Mercedes-Benz CLA Shooting Brake – is it a niche too far?

JUST 30 years ago, there was just one Mercedes wagon line – the midsized S123, which was based on the W123 four-door sedan.

Now, alongside the E-Class, which is that model’s direct descendent, there is also a C-Class and CLS-Class, as well as several SUVs and crossovers, ranging from the GLA through to the full-sized GLS. Confused? You should be.

Now there’s a new wagon, but it isn’t a boxy holdall in the traditional sense.

Looking like a cross between the A-Class (up front) and CLS Shooting Brake (out back), the CLA SB is Merc’s most compact wagon to date.

Based on the CLA four-door ‘coupe’ sedan, the wagon appropriates the British ‘Shooting Brake’ nomenclature to describe what is, essentially, a high-roof version of a low-roof car.

It actually represents the fifth body shape based on Mercedes’ MFA modular front-wheel-drive architecture, shadowing the A-Class hatch, B-Class hatch, CLA and GLA crossover. What’s next? A CLA ute? That Subaru Brumby market has really gone begging over the last 25 years!

Sharing the same wheelbase as the CLA sedan, the Shooting Brake also sits on the same MFA Modular FWD architecture – the fifth Benz to be sprung from that platform.

Speaking of yesteryear, back in 1984, you could buy any number of high-roof wagon versions of low-roof small cars, including a Toyota Corolla, Mazda 323 and Subaru Leone, so there’s nothing really new under the sun.

Except, only Mercedes-Benz has had the initiative to slap the Three-Pointed Star premium on its exclusive $50,000 to $100,000, A-Class hatch-based C-segment combatant. 

Can you tell the difference? Besides being much larger, the CLS is rear-drive and based on the E-Class range, not front-drive A-Class derived.

Now, we’re not being (that) cynical, because the CLA has become the third best-selling Mercedes model in Australia after the aforementioned five-door hatch version and new C-Class range. Over 2000 of the chi-chi sedans have found homes in this country.

The Shooting Brake, meanwhile, is expected to surface on our great shores sometime between March and June, and will be broadly aligned with its sloping three-box sibling in terms of variant and specification.

Leading the charge will be the 45 AMG, with all four wheels driven by 265kW/450Nm 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder powerplant via a seven-speed dual clutch transmission. Currently, the CLA sedan version costs a cool $86,900 plus on-road costs, so we’re predicting not much change at all from about $95,000 once you’ve ticked a few options boxes and paid all the necessary stamp duty.

Look familiar? The B-Class, CLA, GLA and A-Class all share many aspects of the Shooting Brake’s coolly contemporary dashboard, including that stand-alone tablet-style screen interface.

Other anticipated Shooting Brake models include the CLA200 motivated by a 115kW/250Nm 1.6-litre petrol engine, and CLA250 Sport, with 4Matic AWD and a 155kW/350 2.0-litre number.

Whether a turbo-diesel version as per the CLA200 CDI arrives in Australia has yet to be decided.

Completely fresh from the B-pillar back, the CLA Shooting Brake scores an extra window behind the rear doors, plus a thin C-pillar disguised behind the side glass.

Dimensionally the wagon is nearly identical to sedan, with the newcomer’s respective 4630mm length and 1777mm width completely interchangeable with each other. Only the turret is taller, of course, at 1435mm.

Sacrificing practicality at the alter of style, the CLA Shooting Brake is only slightly larger cargo capacity wise than the sedan version.

One obvious benefit of the later is a happy boost in rear-seat headroom compared to the restricted sedan, to the tune of 40mm.

Other figures show that the Shooting Brake’s cargo area holds an additional 25 litres, and so is rated at 495 litres; dropping the rear backrests pushes that out to 1354 litres, or reclined right back in an oddball manner for 595 litres of cargo capacity. While we’re still loitering in the rear of the CLA wagon, there’s the option of an electrically operated tailgate as well as a collapsible box for stowage of loose items.

The wagon’s extra surface area has resulted in inferior drag, as the (still extremely impressive) 0.26Cd drag coefficiency rating proves.

The CLA sedan, meanwhile, tips in at just 0.22Cd.

The swoopy silhouette isn’t quite as industry leading aerodynamics-wise as the sedan, though at 0.26Cd, it’s still an amazing figure.

Nevertheless, the efficiency benefits are palpable, with the CLA200 CDI Shooting Brake diesel averaging a 3.9 litre per 100km combined fuel consumption rating.

At the other end of the scale, the CLA45 AMG 4Matic ditches the dual-clutch gearbox the AMG-developed Speedshift dual-clutch auto, which has been known to help catapult the Shooting Brake to 100km/h in just 4.7 seconds – that’s around one-tenth of second shy of the sedan equivalent.

A ‘70s throwback if we’ve ever seen one, the CLA250 Shooting Brake’s lairy seat trim will thankfully be an option only – if at all for Oz.

Among a cornucopia of other driver-assist features, the baby Benz holdall brings autonomous braking and driver drowsiness detection.

Are you still with us? Would you spend nearly $100K on what is essentially the same size as Volkswagen Golf wagon?

The first modern Mercedes wagon was the W123-based TE models, brought into Australia in the early ‘80s.

Never mind us. The CLA Shooting Brake is sure to be a massive hit! 

Byron Mathioudakis goauto.com.au

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