lacking in pizzazz to begin with.

Off the straights, the CLA 45 scores in traction and body control as expected. Power delivery is regulated by the same, sticky 4Matic AWD in the A 45, but the CLA’s lower centre of gravity and conventional tail makes it even more planted than the hatch, opening up more confidence to mash the throttle on the exit during which the AMG Speedshift DCT is quick to shove you into the right gear, and back to a dizzying pace. Our only gripe around the bends is the sensitivity of the steering. Race car drivers might love it, but it’s not quite as natural as what you’d get in a rival from Munich. Everything else is sublime, even the sport suspension which used to be borderline evil.

We say used to because the Mercedes-AMG CLA 45 has become surprisingly more habitable in terms of how it’s damped. Yes, it’s still a firm setup tasked to keep the car flat around fast-entry hairpins, but it doesn’t send ripples of discomfort up the spine through the backside like it used to. Finding a middle ground between track-ready and town-friendly for the ride is probably crucial since the A 45’s AMG Ride Control is a curious absentee in the coupe derivative. Adaptive dampers would have been nice, but the engineers have done a decent job of delivering the best of both worlds – the CLA 45’s ride being no less pliant than the one that underpins the pre-facelift CLA 250 4Matic.

Whether a CLA 45 owner would consider using it for the daily grind is another question altogether. We attempted a trip to the shopping mall and a couple more to eating joints without much fuss, just some complaints of onset claustrophobia from the odd backseat passenger. But our unit drew many stares thanks to its non-reflective ‘Designo Silver Magno’ paintjob and rumbly exhaust note, although the latter feels a little more muted than the A 45’s for some reason. Revel in the attention or ignore it entirely and the CLA 45 is a viable everyday performance vehicle not unlike the Golf R, mostly because of its town-friendly proportions and easily tameable powertrain.

Potential converters coming from the Wolfsburg camp will miss the practicality of a fifth door, in which case the Mercedes-AMG A 45 is more suited for the rivalry. But where the A 45 fell short of feeling like a proper hot hatch due to its disproportionate amount of power, the same range of talents feels more appropriately packaged in the unique four-door frame of the CLA. It just feels a tad more mature, probably more so in a less conspicuous colour, but the CLA 45 is still a joyous little plaything at heart that will happily create splashes in a pool of its own until Ingoldstadt decides to send a four-lettered coupe our way. Now that will be interesting…

Specs
Engine: 1,991cc, 4-cylinder turbo, 381bhp, 475Nm
Economy: 6.9L/100km, 162g/km CO2
Performance: 0-100kph in 4.2 secs, 250kph
Weight: 1,560kg
Price: RM408,888

VERDICT: 8/10
Facelift is easier to tame for the daily grind, with supercar-rivalling acceleration on demand. Spirited all-rounder, crammed interior aside.

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