2014 CLA AMG Sport Buying Advice

[Stirton]

Thanks for all the replies and info guys, the wife has put her foot down saying 110k miles is too much of a risk so no CLA for me, it's a nice looking car as well. Looking at E Class and C Class ones now, there's plenty of them going about for around the 10k mark. Anything i need to look out for with these cars? Any known issues that i need to ask seller about? Also, has anyone ever used AA or RAC car inspection service? With covid and not being able to test drive as normal I thought this might be a decent option especially if i buy from private seller.

 

[MBDevotee]

They are pretty good in general.

Remember you’ve paid money so they always feel they need to find something - we had one where they recommended the front discs were changed as they were “excessively worn” even though they had 80% of their life left.... but overall I think with a private sale they can make a lot of sense and could stop you buying a total lemon.

 

[MBDevotee]

Thanks for all the replies and info guys, the wife has put her foot down saying 110k miles is too much of a risk so no CLA for me, it's a nice looking car as well. Looking at E Class and C Class ones now, there's plenty of them going about for around the 10k mark. Anything i need to look out for with these cars? Any known issues that i need to ask seller about? Also, has anyone ever used AA or RAC car inspection service? With covid and not being able to test drive as normal I thought this might be a decent option especially if i buy from private seller.

110k miles is too high on the cla - see too much Renault in them - however not so bad aon an E class for example.

Did you look at that lovely c-class I found with only 34k?

 

[Stirton]

110k miles is too high on the cla - see too much Renault in them - however not so bad aon an E class for example.

Did you look at that lovely c-class I found with only 34k?

I had a look yea, lovely motor but there's no way I would buy a car from Ebay, when i sold my car recently via Autotrader some twat had ripped all my photos and info off autotrader and was fraudulently trying to sell it on Ebay for 3k less, they had other cars listed as well. When i reported to Ebay they said that it was a fake account that had been opened but it looked real and even had over 100 5* reviews so Ebay is too risky for me.

 

[tanbir17]

I wonder what would have happened if you requested a test drive and you went over driving your current car?

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[Stirton]

I wonder what would have happened if you requested a test drive and you went over driving your current car?

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I did think about trying to wind up the seller pretending to want to buy my own car but i decided it was probably best not to give out any more details than they already had like my ebay account or email etc. so i just reported it.

 

[MBDevotee]

Yep, there are those issues - but you get issues everywhere. eBay isn't the problem, fraudsters are.

You can spot them a mile off though, just look for "sellers other items" then if there are 20 cars, of wildly different types, all a bit too cheap, you know.... whereas get a mobile and landlines number, do an HPI check, check auto trader to see if the same photos are there on another car etc etc. If the seller won't talk to you, wants emails off eBay, money in advance etc etc then walk away....

 

[MBDevotee]

And as said above, a simple "when can I come and view / test drive it will sort out the fraudsters

 

[Srdl]

see too much Renault in them

?

 

[MBDevotee]

When designing the new (current type shape not old upright shape) A class (on which the cla is based) Mercedes couldn't justify the expense of a new platform given the price point for the base model. They borrowed the platform from the then current Megane and fitted engines co designed by them, Nissan and Renault. Now in the old days, an engine co-designed by Merc and Nissan may have been considered a good thing, but because this engine would also have to power the Renault, it had to be made down to a price, as did the whole platform. So instead of engineering to a certain standard and charging a premium, the car was designed to be as cheap to make as possible and then Merc took that base and tried to "premium" it - better quality dampers, bit more soundproofing and so on.

I forget the split, but Merc, Renault and Nissan all own a bit of each other - big economies of scale, but on the lower priced cars serious compromises on quality to allow Renault to hit a price point.

Move up to the C class and above and its a stand-alone platform as Nissan and Renault dont make cars in that class (although Infinity do and I think they share the Merc platform) but thats fine because they are "premium" too....

Platform sharing isn't problem, but you have to look at what is shared with what.

Many dont realise if you buy a Skoda Superb, you are getting a Bentley / Porsche / Audio A8 platform hence why the car is so damn good - its benefitting from something designed for vastly more expensive cars.

 

[MBDevotee]

So a cla which starts about £30k is very similar to a Megane at £21k, however obviously many of the bits you see and touch are different.

Go and drive a CLA and then a C-Class though and the "feel" is so utterly and overwhelmingly different you can tell they are completely different platforms.

I like Mercs, but don't think I will ever see the A, CLA and GLA as "proper" Mercedes cars.

 

[Ron240]

I have a 2020 CLA 250 and am surprised to learn that the platform is the same as a Renault Megane.
I do know that some of the smaller engines in the range were developed by Renault, but it was my understanding that my engine is Mercedes.

 

[Ron240]

Go and drive a CLA and then a C-Class though and the "feel" is so utterly and overwhelmingly different you can tell they are completely different platforms.

I had a loan car for a week last year which was a 2020 C300d cabriolet (posted a thread on here about it), and honestly my CLA felt better to drive, was better equipped and was more refined.
Dont get me wrong the C300 was a great car, but it was not one I would have bought. It also did not look as nice as my car, IMO of course.

 

[Gazwould]

I'm very sorry Ron but I'm going to have to send you some Reno badges in the post .

 

[Ron240]

I'm very sorry Ron but I'm going to have to send you some Reno badges in the post .

The jury is still out on that one...I havent been able to find any evidence to support it.

 

[MBDevotee]

A diesel convertible won't be as refined as an enclosed car, it also won't be as torsionally rigid.

As to better to drive, a rigid roof car will be - but also, if you aren't used to rear wheel drive it does take adjusting to - they are so much more "alive" than a front driver as the weight is more even.... until my first Merc my last red car was a mk1 escort. Yes’m it took some adjusting to x I even thought it might be a bit “tail happy” given how much more direct the front end was to steering input, but then I realised that actually the problem was that front wheel drive cars are so corrupted by the power going through the steering wheels. Once you adapt you realise how much more pure the response to your input is, how much more delicate the balance, and just how much nicer to drive. If you’ve had 20 years of fwd of course it will take a while to adapt x just like if all you’ve ever had is cheap sweet fizzy wine, champagne is an acquired taste - but so much more delicate.

 

[JBell]

Many dont realise if you buy a Skoda Superb, you are getting a Bentley / Porsche / Audio A8 platform hence why the car is so damn good - its benefitting from something designed for vastly more expensive cars.

The Superb is on the MQB Platform same as the Passat, Arteon etc. The A6 is on the MLB along with the Urus, Touareg, Cayenne and Bentayga etc.

The original Continental was on the VW Phaeton Chassis

 

[MBDevotee]

I thought the new one was MLB - my error

 

[Ron240]

When designing the new (current type shape not old upright shape) A class (on which the cla is based) Mercedes couldn't justify the expense of a new platform given the price point for the base model. They borrowed the platform from the then current Megane and fitted engines co designed by them, Nissan and Renault.

I just want to be clear on how much of my car is shared or co developed by Renault. It was you that brought it up so I am asking you.
My CLA was first released for sale in the UK in 2019 and has the 250 engine.
Is the chassis also used on the current Renault Megane, and is my engine exclusively Mercedes?
The latter I believe it is but the former I do not know.
It has already been stated that chassis sharing is quite common among manufacturers.
This is my car.

 

[MBDevotee]

My understanding is the platform is co-developed with Nissan and Renault. That in itself isn't a bad thing - however because it had to be suitable for the Megane at a lower price point than the Merc, it is slightly compromised.

The engine in the 250 as far as I can tell is a Merc unit, the 160, 180 and 200 version had the Merc / Nissan / Renault engine