As cars get more expensive, what are the people who buy Gucci flip-flops going to drive? For the past decade, luxury automakers indulged in a move downmarket, spawning new entry level models that leased inexpensively enough for the aspirational first-real-job set. While some companies are walking this move back, others are re-upping in a world where the first hit is leased for 36 months. This is the new Mercedes-Benz GLA, and if the billboard-sized faux grille was any indication, it’s running electric-first towards the first-designer-item set with flashy ambient lighting and screens. However, the inevitable advertised lease specials won’t include the full complement of screens, instead filling a gap with something particularly sad.
Before we get into that, let’s talk about what makes this thing go. At launch, the range will start with the GLA 250+ Electric, with an 85 kWh nickel-manganese-cobalt battery pack, a single electric motor and 268 horsepower. While an EPA range figure isn’t available yet, Mercedes-Benz claims up to 408 miles on the WLTP cycle. That’s 10 miles more than the base Porsche Macan Electric, which is rated for up to 332 miles of EPA range. If 268 horsepower isn’t enough poke for you, there’s also the GLA 350 4MATIC which gains a second electric motor for all-wheel-drive, a combined output of 349 horsepower, and a claimed zero-to-60 mph time of 5.3 seconds. Both electric models can DC fast charge at up to 320 kW thanks to an 800-volt architecture, provided the right 350 kW DC fast charger is used.
However, if you can’t charge up at home, don’t tune out just yet. Like with the CLA, the new GLA will also be available with a rather unique four-cylinder hybrid powertrain. While a turbocharged 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine with a 1.3 kWh 48-volt system doesn’t sound like anything special, Mercedes-Benz claims that the relatively low-voltage hybrid system can drive the wheels alone at lower speeds through a 30-horsepower motor in the eight-speed dual-clutch transaxle.
So far, the new GLA sounds like a taller hatchback version of the CLA, and that’s the point. The old GLA used the same MFA2 platform, powertrains, and major interior components as the old CLA, so why mess with the recipe? This is Mercedes-Benz’s entry-level crossover after all, so taking advantage of economies of scale should keep it reasonably cheap.
Mind you, the carryover means that you also get the new CLA’s interior, and that’s not so good. Mercedes-Benz hopes you like screens, because there are up to three of them across the face of the dashboard. One for the gauges, one for the infotainment with climate and heated seat controls annoyingly placed on the touchscreen, and an optional one for the passenger in case they get bored of scrolling TikTok. You can spec more ambient lighting than a Twitch streamer’s bedroom, but that only distracts so much from the slightly confusing control layout. Mercedes-Benz has gone with Volkswagen ID.4-style window switches on the new GLA, with two switches and a touch pad operating four windows. The power seat controls are touch-sensitive too, as are most of the steering wheel controls, as is a small haptic bank in the console for volume control, bringing up the parking cameras, changing drive modes and whatnot. I’ve poked around the same setup in the new CLA and it’s all rather annoying. Would you want to pay Mercedes-Benz money to be mildly annoyed?
Without the passenger screen, the new GLA comes with a giant slab of monogrammed plastic that looks unbelievably tacky. It combines the shininess of a $70 off-brand phone with a litany of tiny three-pointed stars advertising the marque on a car you already paid for. It effectively amounts to an enormous bezel that spill all the way across to the far side of the dashboard, utterly devoid of usefulness and likely costing virtually nothing to make. This is one of the few cases where a passenger screen is actually useful because the absence of one is somehow less appealing. How bravely insidious.
On the plus side, the new GLA’s styling should be a little less controversial than that of the CLA. Instead of a trout mouth, it adopts the shield-style illuminated faux-grille seen on the new electric C-Class and GLC. Combined with the three-pointed star elements in the headlights that are completely unnecessary because there’s a giant Mercedes-Benz emblem in between them, the nose of this small crossover is very Louis Vuitton-ified. Not great, but if you cover up the front fascia and view the GLA from the front-three-quarters, it’s actually quite handsome. Strong longitudinal lines make the GLA look less stubby, and the chunky arches give a visual nod to the larger GLE and GLS.
Keep walking around the GLA, and things get weird again out back, specifically with the taillights. The three-pointed star motif returns, the LED lighting doesn’t run all the way across the heckblende, and the result just looks amateurish. It’s a shame because the rear valence is textbook modern Mercedes, and the smooth liftgate with the number plate recess set in the bumper looks expensive. Perhaps Mercedes-Benz’s baby crossover is just one facelift away from becoming a swan.
Still, you can expect the new GLA to be reasonably priced. Mercedes-Benz hasn’t released official figures, but all the information needed for reasonable speculation is already out. The outgoing GLA is priced within $1,250 of the combustion-powered CLA, and the new electric CLA starts at $49,400 in America. If Mercedes-Benz follows tradition, don’t be surprised if the new GLA starts around $50,000 in electric trim. That would be cheap enough for these to pop up at every dental office in America following its introduction in the second half of next year.
Top graphic image: Mercedes-Benz
I can’t believe I technically named myself after this company…
(Yes, I know I named myself after a person, but I wasn’t thinking of that when I chose the name.)
Still better than Dongfeng or Peugeot.
In your defense, they were probably still a decent company when you changed your name. I was a big fan leading up to and through the W123/124 years. But that three-pointed star has lost its luster ever since.
Over the years, I’ve nicknamed a few of my favorite cars after characters, real or imagined that worked with the cars’ names. Winnie the Peugeot. Genevieve Peugeot, Greta the Jetta, Henry and Jane (F)Honda. I couldn’t come up with one that felt clever for my Saab. Sister? That might have worked. But that car is long gone.
Why couldn’t they stick a big panel of wood veneer in the space, maybe with some chrome edging? Did they forget how to do that somehow?
Hopefully that’s an option instead of the black bezel. It seems the EQE had available wood veneer if you didn’t get the giant screen.
Yea but most I see have a giant diamond printed slab of grey plastic. For a 30k used car, not bad but I feel for anbyone who paid like 80k for them new. EQS is the same.
The center console looks even cheaper than the screen blanking plate. “Here’s a piece of plastic with two holes for cups, I guess. IDK, get fucked.”
Good catch! That looks pretty uninspired, and if GM did that we would likely give them crap. This is a 50k car lol.
The
CheapMercedes GLA Looks Terrible.Without All The ScreensThere, I fixed the statementIt’s not my cup of tea, but it’s better than the offensive drek that gm, Subaru, and BMW are [up]chucking of late. That’s not saying a lot, of course.
Surprised they’ve held off on covering the entire exterior in little 3 pointed star logos
Let’s not give them ideas…
Or they could cover the hood in one giant, screaming on fire three pointed star.
I mean, that might be an improvement. At least it would be something interesting to look at other than all the screens.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. There is nothing “luxury” about screens in cars nowadays. Now you can get digital instrumentation and infotainment in even the cheapest cars in the US, screens have become the cheap, lazy way of doing things. Why bother designing a dashboard when you can just cover the whole thing in screens? I’m not entirely opposed to screens, I even installed an Android Auto enabled head unit in my car a couple years back. They have their uses. But covering the whole dashboard in them and calling it a “luxury” is ridiculous.
I’ll get off my soap box now.
“Now you can get digital instrumentation and infotainment in even the cheapest cars in the US, screens have become the cheap, lazy way of doing things.”
As an expert in the cheap, lazy way of doing things I think using screens is more work than using physical controls.
I meant more from the automakers’ perspective, in terms of having one screen vs. various buttons, knobs, and dials to design and manufacture. Screens are absolutely more work for the driver.
I’m just imagining them pushing this to the max –
Screens as headrests!
Screens as armrests!
Screens as door panels!
Screens as seat cushions!
Luxury!!!
I loved the GLA back when it was twins-ies with the Infinity QX30. That was a killer round about car that a bit of go go, great looks, and could easily get you from wholefoods to the campsite with room for beers and the grill.
This, this is….
Other than the AMG version I don’t really see the appeal. I can barely get inside either front seat, and I’m not especially tall or bulky – it seems made for petite persons about 5’3″ or less, which is probably also the target demographic, frankly.
The GLB seems a much better package on the same platform, but the powertrain is still problematic.
This reminds me very much of how some Chevys, Jeeps, and Fords were about a decade ago. On the lower trim levels they came with a screen. But it was a tiny 3 or 4 inch screen surrounded by a giant bezel the size of the big screen on the higher trims. A constant reminder to you and everyone who rides with you of the consequences of your frugality.
Mazda did this too, we were shopping CX5s for my wife a few years back and the besides a slightly better hidden version of the same stupid screen trick the base trim car just felt de-contented rather than being a pleasantly simpler interior.
To be honest, it looks pretty terrible even with all the screens.
Just another boring-looking SUV.
I dislike the cla/gla so much, especially because their owners are typically the ones who truly can’t afford a luxury car, but buy it for the badge (which the brand wants, to a point), and get upset when the car takes a fair amount of money to keep on (or return to) the road. This is even more true for secondhand owners.
Yet as much as I dislike the cla/gla, I find the GLB platform mate very appealing (probably because it’s more boxy and a good size). Not so appealing that I’d get one (I shudder at the thought) but it is a bit of an enigma how changing the “wrapper” really does improve the product appeal. It’s a good thing there isn’t a GLB AMG, balecause that might sway my opinion in its favor
I had the same thought re: GLB appeal, until I took one for a test-drive. If you wanted the interior quality of a Toyota Yaris with the road manners of an International Harvester, it’s a dream. For everyone else it’s a huge disappointment.
Yeah, the economy car roots of the cla/gla shine through. Same reason (interior quality) that I soured on the B-class Electric when it was more available.
Should say “GLB 45 AMG” ^ in the vein of the gla 45 AMG.
Mercedes, once classy now trashy (The car, not The Autopian’s wordsmith for Planes, trains, and automobiles)
I honestly cannot say it looks worse with the panel instead of the screen.
I actually think the panel looks better than the screen. Admittedly it’s a low bar.
I think we should we start taking bets on whether or not the front emblem has a larger diameter than the brake discs.
Just make the grille a giant emblem. How else will folks know you are driving one of the cheapest offerings the brand hawks?
They didn’t go far enough. Why not a Colani-style windshield wiper with a massive logo motif (obviously LED-edge lit as well)? The steering wheel is just BEGGING to be a giant chrome (obviously just mylar-wrapped plastic) 3-pointed star. No tri-spoke wheels (ok this would actually be awesome)?
Circular interior vents without a 3 pointed star?
Step up your game Mercedes, there’s a lot more everyone could hate about this.
what if the windshield wipers ARE a giant 3-pointed star permanently displayed on the front and rear windshield, and when activated it lights up and rotates back and forth to really make sure people take notice.
“Without the passenger screen, the new GLA comes with a giant slab of monogrammed plastic that looks unbelievably tacky”
It’s unbelievably tacky with the screen as well. The underlying problem is that Mercedes created an inherently tacky car. The screen is a rounding error.
Bruno Sacco is rolling in his grave. Rolling so fast we could hook that up to a generator and power all of NYC. What a chintzy piece of garbage, I really hope that 12% growth in the Chinese market is worth alienating the lifelong customers to Mercedes, because this is awful.
Does not look that bad, neither good, just generic.
The only luxury automaker not making generic looking cars is BMW. They are just plain ugly.
And if there were the poverty buttons, now we have the slab of shame, to make it really clear that you got a Merc, but you do not have the money to spec the extra screen.
I don’t even like it as a full screen. It’s a distracting and lazy design choice. In a Merc it comes off as cheap regardless of screen count. On higher level models the effect becomes overwhelming. I’ve seen pachinko parlors in Japan that are more subtle than a current MB interior
You’ve just reminded me I need to find a power cord/adapter for the pachinko machine built into the wall of our house. It would be so cool if it still worked.
Oh hell yeah!
A giant slab of plastic that leans towards the occupants is inherently claustrophobic design, screen or no screen.
Other than the G wagen, MB makes some of the ugliest cars these days. Why does everything they make have to look like a warmed over jelly bean?
“Without the passenger screen, the new GLA comes with a giant slab of monogrammed plastic that looks unbelievably tacky.”
Yeah, because it all looks sooooo classy otherwise /s
Yeah, it’s tacky, but that just seems to be Mercedes at this point. It’s less tacky than “nothin’ but screen.”
If you can afford one, you can probably afford to have a custom shop wrap it in some other color that doesn’t look like the back of Antonelli’s car.
plot twist: the passenger screen is still there, it’s just a screensaver that ever so slightly moves so you keep looking at it and wondering if the image moved.
My phone’s charging screen will do that, move the little charging status thing around, I presume to avoid burn-in.
A subscription to unlock the screen would be diabolical. Who will do it first, merc or BMW?
Someday soon, there will be a subscription to enable the screen, and a subscription to disable the screen. Pick your poison.
It would look better if they just put more three-pointed stars on it. Preferably ones that light up different colors like a gaming computer.
I like it better with the smaller screen.
But I could get a GR Corolla, and have money leftover for a base Corolla LE, for the price you’re projecting.
Not my favorite panel (Would it kill ya Mercedes to put in textured plastic again?) But still better than a damp screen.
I don’t like screens. But I REALLY don’t like damp screens.
Lol! Gotta love auto fill