Mercedes-AMG CLA 45 is more powerful and cheaper than BMW's M3
The CLA 45 is no more expensive than the old A45 but with 671bhp, is obviously way more potent
Mercedes-AMG’s CLA 45 electric super saloon (and Shooting Brake) is now on sale, with an impressive Nürburgring time and an entry price that’s unexpectedly competitive with what is for the moment its closest rival, the £65,800 Hyundai Ioniq 6 N.
> Hyundai Ioniq 6 N review – has Hyundai beaten BMW M at its own game?
The car was revealed earlier in the Summer as a vote of emphatic confidence in electric power as the future for the AMG entry point, with no combustion equivalent planned. The ghost of the old four-pot lives on in the new car though, with fake engine sounds and fake gears, all here in spite of AMG’s insistence that the younger audience this car is aimed at is happy and ready to jump to electric power for its performance cars…
Mercedes-AMG CLA 45 – motors and performance
As you might have expected, being a performance EV, (some) brute force power is the order of the day. To that end, three compact axial flux electric motors – two on the back axle, one on the front – deliver a maximum output of 671bhp (in launch mode or with a paddle pulled for ‘boost’). Walking-around power is 604bhp. Torque is an interesting one, as we were only given ‘at the motors’ torque, which is a frankly obscene but slightly meaningless 1297lb ft.
The componentry is very similar to that found in the 1000bhp-plus AMG GT 4-Door, albeit with thinner electromagnets accounting for the reduction in power. The battery isn’t quite as trick either, with the CLA 45 not getting the AMG.EA-spec direct cooled pack with its cylindrical cells. It instead borrows the 94kWh (usable) item from the GLC Electric. It’s still a tech leader in terms of energy density, with silicon oxide/graphite anodes for a 20 per cent boost. Mercedes-AMG is open about the possibility of performance drops depending on battery level, claiming de-rating can be expected from around 25 per cent charge
Performance will be as you’d hope, spectacular. In launch mode the CLA 45 gets to 62mph from rest in just 3sec. That’s quicker than the old McLaren SLR and SLS, on the money with the very fastest of the new AMG GTs and just 0.1sec off a Mercedes-AMG One hypercar.
When not plumbing it for all its performance, the CLA 45 is claimed to be good for 416 miles of range in slippery saloon form, and 397 miles of range as a shooting brake. Those might be moderately ambitious WLTP figures but my experience in the standard CLA has me thinking this really could be a performance EV that endures a good kicking like none before it in terms of usable real world range.
Mercedes-AMG CLA 45 – handling, fake gears and sounds
Absolute power can corrupt absolutely, as we know from some poorly resolved ultra-powerful EVs. Happily, Mercedes-AMG has given the CLA 45 all the tools it needs to deploy its performance.
That starts with the powertrain itself, with the car predominantly rear-wheel drive most of the time. The two rear motors can deliver the full stated maximum output of 671bhp and indeed do when the car is in rear-drive ‘drift’ mode and the front axle is permanently disconnected. In normal driving, unless the car thinks more traction is needed, it’ll be rear-driven most of the time too, with the Disconnect Unit separating the front motor from the wheels in a fraction of a second, in aid of efficiency.
When not in drift mode but in Sport or AMG Force S+ (more on which shortly), AMG Performance 4Matic+ allows constant variance of power delivery between the axles and torque vectoring on the rear axle. Think of it as a limited-slip diff on steroids. There’s a standard Hankook tyre (245-section front, 265-section rear) or optional, sportier Continental Sport Contact 7s, spanning 255 section at the front, 275 at the rear. Braking is mostly by regeneration, AMG says, with five levels to choose from. There are 390mm discs at the front clamped by six-piston calipers, with 350mm rear discs, for more sudden and aggressive braking.
The characteristics of the whole car, from the damping stiffness to throttle response, steering effort and power distribution, are dictated via AMG Dynamic Select, switchable via a familiar rotary controller on the steering wheel. Comfort is as you’d expect, the CLA 45’s most relaxed state. Sport ups the ante, leaning the balance rearward, stiffening the AMG Ride Control dampers, upping the steering weight and sharpening the throttle response.
Then you have AMG Force S+, as first seen on the AMG 4-Door electric. Look to the driver’s display after a twist of the dial and you’ll note a rev counter, complete with a 7200rpm redline. Then your ears and buttocks will also be picking up incongruous internal combustion rumblings not unlike those of the M133 2-litre at idle. Poke the throttle and those rumblings rise and recede with an eight-bit crackle.
That’s because AMG went to painstaking lengths of capture the sounds and sensations of the M133, fitting an A45 S with 13 microphones, recording 1600 files at different revs, throttle applications and load profiles. It comes through the speakers and the seats too, which (whether standard or the optional sport items) feature shakers designed to emulate the vibrations and resonance of the combustion engine.
The show’s not just for you either, with this synthetic ghost of the M133 playing out for pedestrians via external speakers too. The paddle shifters behind the wheel, unlike on some EVs, aren’t just vestigial pieces used to control regen. In AMG Force S+ they also become shifters for the synthesised transmission, calibrated with seven speeds to feel like AMG’s Speedshift box.
Race mode ups the ante again, lowering the car, setting up the AWD system for maximum grip and giving the driver access to the adjustable traction, agility and response control. Unfortunately, the AMG GT 4-door’s swanky rotary controllers for these systems do not trickle down. Slippery sets the car up for low-grip conditions for maximum safety, Eco reduces power and sets it to permanent rear-drive and Individual allows you to customise the car’s parameters just so.
An official time of 7:32.070 around the Nürburgring makes it the quickest EV in its class, according to Mercedes, but also very competitive with even some of our favourite ICE-powered alternatives. It stands just 6.5sec behind the hardcore BMW M2 CS, ahead of the Audi RS3 and track-focused Volkswagen Golf GTI Edition 50 and quicker than even a BMW M3 Touring. Move to the EV world and it's over three seconds quicker than the 1000bhp Tesla Model S Plaid (without the Track Package), edging just ahead of the standard Porsche Taycan Turbo S too. It was wearing sticky Pirelli P Zero Trofeo RS tyres for the attempt, but it's an impressive feat no matter which way you look at it.
Mercedes-AMG CLA 45 – design, aero and interior
The CLA 45 isn’t perhaps as aggressively distended as you might expect for a car that’s 100bhp up on the last AMG GT R. There’s active aero, consisting of a large variably deployable active spoiler that aids stability – though no downforce figures are given – and radiator flaps (with eight opening phases, no less) for managing cooling and drag.
The CLA 45 is 24mm wider at the front wings than the standard car, with slightly engorged skirts and a rear diffuser, but the lower ‘vent’ element at the front is more ’35’ than ’45’ to my eyes. Better than the GT 4-Door? You be the judge…
Inside, both the standard and optional sports seats come with the acoustic shakers, so the fake A45 noises can be enjoyed (or otherwise) in both cases. The full AMG steering wheel – complete with paddles and rotary controllers for drive modes, aero, traction control and more – now has physical roller controls too. Praise be! Apart from these, some slightly cheap looking AMG hatching on the centre tunnel and the angrier ambient lighting (when in the right mode) it’s CLA business as usual, which is to say, heavy on the pixels…
Mercedes-AMG CLA 45: price and availability
Rarely are we pleasantly surprised when it comes to matters of pricing but the figures Mercedes-AMG has just announced for the CLA 45 are a welcome exception. Our expectation was for it to be in the £80,000 by comparison to its closest rival, Hyundai’s £65,800 Ioniq 6 N. Happily, the CLA 45 is actually available to order now from £66,750, or £67,750 for the Shooting Brake. Otherwise known, that’s really not all that much more than the A45 S was when it bowed out… except you get an extra Golf GTI’s worth of power by comparison.
That is of course for the entry-level Touring model, though the full 671bhp tri-motor set-up is standard, 0-62mph time of 2.7sec and AMG Force S+ mode with its clever fake gears, noise and vibrating seats. Likewise the active aerodynamics and AMG Ride Control suspension.
What you’ll need Premium Plus spec for, at £78,300 for the saloon, is the Performance Seat package and Dynamic Plus Pack, which as well as unlocking its 167mph top speed, also adds in the Track Pace software and Drift Mode. Also thrown in are the Burmester 3D surround sound system and less important to us, the MBUX Superscreen, which is just the standard set-up with the 14-inch passenger display added on. Worth it for the rear-wheel drive mode alone. The CLA 45 is on sale now.
