Get ready to break out those checkbooks. Mercedes-Benz has announced the prices for its 2015 C- and GLA-Class models. You’ve got some time, though – until August 25.
That’s when the C300 4MATIC and C400 4MATIC go on sale, starting at $40,400 and $48,590, respectively. The rear-wheel-drive C300 will hit dealerships in the first quarter of 2015 at a base price of $38,400.
According to the three-pointed star, “Much of the new safety equipment [that] first debuted on the new S-Class last year appears now in the new C-Class including COLLISION PREVENTION ASSIST PLUS, a radar-based system [that] can brake autonomously to avoid collisions or minimize their effects in combination with PRE-SAFE, which prepares the vehicle if a collision is imminent.”
The GLA-Class comes with features such as COLLISION PREVENTION ASSIST PLUS with autonomous braking, chrome roof rails, an electronic parking brake, and power front seats with memory as standard equipment. It lands as early as this September. The $33,300, 208-horsepower GLA250 4MATIC and $48,300, 355-horsepower GLA45 AMG will be available then. In the first three months of next year, the regular GLA250 will go on sale, at a base price of $31,300.
Just be aware that none of those figures include a $925 destination and delivery charge. I’d hate for you to waste a check because you wrote down the wrong amount.
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.