Nachtsturm

I have been trying to test drive a CLA45 AMG for quite some time. Since last year believe it or not.

In my area, the CLA45's were going as soon as they came in.

I wanted to drive one before I ordered it. I have heard pretty bad things about the ride as a daily.

The dealer had a Cosmos Black nearly every option, the best part, is it had the performance exhaust and suspension.

Let's put the ride comments to rest, does the CLA45 ride like an S class? No. Nor should it. I found the ride to be quite acceptable, not nearly as harsh as others have made it out to be. For me, it seemed the regular CLA250 sport road impacts were more harsh.

While I absolutely love the look of the recaros, sitting in them not so much. My lats were on the side bolsters, which made it a tad uncomfortable.

Loved the performance exhaust, and everything else about the car.

My only complaint was the very noticeable hesitation from a dead stop start. Was pretty abrupt. The auto stop/start was turned off a block or two on the test drive.

I liked it so much, I have decided to part ways with my beloved CLK55. Can't wait to own one.

Just thought I'd share.

Settthhh

Nice I do love the exhaust burbles on that performance exhaust!

tekfoc

congrats.
now the hard part waiting.

BenzoBoi

Nice choice! I've been in one and it was super fun. Enjoy the ride when it gets here! It's going to be a hard wait!

MBSELLER

When will you be buying one?

Nachtsturm

Once I sell the other cars. So if it sells like all my other AMG's 12-14 Months.

Looking forward to going to just one car, driving the fun one all year round will be great. I haven't done that since 2004-2005 with my old STi.

Newzchspy

What stealer in the Chicago area let you test drive the CLA45? I drove my neighbors white one and it was a nice car. A little "tighter" or cramped inside than my C32 and C55 and his Recaros made it seem worse and I am not a big guy. I too like the exhaust sound (sounds like a high-performance motorcycle ).......

Frankly, when I drove his, I thought that it lacked "torque" and seemed to need a lot of "Rs" to get it going, unlike my old C32 or the Kleemann. AWD is a big plus for our weather, BUT I prefer the locomotive feel of torque over a ringy dingy 4 cylinder. I do like the fact that there's a lot of mods now available for this car and its ONLY going to get better.

If I were you , I'd also look at the C450 AWD AMG Sport. I think it'll perform as well as the CLA and with more torque as well. I also think it wont feel quite as cramped and mods are coming for that engine as well (tunes etc.) It'll be in about the same price range.

Fly by night

^^^ agree 100%

Nachtsturm

Hey Glenn,

Mercedes-Benz of Westmont. Awesome dealer, they will continue to get my business.

The recaros were a bit tight for me in the lat region. So, I would go with the regular seats. The C450 will be nice, but I'd rather have the CLA45. It is a true AMG.

The biggest thing I am struggling with is not holding out for a RS3 if it makes it stateside.

Ezec63

The reason it feels like that is because AMG mapped it to feel like a N/A motor with power increasing all the way to redline but the car is very fast in stock form and runs High 12's. Since you brought up kleemann im sure your a guy who would mod the car and a simple tune/downpipe makes a HUGE difference in the way the car drives especially midrange torque. It gains 115+ Wheel torque in the midrange with just a downpipe and tune believe me you wouldn't call it a ringy dingy 4 cylinder if you drove it the car is a pocket rocket at ~425 wheel torque/400 wheel HP and under 3600 pounds with DCT.

Newzchspy

I didn't mean that in a negative sense (ringy dingy) but it reminds me of my S2000 where I had to "rev it" to get it going, sorta like an old 2 stroke motorcycle. I haven't driven one (yet), BUT seems to me that the C450 will be a great alternative to the CLA with a tad more interior space too and the added advantage of AWD (like the CLA). Once Eurocharged or another company like Weistec gets a hold of that 3.0 litre in the C450 , I am sure that it'll be a proverbial rocket as well. Plus, I've seen the C300/400 and the build quality seems to be one notch above the CLA class that I drove.

soolman32

The C450 is a nice option but given the choice again, I'd definitely choose my CLA45 over it. There is something to be said about having a true AMG car. Had I not have to contend with winter, the C63 would've been my choice mainly because of the stock power. I still prefer the exterior styling of the CLA over the C. Anxiously waiting for the C63 Coupe to be revealed so it can be added to be stable. As a DD I find the CLA45 combination of awd, fuel efficiency, power and style really hard to beat.

Fly by night

you don't need an AMG engine with the crazy power the new bi turbo engines make in regular V-8' models
look at the silly power the S550 makes with a simple ECU tune



https://mbworld.org/forums/cla45-amg...rged-stg2.html

Newzchspy

This ^ ^ ^

ONCE the tuners get a hold of that 3 litre 6 banger, you'll be surprised at what they will do.

bmoney12

What turbo engine can't a tuner extract more power from? Its pretty much expected.

Newzchspy

You just made my point, BUT from years of owning all iterations from Turbo 4s to S/C V8s, I'll take the inherent torque of displacement any day. As the drag racers say, "there's no replacement for displacement."

Nachtsturm

I guess I will just have to be slower then in my AMG.

I could have purchased a newer CLK550 which had more HP than my CLK55 for around the same money. I chose the AMG. CLA45 vs C450 no different.

My AMG plate would look silly on a non-AMG car.

Ezec63

I understand and agree with the "rev it" powerband but that's how AMG set it up by design and building boost with rpm. Since you seem like a guy who likes to mod () the M133 4 cylinder is a beast once tuned. Weistec has gained 118 wheel torque and 58 wheel horsepower with a tune and downpipe. The powerband is completely different tuned the car is just a torque monster making 420 wheel torque in the low/midrange pushing only 3600 pounds. The C450 might be able to reach similar numbers but will be considerably heavier with a slushbox instead of an AMG tuned DCT. The suspension/chassis is also not a real AMG product like the CLA so dynamically it wont be as sharp.


Don't get me wrong the C450 will be a great option as a fun daily driver that's still decently comfortable but its not going to be as sharp as a CLA45.

M-type

Havent researched it enough with the A45s but i do wonder how well and how long this AMG tuned DCT will last with the added torque and power. The transmission might prematurely fail

soolman32

I wouldn't be concerned about that. Even with the additional torque, no one drives pedal to the floor day in and day from point A to point B.

crabman

No but there are many cases of cars that had trasmissions that were judged to be just enough to make it through the warranty period with an acceptable number of failures by the OEM that built it and they are not concerned about it being enough to survive long term with more power than they plan on giving it. Not just transmissions but the entire drivetrain. I've owned several cars where upping the power meant that it was only a matter of time before downstream failures were going to happen.

Not that I'm preaching because I added that power anyways knowing it was coming and that failure was just a matter of time but I did it eyes open aware of the inevitable and prepared to deal with it.

Over on corvette forum they have a saying... "Anyone who mods their car needs to be prepared and able to act as their own warranty station" and its true with every car. Anyone contemplating modding their car should know the cost of the potential failures and be capable of dealing with them before they cast their lot.

This isn't to say you wont get warranty at the dealership, you will for the most part, at least until you blow a diff, trans etc. that they dealer cant order parts for without the approval of a regional rep. That rep doesn't sell cars and doesn't worry about the concerns of customers, his job is to guard the gate and he is well trained and without mercy. If he decides a high dollar part was put under additional strain from a hp adding modification he absolutely will not approve the warranty coverage. At this point your dealer cannot get that 9k dollar transmission for you unless it comes out of their own pocket, nor can he get pay for the labor and very few of us are going to be good enough customers for the dealer to come out of pocket at the amounts some of these parts cost.

What happens then? Well some people will say something about being protected by the M&M act and the dealer having to prove that an aftermarket part caused a failure. As soon as you read that you know these people have never actually been there. What happens in the real world is that rep has denied the cost of the part and the payment of labor for the repair and the dealer isn't coughing it up either although they will tell you how sorry they are and how they wish they could help. Possession is 9/10s of the law and the OEM is in possession of your warranty. No matter how much you spout M&M, yell, stomp your feet, whatever, you are on your own. You can choose to come out of pocket or leave your car broke down. If you decide to fight that fight will not be with the dealer but with a very large corporation that has people on staff who are going to waste if they are not put to fighting with you over that dime. The process you will follow varies by state and the laws of that state but it will be very expensive or somewhat less so if you invest your own time doing what an attorney would otherwise be doing for you. At the end of it the M&M act does allow for POSSIBILITY of getting fees but there is no guarantee you will get them and I can say with great certainty that I did not even though I won in court.

I have been into cars all my life. My dad was a mechanic at Dodge garage and I grew up working on cars, taking them to the track. I've modded every car I've owned and have few failures I didn't see coming but it has happened. I don't know the numbers here but as an example the last go fast car I had was an M3, it was that car that had a 9300 dollar trans which I used as an example. I don't know what the cost of the tranny in this car is but I'm guessing it will be a little painful for the typical buyer of a low end Mercedes. The engine on that car was 25k, I know I wouldn't want to pay that and it was pretty sad reading the occasional post of someone who had smoked one and was going to have to come out of pocket. What does one of these fancy hand built 4 cylinders cost? I don't know but I suspect its pretty dear.

All in all I'm not saying don't do it, I'm guilty as hell myself. I do think anyone wanting to go down this path should think carefully about how much risk they are willing and able to take.

Ezec63

AMG has shown a tendency to over engineer main components as seen with the MCT that's in my c63 that can handle a 3.0L supercharger added on to it with no internal modifications until you really crank the boost up. I'm not sure about the DCT specifically in the 45's but I would think they gave it some head room to keep it reliable. Weistec also has there test car which has been running the tune under testing for a while. There are a lot of modded a45's on the UK forums and I have not heard one case yet of a problem with the transmission despite having cars running higher power levels for almost 2 years. These cars are running piggybacks for the most part while the Weistec upgrade is a ecu flash which has the advantage of telling the car to expect higher torque values/loads so the transmission can compensate by applying more pressure to the clutches. It's never a guarantee and I'm sure if you were to use launch control 10 times a day while abusing the car something will eventually give.

M-type

Excessive wear will always test all parts along the power train but i wondered how much over engineering AMG did on the 45s specifically, even the first gen GTRs were starting to see transmission problems after minor mods.

But its good to hear the A45s are going strong after 2 years

crabman

To be clear gents I do not know if the car will break and I was not implying the car will break, maybe it will, maybe not. I myself haven't even begun to research that part of it and I'm a GLA guy anyways.

On these forums it is very easy to get all starry eyed over the parts and glowing reviews from those that installed them while the buzzards aka venders are always circling looking for another piece of meat. When it goes bad what you will get here or at any other forum is sorry from some and a few encouraging words from others telling you to keep your chin up, you and your wallet will otherwise be standing alone.

Modding safely isn't a matter of getting lucky its doing enough research to make sure you are not one of the few that gets unlucky. Unless of course you can afford carnage in which case please go ahead so the rest of us can learn from you.