00:00 Hey guys, Chris here from Car Expert.
00:01 We're back at Queensland Raceway, our test track.
00:03 Today, we've got the Mercedes-Benz AMG CLA 35.
00:07 Now, we've already had the A45 S on track,
00:09 which was pretty quick.
00:11 This is a step down in performance.
00:12 So, still a two litre turbo,
00:14 but only 225 kilowatts and 400 newton metres of torque.
00:17 So, I'm interested to see how far off this is.
00:19 Also, whether the dynamics of this bigger chassis
00:22 makes any difference at all.
00:23 I'm gonna do an out lap, see how that feels,
00:25 build up the speed and do some flying laps,
00:27 get a lap time, and then give you guys an overview
00:29 of what I thought about the car.
00:31 But first, let's test out the zero to 100 time
00:33 and also the braking performance of this car.
00:35 (car engine roaring)
00:39 So, my initial impressions,
00:51 steering wheel looks and feels great.
00:53 Love the dash layout.
00:54 It's amazing.
00:55 I actually really, really like the options on the dash,
00:58 how you can choose exactly what you want there.
01:00 I've got it set up for the track
01:01 with the rev counter, speed and gear,
01:04 but you can have G force,
01:06 all sorts of numbers all over the dash.
01:07 So, that's awesome.
01:08 Seating position is decent.
01:11 I do feel like I'm a little bit on top of the seat,
01:13 not in the seat.
01:14 And even there,
01:15 I just feel like I'm leaning over a bit straight away.
01:18 Engine feels really responsive.
01:20 As soon as you touch the throttle,
01:22 it cracks open, which is great.
01:24 Gear shift feels nice and crisp.
01:27 I've actually gone on the sports suspension setting,
01:30 not the hardest setting,
01:31 but the middle range one.
01:32 I feel like that's just the best compromise for this track.
01:34 It's a little bit bumpy
01:36 and I don't like those firm feedbacks you get
01:38 when you put it in sports plus mode.
01:40 So, that's designed for a really smooth track,
01:42 but everything else is in the top performance setting
01:45 that I could go engine, transmission, et cetera.
01:48 Steering feels decent.
01:52 It feels light,
01:53 but pretty precise at the same time.
01:57 Just would like a little bit more feedback
01:59 through the hand.
02:00 When I could feel the tire at the edge of grip there,
02:02 I just didn't have the feedback I wanted.
02:04 And as we build up the speed,
02:06 I think that feeling's probably gonna stay,
02:09 which is a shame.
02:10 Feels nice and stable too,
02:12 not too much roll.
02:13 Let's test the brakes out.
02:16 Nice and firm,
02:20 little bit long on the pedal,
02:21 but good firm stability under braking.
02:23 Like the chassis actually feels good under brakes.
02:26 I don't know whether we're gonna struggle
02:27 with traction at all,
02:28 'cause we've got the all-wheel drive system
02:30 and we're only 225 kilowatts.
02:32 So, I feel like we should always have good traction
02:35 and that's why I've gone traction control off.
02:37 I'm not too worried at all about that.
02:39 All right, let's see what sort of lap time
02:40 we can get out of this.
02:41 (car engine roaring)
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02:57 (car engine roaring)
03:04 (car engine roaring)
03:12 (car engine roaring)
03:25 (car engine roaring)
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03:39 (car engine roaring)
03:46 (car engine roaring)
03:49 So, there you go.
03:56 60.31 was the best I could get out of it.
03:58 So, right there with the Audi S3,
04:02 not a bad time
04:03 and sort of in the middle of the leaderboard,
04:05 but a couple of seconds away from the A45 hatch
04:09 and a lot of that's performance in terms of engine.
04:13 Like the engine's a big step up on that.
04:15 This car by no means was bad, no major issues,
04:18 but just lacked in a few areas.
04:21 My biggest complaint is gonna be the seat.
04:23 And I mentioned that in the beginning
04:24 and I just moved around so much
04:26 and I couldn't place myself.
04:27 So, if you're gonna track one of these,
04:29 definitely go the upgraded seat option.
04:31 It's pretty much a necessity.
04:34 These ones are fine for everyday use,
04:35 but not great on the track.
04:37 Steering was decent, just a little bit light.
04:39 That's what I thought initially
04:40 and just lacked the feedback as well that I'd want,
04:43 but pretty precise.
04:44 So, that's good on a track.
04:46 I could place the car pretty well
04:48 and get it to move around.
04:49 I ran with both traction control on and off to try
04:52 and also the stability control off.
04:54 And the car does rotate if you get the rear sliding,
04:57 but has a slight tendency to understeer.
05:00 A little bit more even so than the hatch I'd say as well.
05:04 But if you drive at 90%,
05:05 it works really nicely, nicely balanced.
05:07 So, I felt like the all-wheel drive system worked really well.
05:10 I had no issues at all with traction
05:12 and it's not until you get to that 45 engine
05:15 that you really start to struggle for traction.
05:17 So, at this level of power, this system works great.
05:21 Engine response is great.
05:23 I did get caught out a couple of times
05:25 in the gear shifts just running out of revs.
05:27 So, maybe would have liked slightly wider gearing.
05:29 I just hit the rev limiter without even thinking.
05:33 I did like how there was a shift light
05:34 on the top of the dash and that was very useful.
05:38 It was more in the corners when I was upshifting
05:40 that I had trouble.
05:41 So, it's good to have that on the dash.
05:43 Like I said before, I love the dash layout.
05:45 Looks awesome, but also super functional as well.
05:48 Brakes were pretty good.
05:49 Just dropped away a little bit over the laps
05:51 and I felt like I was putting a lot of energy
05:54 through the front tyres as well
05:55 and just heating up that front left,
05:57 especially on this track
05:58 when there's so many right-hand corners.
06:00 Chassis-wise, it's actually quite supported, quite stable.
06:04 So, I like the damping of it.
06:05 It wasn't kicking off anything.
06:07 I could ride the kerbs nicely.
06:09 No bad side effects at all from the bumps.
06:12 Really well sorted out suspension and geometry-wise.
06:15 I thought that worked really well
06:17 and I think you quite easily dial it
06:19 between understeer and oversteer
06:21 if you wanted to mess around with tyre pressures
06:23 and things like that.
06:24 So, I think the ability to tune the car a little bit
06:27 is definitely there as well.
06:28 So, there you go guys, the CLA35 AMG.
06:32 Now, I'm not gonna lie to you,
06:33 it wasn't the perfect car on the track.
06:35 It did a decent time right up there with the Audi S3,
06:37 but missing the details I wanted,
06:39 missing the feedback.
06:40 And I definitely love that A45 engine
06:43 when we drove that earlier in the year.
06:44 So, not bad, a great car on the streets,
06:47 but maybe if you come into the track,
06:49 step up to the A45 or the CLA45.
06:52 My top three tips with this car are
06:54 just looking for the seating position to be a bit better.
06:56 So, I'd upgrade the seats to the AMG Performance seats
06:59 and that would make a huge difference.
07:00 I was moving around a lot in the car.
07:02 Be careful in the entry.
07:03 It's got the ability to understeer if you over-commit.
07:06 So, be calm there, nice and smooth,
07:08 get the car rotated.
07:10 And if you do turn the traction control off,
07:11 it can actually then send you the other way
07:13 into a bit of an oversteer.
07:14 So, be careful if you do that.
07:15 Thanks for watching the video, guys.
07:17 If you enjoyed it, hit the thumbs up button
07:18 and don't forget to subscribe and push that bell icon
07:21 so you get notified every time we publish a new video.
07:23 I'd love to hear your feedback
07:25 and also hear what else you'd like to see
07:26 out on the test track and see what sort of times we can do.
07:29 Thanks again for watching.
07:30 Hope you enjoyed the video.
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