I drove the Car of the Year and found hybrid | Tech News

Earlier this 12 months, the Mercedes-Benz CLA was named the European Car Of The Year 2026, a prestigious award that has been going since 1964. In the phrases of the official press release, the organisation mentioned Europe had “chosen its king”.

The CLA, which might be bought in each electric and non-electric type, scored 320 factors from 59 jurors from 23 nations. It beat the likes of the Renault 4, Citroen C5 Aircross, Dacia Bigster, Fiat Grande Panda, Kia EV4, and Skoda Elroq. It was the first time Mercedes has received the award since the 450 SE/SEL received in 1974.

Given the CLA’s achievement, the Express was eager to seek out out what one was wish to drive and we have been fortunate enough to spend three days with an electric variant of the car.

The specs

Specifically, we had a CLA 250+ Electric AMG Line Premium Plus with an as-tested price of £53,300. Coming in Night black, it had 19 inch wheels with ARTICO man-made leather-based upholstery. In phrases of infotainment it had a 14-inch central show that got here with Mercedes’ digital assistant alongside a 10.25inch driver show function key data akin to charge and velocity and so forth.

Being the AMG Line Premium Plus, it additionally had a head-up show, thermotronic automated climate control, a winter package deal, and ambient lighting. Up entrance it had a 101 litre frunk and at the rear it was a 405 litre boot.

In phrases of the powertrain, the car had an 85.5 kWH battery with 268hp being pushed by means of the rear wheels by means of a two velocity gearbox.

All in, the specs recommend the vehichle might go up to a high velocity of 130mph with a claimed WLTP vary of 452 miles, enough to get one from London to Brighton and back round eight occasions.

All this technology is wrapped in a physique that’s 4.7 metres (4,731mm) long and 2 metres broad (2,201mm) broad in the event you embrace the mirrors. The car itself is 1.4 metres (1,469mm) tall and has a wheelbase of 2.7 metres (2,790mmm).

What’s it wish to drive?

Well, it’s a small 268hp rear wheel drive saloon car which implies it’s fairly good. It has good stability, the steering is direct and communicative. It rides very properly over London lumps and bumps, it feels manoeuvrable and vary nervousness wasn’t a downside during my time with it.

When I took it on the motorway it very simply dealt with some of the M25’s barely bumpier stretches and it drowned out most of the highway noise. The M25 has a notably ridged part between the junction with the A3 and the one with the M23 – the one most people take to Gatwick Airport. In poor driving automobiles this makes you’re feeling like the car and your enamel are falling aside or falling into smithereens, however in the CLA it was wonderful.

Mechanically, the car is nice. Mercedes has performed a superb job on the suspension, trip, and dynamics; however it wasn’t good. Operationally, there have been a few issues that led me to surprise why it had been given the award in the first place.

The points

The first is the voice assistant that had a behavior of randomly looking out in the event you mentioned one thing out loud. I mentioned the phrase ‘toilet’ when considering out loud about, you guessed it, the toilet and it looked for native public bogs. The identical occurred when I was commenting, out loud, that the site visitors was dangerous or remembering that I needed to get some food when I acquired back from a drive; it was like the system was attempting to be overly eager to help.

The second was the touchscreen; Mercedes I hope will quickly cotton on to what different producers like Kia, Hyundai, Fiat, and Alfa Romeo have – people like utilizing buttons. I hope more of these make a return.

The third was that the boot aperture was fairly small. I was shocked that the boot wasn’t a hatch, one thing that might enable an proprietor to get a lot bigger objects into the car.

The fourth was barely more curious and admittedly a bit more area of interest. I was testing out the rear headroom, unsurprisingly not good given the sloping roofline, when I tried to get out of the facet door. It wouldn’t open as a result of the childlocks have been on. It wasn’t attainable to disengage them by way of the infotainment, as an alternative they have been tiny unmarked switches on the inside of the door lining, the piece of steel the place the door lock locks the car.

It didn’t need to take away any trim to entry this, it was an uncovered swap, only one that was very exhausting to seek out and solely accessible by first getting out of the car by means of the entrance and opening the door from the outdoors.

Verdict – 7.5/10

Addressed individually, the above aren’t main complaints, however it underlines one thing acute about the Mercedes-Benz CLA. On paper and dynamically, it’s a good and efficient car.

Be in no doubt of its consolation, effectivity, and handling, however to operate it’s not so good as rivals from BMW, Audi, or Alfa Romeo which merely outflank it by being simpler automobiles to operate and subsequently much less irritating to stay with everyday, which, at the finish of mentioned day, is a massive think about whether or not somebody choses to buy a car in the first place.

The one I’d quite have

If we’re speaking about hybrids, the CLA can come as a hybrid after all, it does not maintain a candle to Honda’s Civic which prices round £35,945.

Not solely is it more participating to drive, however by advantage of being a hatchback, it is more sensible too. Furthermore, the additional bodily controls and lack of the automated digital assistant on the inside means it’s going to most likely be simpler to stay with too.

Earlier this 12 months, at the SMMT Test Day, the Honda was my favorite car of the 15 I drove. I praised it for its handing, practicality, appears to be like, and clever hybrid powertrain.