2020 Mercedes-Benz CLA

Mark Rechtin

The democratization of luxury has proven difficult for many premium brands, none more so than Mercedes-Benz. Pilloried for its cynical first attempt at the entry-luxury CLA-Class subcompact sedan, the folks from Stuttgart could have packed it in. Instead, they doubled down, first with the A-Class (a 2020 COTY finalist) and then with the second-gen CLA, which is nothing short of impressive. “The previous version always felt built to a price and like it had been finished by Mercedes’ van division,” features editor Christian Seabaugh said. “The new one is a properly appealing luxury subcompact.” Because MotorTrend Car of the Year is meant to evaluate the entire vehicle line, we tested both a well-equipped “base” CLA 250 and the angry-as-a-swarm-of-murder-hornets AMG CLA 45. Normally, the base model underwhelms after folks are wowed by…

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MotorTrend (Digital) - 1 Issue, January 2021

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