N rural northern Germany, a €35-million investment has transformed a arms depot into the Bilster Berg racetrack, a 19-turn, 2.5-mile playground. Four hours south in Affalterbach, Germany’s font of tire-slaying torque is facing a akin transition. At AMG’s H.Q., rear-drive brutes like the E63 AMG are being retrofitted with all-wheel drive, and the newest creation, the 2014 Mercedes-Benz CLA45 AMG, suggests a more playful, take away unpredictable forthcoming intended for Merc’s performance arm.
Putting the 911 Turbo in Its Place
At primarily glance, the CLA45 AMG’s basic attributes—huge power, a turbocharged four-cylinder, and all-wheel drive—draw parallels to the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution and Subaru WRX STI. Dressed in veracity, these cars exist in a numerous kind of parallelism: The demographics of their buyers will on no account cross. For individual, the rally crowd wouldn’t know pardon? To manufacture of an interior this fine. Other disruptive, though, the Subaru and the Mitsubishi don’t posses the civility and meekness of the Mercedes.
Don’t confuse individuals traits with triteness. At 178 horsepower for each liter, the CLA45 right knocked rotten the Porsche 911 Turbo in claiming the title of nearly all power-dense production engine in the earth. AMG’s secret sauce is a BorgWarner twin-scroll turbocharger custom-made intended for this diligence and able of producing up to 26.1 psi of boost. Thus strapped, the CLA45’s four-cylinder makes 355 horsepower on 6000 rpm and 332 lb-ft of torque on 2250 rpm. Although dimensionally identical to the CLA250’s turbo four, AMG’s M133 engine uses a stronger sand-cast—rather than die-cast—aluminum obstruct. There’s too a low-temperature cooling circuit with the purpose of feeds a water-to-air intercooler.
A butterfly valve subtly alters the exhaust log in numerous driving modes and conditions by metering the amount of air with the purpose of flows prohibited the passenger trait of the dual exhaust method. It helps emit a soundtrack that’s deeper and louder than with the purpose of of the representative four-cylinder, but the timbre isn’t particularly notable. The CLA45 does, however, emit a fulfilling bbbrrraaappp with all full-throttle upshift on redline.
Putting the 911 Turbo in Its Place
At primarily glance, the CLA45 AMG’s basic attributes—huge power, a turbocharged four-cylinder, and all-wheel drive—draw parallels to the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution and Subaru WRX STI. Dressed in veracity, these cars exist in a numerous kind of parallelism: The demographics of their buyers will on no account cross. For individual, the rally crowd wouldn’t know pardon? To manufacture of an interior this fine. Other disruptive, though, the Subaru and the Mitsubishi don’t posses the civility and meekness of the Mercedes.
A butterfly valve subtly alters the exhaust log in numerous driving modes and conditions by metering the amount of air with the purpose of flows prohibited the passenger trait of the dual exhaust method. It helps emit a soundtrack that’s deeper and louder than with the purpose of of the representative four-cylinder, but the timbre isn’t particularly notable. The CLA45 does, however, emit a fulfilling bbbrrraaappp with all full-throttle upshift on redline.
Unfortunately, individuals upshifts aren’t as quick or dictate as we expect them to be. Mercedes’ pristine seven-speed dual-clutch automatic was the source of our principal grumble with the CLA250, and it remains so intended for the CLA45. The hardware is strengthened, but the engine interface still relies on a join up of dry-clutch packs. The Volkswagen Group’s wet dual-clutch transmissions move sooner and more crisply. The launch-control line up, common as Race Start, is the CLA45’s individual pleasantly unpolished border. Peck the correctly buttons, draw the move paddles, and force the gearshift in the correct order, and the engine spins to almost 4000 rpm rather than the clutch hooks up. The all-wheel-drive method sends up to 50 percent of torque to the rear wheels via a final-drive ratio that’s been abridged from 4.13:1 in the CLA250 to a really tall 2.44:1. We predict the exactly so managed traction control will send off the CLA45 to 60 mph in 4.4 seconds.
OMG! What Did You Do with My AMG?
AMG reworked the suspension with stiffer springs, dampers, bushings, and front knuckles. There are superior anti-roll bars, a solid-mounted rear subframe, and superior vented and perforated brake discs. On the Bilster Berg racetrack, the CLA45 displayed exceptional body control, following its Dunlop Sport Maxx RT tires obediently. The steering is as helpful as everything BMW turns prohibited these days, and the suspension is compliant sufficient to be comfortable on the street, despite its restricted travel.
Yet as competent as it is, the Mercedes-Benz CLA45 AMG feels sterile at what time hustled on track or road. It lacks the punch of an Evo and the sensitivity of a BMW 1-series. Other worrying, the CLA45 doesn’t come up with the reckless characteristic of other AMG models. Mercedes has made 355 horsepower and 332 pound-feet of torque in a car roughly the size of a VW Jetta feel downright civilized. The CLA45 doesn’t need to be whichever closer, but we desire it would fire its rational, luxury-minded inhibitions in a cloud of tire smoke more often.
source: caranddriver.com
image credits: thecarconnection.com, motortrend.com
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