They teased that Mercedes would unveil a new car last night, in the 4th quarter of the SB. I must have been on a food run, because I never saw the ad. Did anyone see it?

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

The CLA has been seen for a few months now. FWD (AWD future, AMG version with rear biased AWD) is part of Mercedes "universal" chassis design. Target customer demographic . . . younger folks that may be considering a 1-Series or similar.

I saw it. Coming in the fall. CLA300?? Good looking car. I don't know how it'll stand up to running with an open wheel (INDY? ) on the oval tho, as was shown in the ad.

Pleased to meet you....
Watch it here.

2014 CLA - A Future Vehicle from Mercedes-Benz

Starting at $29,900.

I was really excited for this car. The CLA I thought was going to be a new kind of 190E series. Small, sporty with a 4 cylinder engine. Possibly a manual transmission (but i doubt it)

Then they went and made it front wheel drive. Why did they have to do that

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Current
2006 E320 CDI, 57K bought at 67K "Liesl"
1986 190E 2.3-16, 198K bought at 56K "Brigitta"
1987 300TD (Chuggin Along), 292K "Friedrich"
1995 E320 Wagon, 200K "Louisa"

Past
1987 300SDL, (sold) 125K, bought for 1$ "Kurt"

Manual trans in Europe, of course, not for US consumption. It does make economic sense with only about 7% of all new cars sold in the US being manual, that not having to stock parts and service manual gear boxes is the way to go.

FWD . . . Mercedes knows how to do it in the A & B for years now.

The A and B class are a completely different animal that the CLA. The A and B are small compact cars and there would not benefit from Rear wheel drive, the CLA is good, but it could have been so much better with rear wheel.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 2

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Current
2006 E320 CDI, 57K bought at 67K "Liesl"
1986 190E 2.3-16, 198K bought at 56K "Brigitta"
1987 300TD (Chuggin Along), 292K "Friedrich"
1995 E320 Wagon, 200K "Louisa"

Past
1987 300SDL, (sold) 125K, bought for 1$ "Kurt"

I am going to reserve judgement until I see one in person and drive it before I condemn it.

The CLA sits on the same platform as the A and B.


I think Mercedes wanted to get into a lower price point market here in the US. We don't buy cars that look like the A and the B class here in the US, the CLA was a "sexy" way to get a simpler, cheaper, platform into the garages of US buyers.

Its marketing, it not about "the way the car feels"

I agree RWD is best, almost everything I own is rear wheel drive, but Mercedes isn't stupid, they are selling the car to people who are about a big star on the front of the car, not car enthusiasts. We can buy the C-Class if we want an entry level, true Mercedes-Benz. But if its as good looking as it looks, and they do bring over a small 4cyl diesel version, and it drives okay... I could be swayed.

HOWEVER, I think the CLA is going to be bought heavily by Ed Hardy/Affliction wearing 30 something douchebags who can't afford a CLS. But they will go to the club and tell stupid girls they just "'copped that new 5-hunned CLS Benz," as they try to talk someone else in their group into paying for bottle service.

A preemptive apology to any Ed Hardy wearing douchebags on this forum.

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68 280SL - 70 280SL - 70 300SEL 3.5 - 72 350SL - 72 280SEL 4.5 - 72 220 - 72 220D - 73 450SL - 84 230GE - 87 200TD - 90 190E 2.0 - 03 G500

Nissan GTR - Nissan Skyline GTS25T - Toyota GTFour - Rover Mini - Toyota Land Cruiser HJ60 - Cadillac Eldorado - BMW E30 - BMW 135i

If that's the demographic that buys the VW Passat, Audi A3 or the Acura TSX, then it could work.

With DeFoe (NOT DeNiro!) playing the contract-writing/soul-stealing Mephistopheles, he's at a diner w/a future-soul-loser...enticing the 20-30ish gent with what he would be able to "enjoy" if he has the CLA.

Then the kicker...a pair of paper-hangers on a billboard finish up the LL-corner of the billboard with the final paper that announces the "Starting at $29,900" sticker price and the kid looks at DeFor (NOT DeNiro!) like "Take that pen and shove it..."

DeFoE (NOT DeNiro!) does the "substance-to-black dust" *POOF!* and the end-tail moral is that you can live like hell without your pocket book beating you to it.

Cute spot, but in 5 years, there will be a few thousand SLAs dotting the landscape with trashed trannies, torn-up upholstery and dented fenders with knocked-out grills plus plenty of "Matchbox'd" rides with "22s" and/or "slammed" rides littering the highways and byways of the great inner-cities of this country.

And someone will paint one either lime-green or mauve.

Let the puking begin...

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M. G. Burg
'10 - Dakota SXT - Daily Ride / ≈ 172.5K
.'76 - 450SLC - 107.024.12 / < .89.20 K
..'77 - 280E - 123.033.12 / > 128.20 K
...'67 - El Camino - 283ci / > 207.00 K
....'75 - Yamaha - 650XS / < 21.00 K
.....'87 - G20 Sportvan / > 206.00 K
......'85 - 4WINNS 160 I.O. / 140hp
.......'74 - Honda CT70 / Real 125
.
“I didn’t really say everything I said.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ Yogi Berra ~

Way overstyled, not a fan. Id get an a3, and more likely a 1 series before that (I am considering one actually). Maybe it'll
Be better in person...hate the c class coupe though.

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TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

DeNiro? Wasn't that Dafoe?

I'm sorry, you're absolutely right...I saw the Letterman show the other night and DeNiro was in All-Black for that show.

My bad....

I'll edit for clarity's sake. Thanks for pointing that out! (OUCH!!)

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M. G. Burg
'10 - Dakota SXT - Daily Ride / ≈ 172.5K
.'76 - 450SLC - 107.024.12 / < .89.20 K
..'77 - 280E - 123.033.12 / > 128.20 K
...'67 - El Camino - 283ci / > 207.00 K
....'75 - Yamaha - 650XS / < 21.00 K
.....'87 - G20 Sportvan / > 206.00 K
......'85 - 4WINNS 160 I.O. / 140hp
.......'74 - Honda CT70 / Real 125
.
“I didn’t really say everything I said.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ Yogi Berra ~

This is exactly the gripe that I had when I reviewed that Superbowl commercial last week. It isn't a car commercial, it's an image commercial and the CLA is an image car. Hopefully it won't dethrone the mighty 3-Series though

$30,000 Millionaires: Douchebags in the Mist - Page 1 - News - Dallas - Dallas Observer

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1982 300GD Carmine Red (DB3535) Cabriolet Parting Out
1990 300SEL Smoke Silver (Parting out)
1991 350SDL Blackberry Metallic (481)

"The thing is Bob, its not that I'm lazy...its that I just don't care."