bmcgahan

I currently have a 2012 C63 sedan, which I absolutely love. The problem is I live in an area with a brutal winter climate, so the C63 basically sleeps in the garage for 3 months out of the year. I'm considering trading it in for a CLA45, but I haven't test driven it yet.

For those of you that have driven or own the CLA45, how does it handle in the snow/ice/cold? Anyone here owned or driven both the C63 and CLA45?

Jons95c36amg

The Cla45 has awd. Not sure if it comes with all season tires. If it does it must be excellent in snow. My Clk55 is my daily. Have good AS tires but its rwd. As long its not deep snow on a hill I'm fine. I would love to trade my Clk55 for a Cla45. But getting stuff done on my house. Money is tight.

mcguirja

I am driving a CLA45 in the winter and can compare it to as S Class 4matic as well as the SL63 I only drive in the summer. Although the SL63 isn't completely comparable to the C63 there are similarities in power profile.

The CLA45 came with 19" summer performance tires, so I went out right away and bought 18" all seasons to replace for winter driving. I purchased 235/40ZR-18 Hankook Ventus S1 noble2 XL tires from Tire Rack. They were rated very well for winter driving by other consumers and were reasonably priced. I put them on a set of 8.5" x 18" AMG rims I had sitting around.

I would never think about driving the SL63 in the winter, mainly because I like it too much , but also way too much power even with winter tires.

To get to your question, we've had the worst winter in Toronto in about the last 20 years, both cold and snowy. I mention the S Class 4matic earlier as that has been my winter driver since 2006, along with a GLK 350 also 4matic my wife has driven since 2010. The CLA has been handling this winter quite well, in fact I would say has better traction than the S Class, which has Michelin Sport A/S plus tires. It isn't as good as the GLK, which is made for this climate, and has Continental Conti ProContacts. The only challenge the CLA has is low clearance. I seem to be pretty regularly the lowest clearance car in snow ruts, I can feel and hear it scraping on the bottom of the car. No damage to date, but I could see something happening over time. I've attached a few pictures, one that shows a picture at the office after a snowy drive in, the second shows how it basically plowed my driveway. The snow was about 10 inches high and I'd estimate the car took about 4 inches of snow with it as I drove up the driveway - without getting stuck. Finally a picture of the SL63 the day I put it away for the winter, I managed to time it just as the snow was hitting the ground.

Overall, despite the clearance issue, I'd give good grades to the CLA for its winter performance. I've driven it in more bad weather days this year than I can remember driving the others combined over the past several (with the exception of the GLK, which we managed to get through the Virginia's during the storm of the century a few years back - but that would be a completely different post )

Good luck with your decision, hope this helps.

https://mbworld.org/forums/attachmen...ronto-sl63.jpg

James

mcguirja

Although I like the CLA45 I would never trade a C63 for it... they are completely different cars. I would have purchased a C63 as my winter driver, but unfortunately this is my company car and I couldn't find a C63 priced under the cap. The CLA is better on fuel, has much better traction and is definitely fast, but doesn't have the raw power of the 63 engines.

James

HIRO63

For me it will be A45 but before buying A45 I had C63. Where I live I dont have snow but I can say is that in rain it was scary to drive C63 but A45 grips like its dry. A45 is fast and safe car to drive so for me Im glad that I changed to A45 from C63.

bmcgahan

Thanks for the info guys. Now I just have to find a dealer in the Chicago area that I can actually find the car to test drive it in the snow

bmoney12

I finally decided to trade my C63 in for a CLA45. Been debating it for months. I found one on cars.com a couple days ago from a NY dealer but it turned out to be sold. Salesman said he could find one and presented me with 5 or 6 choices based on what options/pkg I was looking for. I ended up with the below. Should be here next week. I'm pretty pumped considering I didn't really want to wait 3 months on an order!


CLA45 $47,450

787 Mountain Grey $720

651 Black MB-Tex w/ DINAMICA

P01 P01 Premium Package: SiriusXM® Radio w/ $2,300

P60 AMG Exterior Night Styling $750

U21 AMG Performance Exhaust $450

U70 Red Brake Calipers $300

U71 DVD Coding

V94 Speed Load index

Y05 Red Seat Belts

104 Rear Deck Spoiler $300

234 Blind Spot Assist $550

281 AMG Performance Steering Wheel $500

320 320 Multimedia Package: COMAND® System $2,370

413 Panorama Sunroof $1,480

736 Black Ash Wood Trim $325

787 AMG 19" Multi-Spoke Black Alloy Wheels $850

SUBTOTAL $58,345

DESTINATION & DELIVERY $925

TOTAL $59,270

zibby43

Congrats! Looking forward to your impressions regarding how it stacks up with the C63.