If you only read this one sentence– there are only two major CLA250 options you need to check to make your new Merc (said as: ‘Merk’) the coolest kid on the block:

— Sport pack: $2,200 – New sills, front and rear bumpers, and overall styling enhancement versus the standard car

— Bi-xenon + LED pack: $850 – Halogen headlights? No thanks! These also bring cool LED accents front and back.

 

 

The CLA250 is fresh off the boats this year, and looks amazing in the flesh. It really does. With a $29,900 price attached for the base models, this little slugger puts the Ford Fusion – whose max price is $39,000 – and all others on notice.

Are they giving it away? Not exactly – it is still extremely easy to spend $5,000 on audio and media options – which will still leave you without a factory nav system.

Despite being the first transverse-engine sedan from Mercedes-Benz to reach the United States in … ever… there is nothing about the design or proportions of the CLA that immediately betray that this is a front-drive or 4Matic AWD design on the roads.

• CAVEAT: There are some instances where you might will almost definitely say to yourself: that is the $48,000 CLA45 AMG!? Not the CLA250!?

• We assure you – aside from the comparison image below and directly above, there are no other CLA45 images in this article. Sport pack CLA250 is close to a dead ringer for the CLA45 AMG.

• 

In isolation (to discount for a slightly shorter length than the big Benzes), the CLA250 looks extremely futuristic and modern – in a way that even the latest E-Class and its hot-to-trot new face cannot really match.

There is much more of a flowing ethos to the pinched roofline and extremely narrow glasshouse.

The glasshouse is pinched in all directions: not just with a lower roof, but also a dramatic inward tilt of all the side glass from the doortop upward.

It is pretty convincing and handsome, it not exactly as Coupe-like as Mercedes would like us to think.

If anything, it looks far slinkier and better than most Mercedes-Benz two-doors to date, which still include the very bizarre reheated leftovers in the E-Class and C-Class Coupes – both of which now seem well beyond their freshness dates versus this hot little CLA250.

So it is a Coupe and a Sedan, even by the official MBusa.com categories.

Works for me!

See if the CLA250 Sport works for you via a visit to their website to build your own.

 

 2015 Mercedes-Benz CLA250 Colors

EXTERIOR COLORS

INTERIOR – MB-Tex or Leather?

Here is the thing: the leather is really, really expensive. MB-Tex is pretty good these days. It is a little like the latest workout clothes (or yoga pants!) – durable, breath-able and very very comfortable. It is not see-through, unfortunately for guys who like that trait of some Lululemon pants….)

I would go with MB-Tex and the aluminum trim, which actually looks darker and more interesting than the ‘Anthracite’ trim. Could be a visual thing on the configurator, also.

But I would definitely avoid the brown wood if you are under 65 years old.

So what was that media and stereo concern above? The middle option below called “Multimedia” pack requires the premium pack. Not terrific value.

 

INTERIOR OPTIONS AND TRIMS

INTERIOR TRIMS