GLA200cdi review

John Laidlaw

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Those of you who have in any way followed my posts will know that my usual transport- a W212 E300 Bluetec Hybrid AMG Sports saloon - has been long term poorly (now into the 6th week) and apart from a mind numbingly boring week with a B180 I have been driving a GLA200cdi sports for the best part of 5 weeks.
This gave me a chance to appraise what has been a surprisingly able and interesting vehicle.
as mentioned it's a GLA200cdi sports. Not overly equipped to be honest, I guess that's typical of any car hire firm. 15 plate with c6k on the clock when delivered to me, I've covered c1200 miles since delivery
First impressions
Looks relatively small , I guess it is really as it's on the A class frame, but to be fair it does look way bigger than the normal A class saloon - somewhere I would say between an X1 and X3 in size. Looks quite muscular with good design details
In sports trim it's relatively well equipped with EW all round , elec. mirrors, drivers elec. adjustable seat, reverse camera (very good but takes some getting used to and I think would be much better when combined with sensors), Artico seats (not the suede type, the full Artico hit), Alloys, 7g gearbox/flappy paddles, Collision avoidance system (on this car inop though), tyre pressure monitoring system, ECO system, Auto stop/start, Hold assist, good electronic handbrake. Excellent tailgate electric opening system. Decent screen (the stick on ipad type which actually I used to hate and now quite like!). Alloys of course (18in)
Missing? No lumbar support , no heated seats, no navigation module installed , no Comand online, no parktronic or sensors, no passenger seat electrics.
Driving
Just returned from a week long holiday to Southerness (near Dumfries) , wife, myself and our 3 kids (6 year old and twin 4 year olds)....this was a caravan holiday so we needed a fair amount of gear, including 3 x scooters and OK I took out the parcel shelf but the car just swallowed the lot! really impressed
Travelling on A and B class roads as well as motorway, dual carriageways gave me a chance to test it out over various surfaces and I must say very nice to drive, soaking up all the bumps and uneven surfaces with ease.
This model has the 2143cc diesel 4 pot (same as mine but without the hybrid drive) which sounds a bit throaty when pushed, on this GLA that seems to suit the character of the car, plenty get up and go for fairly heavy car. The gearbox is silky smooth (although the same as mine, MUCH smoother making me wonder if my E has had a fault from day one!). Brakes are confidence giving/no issues.
Economy has averaged c52mpg on the trip, with varying speeds (up to 80 on m'way)
Extremely comfortable on this long trip, even the 3 x kids accross the back seat on boosters had relativey few complaints (just 'are we there yet' of course)
Faults
on this car the collision avoidance system was inop and the radio reception poor/apart from that just missing some items probably as it's a hire car (no first aid kit and no tyre inflation compressor), presumably nicked!
Conclusion
I thought this was a really well sorted car/got used to the FWD quite quickly, spacious and very practical.
the wife wants one!
I would/will go for the 250 petrol 4 matic AMG sports trim, with all bells and whistles, totally ideal to replace the Ford Galaxy we have now (7 seats not really needed now)
 

Lister1512

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Thanks for that - interesting read, especially as you obviously covered some miles with a full boot and 3 kids etc. I nearly got one of these so am pretty much up on the spec. I'd say your right to go for the 250, as the 200 diesel I tried, the auto seamed to have a huge delay when pulling off, especially out of the roundabout.

If you do get one, and if you haven't seen one already, check out the AMG line with the additional 'Night Pack' (£450 as an extra). I feel it is well worth it and for me transforms and complements the car. I seen a red one of these at the local dealer and it looked really nice.

Darren
 
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John Laidlaw

John Laidlaw

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Thanks for that - interesting read, especially as you obviously covered some miles with a full boot and 3 kids etc. I nearly got one of these so am pretty much up on the spec. I'd say your right to go for the 250, as the 200 diesel I tried, the auto seamed to have a huge delay when pulling off, especially out of the roundabout.

If you do get one, and if you haven't seen one already, check out the AMG line with the additional 'Night Pack' (£450 as an extra). I feel it is well worth it and for me transforms and complements the car. I seen a red one of these at the local dealer and it looked really nice.

Darren

Cheers Darren- that sounds like a good spec.....I will be checking it out....I am also considering just getting the GLA45 AMG and just telling the wife it's just the same as we've been driving this week :)
 

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GLA 45's do look quite nice. Was noseying it one in Teesside when I collected the car after the EIS failure. But I got drawn to the S65 and left a puddle of drool next to it. ;)
 

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Cheers Darren- that sounds like a good spec.....I will be checking it out....I am also considering just getting the GLA45 AMG and just telling the wife it's just the same as we've been driving this week :)

Here's the AMG line with the added 'Night Pack' option John...it replaces the grey trim with black and looks tremendous in person.




What do you think? Well worth it for the £450 I think

Of course if you go the whole hogg and get the GLA45 (which has some amazing reviews on You Tube) then the spec is similar as standard with the fastest 2L production engine in the world. :)
 
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John Laidlaw

John Laidlaw

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I do like that Darren- I have been looking and 895 gets you the night pack and 19in alloys, quite reasonable.
Carl, drool is right for the S65, I have a customer down in Hampshire has one, I always arrive to his place 30 minutes before I'm supposed to, think he's getting annoyed now detaching me from the windows :)
 

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I do like that Darren- I have been looking and 895 gets you the night pack and 19in alloys, quite reasonable.
Carl, drool is right for the S65, I have a customer down in Hampshire has one, I always arrive to his place 30 minutes before I'm supposed to, think he's getting annoyed now detaching me from the windows :)

Yes the added 19" black polished wheels. Adds a masculine agression to the car. A car travels a similar commute to work that has those wheels and look nice. The GLA in particular has some amazing lease deals.

Yes I was looking at a S65 today at the dealer. The front in particular looks just plain awesome.
 
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C350Carl

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Carl, drool is right for the S65, I have a customer down in Hampshire has one, I always arrive to his place 30 minutes before I'm supposed to, think he's getting annoyed now detaching me from the windows :)


Probably more having to clean what you had for breakfast/lunch off them once he's prised your tongue off the window. ;)
 

C350Carl

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This was an E63 I was also looking at when I got distracted

652572469889b2bfc1bf1ca82ad162b6.jpg


By the S65

f5211380953c223b3bdc7a149932b2da.jpg
 
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John Laidlaw

John Laidlaw

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to be fair, I wouldn't turn either down!!
 

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That front end looks totally different to the S65 I seen today...do they do different styles then Carl?

Darren
 

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Whilst poor radio reception is a fault, I wonder if (being a hire car) the collision avoidance has been turned off.

I wonder if, theoretically, if the hirer had an accident whilst on hire, he could try and get out of it saying the collision avoidance system should have prevented it and that they weren't liable.

Missing kit - I imagine it's been removed to PREVENT it being stolen!
 

C350Carl

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No idea Darren. It was in Synter MB Teesside.

If it looks different then they must do.
 
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John Laidlaw

John Laidlaw

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Whilst poor radio reception is a fault, I wonder if (being a hire car) the collision avoidance has been turned off.

I wonder if, theoretically, if the hirer had an accident whilst on hire, he could try and get out of it saying the collision avoidance system should have prevented it and that they weren't liable.

Missing kit - I imagine it's been removed to PREVENT it being stolen!

I did check out the colision prevention on the menu and it was showing as faulty
you may well be right on the missing kit though!
 

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