SHOOT FOR THE STAR (some text hidden) --NONE--

By Jonathan Crouch

The third generation Mercedes CLA Shooting Brake is a quirky but interesting and very advanced small estate. Jonathan Crouch takes a look.

Ten Second Reviewword count: 36

There's lots to like about Mercedes' third generation CLA, but some might think that the four-door model lacks a bit of visual pizzazz. It gains a dose more of that in this Shooting Brake estate form.

Backgroundword count: 109

The CLA Shooting Brake has proved to be a small but profitable seller for Mercedes. In case you're not familiar with it, the idea here was to create a compact but more stylised interpretation of what a small estate could be. With a design based of course on the CLA four-door coupe. The first CLA Shooting Brake arrived back in 2015 and sold well enough to be reprised in second generation form when the MK2 CLA arrived in 2019. Here, looking at the third generation model announced in May 2025, introduced as the brand's very first all-electric estate but also available in full-Hybrid form. Let's take a closer look.

Engines and Tech Specword count: 411

The engineering here of course is the same as with the CLA four-door coupe and there are plenty of headlines. This EV version of this model is offered with a choice of three powertrains. The base CLA 200 electric has a 221hp front motor energised by a 58kWh battery which offers up to 321 miles of range (about 10 miles less than the coupe version). The single motor alternative is the mid-level CLA 250+ electric, which has a 268hp motor energised by a larger 85kWh battery which offers a range of up to 469 miles. Lots of clever engineering lies behind these attention-grabbing stats, the front-mounted motor working with a Porsche Taycan-like two-speed gearbox, rather than the usual single-speed EV transmission. The idea is that this provides a short first ratio for quick launches and extra efficiency at town speeds; and a much longer second ratio to improve consumption at a cruise. 0-62mph in the 250+ takes 6.7s on the way to 130mph. As you'd expect, the brand also offers a twin motor EV model, the CLA 350 4MATIC electric. This gets an extra 107bhp motor with a single-speed gearbox on its front axle, giving a combined output of 349hp, which cuts the 0-62mph sprint time to just 4.9s. It also uses the larger 85kWh battery and range remains impressive at up to 451 miles. If you're not quite ready for the EV switch, then you can talk to your dealer about the alternative of the brand's new self charging full-Hybrid engine in this car, which is mated to an equally new 8-speed eDCT auto gearbox. Mercedes makes no apology for the fact that the Hybrid CLA had to fit very much into the design parameters of the EV; the petrol version's 1.5-litre engine was specifically created to fit into the same front-end space as the EV's front motor. This four cylinder unit seems uncompromised as a result though, assisted by a little 1.3kWh battery energised by a 27bhp electric motor. These work together to send either 134bhp or 161bhp through the front wheels or, in the top 4MATIC version, 188bhp to all four wheels. Diesel-like economy is promised. For the future, there may be an entry-level 58kWh CLA EV with a lower price but less advanced LFP lithium-ion-phosphate cells and a shorter range (expect about 300 miles). And you can also expect a flagship Mercedes-AMG CLA 45 4MATIC+ EV with a pair of Yasa-developed axial flux motors developing over 500bhp.

To see the full road test text contact us on 0330 0020 227