Mercedes-Benz CLA Electric Review & Prices

The Mercedes CLA Electric is the replacement for the CLA, which has been a staple example of a small, posh saloon car since it was launched. The all-new saloon offers a fantastic electric range, plush interior and comfortable drive, but it’s not as practical as some of its alternatives and the interior tech is a bit annoying.

You can think of the new CLA Electric as an iPad with epic battery life, where the older EQS and EQE saloons are the slightly clunky desktop computers which paved the way in every-day tech. The old CLA is practically a blackboard, by comparison.

Though Mercedes is far from the first manufacturer bringing day-to-day EV tech to the masses, following in the footsteps of the Tesla Model 3 and the BMW i4 - though neither has the legs to match the CLA’s claimed range.

Mercedes has taken the aerodynamic lessons it’s learned from the aforementioned (and odd-looking) EQ range of electric cars and revamped their looks. While you still get a slinky, efficiency-optimised silhouette, the CLA Electric is far less egg-like than its larger siblings, looking rather handsome with its rounded grille and light bars front and rear.

Mercedes-Benz CLA: electric range, battery and charging data

Range: 478-484 miles
Efficiency: 4.7-5.0 miles per kWh
Battery size: 85kWh
Max charge speed: 320kW
Charge time AC: 9hrs, 10-100%, 11kw
Charge time DC: 22mins, 10-80%, 320kw
Charge port location: Right rear
Power outputs: 272hp. 354hp

The interior is an even more radical departure from the norm, though, as Mercedes has totally ditched a typical dashboard, replacing it with a real cliff-face of a screen that stretches the full-width of the CLA’s cabin; incorporating the driver display, infotainment and a third screen for the passenger.

The move to an all-screen dashboard is divisive; there are those who aren’t keen on tech-heavy cars. While the menus are easy to navigate and the graphics are crisp, the touchscreen climate controls are a bit of a faff and the infotainment-scrolling touchpad on the steering wheel is unintuitive to use, too.

That being said, you get an AI-powered assistant built-in which can even find restaurants and answer questions for you.

There’s plenty of room up front, with lots of storage cubbies and highly adjustable, very comfortable seats. Rear seat passengers have lots of headroom and legroom, but the rear seats lack any real under-thigh support as the bench is mounted low to the floor. The 405-litre boot lags behind the Tesla Model 3 and BMW i4, too.

You can only choose the single-motor CLA 250+ at launch, with 272hp and a claimed range of up to 484 miles, making it the longest-range EV on sale. On the car’s launch we only managed 357 miles, so we’ll re-test once it arrives in the UK. The faster, dual-motor, 354hp CLA 350+ is coming later, likely with less range.

Around town the CLA Electric is a doddle to potter about in, comfortably soaking up potholes, speed bumps and doing a good job of smoothing out cobbled roads in our testing. The brakes also manage to avoid the grabby feel that plagues so many EVs, making them easy to modulate.

Motorway journeys are a breeze in the CLA Electric too, as its slippery shape keeps wind noise to a minimum while the lane-assist adaptive cruise control takes some of the effort away. We couldn’t figure out the assisted lane-changing tech, though.

On a country lane it feels surefooted and stable. It’s not sporty, but the CLA Electric does fill you with confidence.

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The CLA Electric starts at just under £46,000 for the entry-level Sport model, while the range-topping AMG Line Premium kicks off at a smidge under £52,000. That’s very well priced considering the BMW i4 range only starts at £51,000 and offers over 150 miles less range, while the Tesla Model 3 is more competitively priced, coming in at under £40,000 for the entry-level model.

Even in long range trim, neither car can match the CLA Electric for distance between charges, and while the BMW i4 has an arguably more attractive cabin, it’s not as clever or as efficient. The Tesla feels barren inside by comparison, too.

As standard you get a panoramic roof, LED lights, that enormous screen, a selfie and video camera, park assist and the illuminated grille, as well as 18-inch alloys and a suite of safety tech.

The CLA Electric is very comfortable and easy-to-drive, but it’s not particularly exciting

In town

Mercedes has nailed the CLA Electric’s manners when it comes to town driving. The light steering and solid acceleration make it easy to flick around corners and dart through traffic, while the advantage of it being light (for an EV) means that Mercedes’ engineers have been able to fit it with softer suspension than on a lot of electric cars.

That means that it’s very comfortable, soaking up bumps, broken road surfaces and potholes in its stride. The brakes have been calibrated really well, too, considering most EVs tend to feel grabby at low speed. You get none of that in the CLA Electric, and it’s easy to come to a smooth stop. It’s a doddle to park too, with a suite of cameras and assistance systems as standard.

On the motorway

Motorway miles are no problem for the slippery Mercedes, with its aero-optimised shape making for quiet motorway cruising with little wind noise. It’s effortless getting up to speed in the CLA Electric, with plenty of shove from its electric motor and a clever two-speed gearbox for maximum efficiency at high speeds.

The standard-fit lane assist takes some of the strain out of long-distance drives, but the self-lane-changing feature is a bit of a faff to engage.

On a county lane

The CLA Electric’s comfort-oriented suspension means that it doesn’t feel all that sporty on a twisty road, but it is far from out of place. It has buckets of grip, feeling settled and composed through corners while the steering isn’t so light as to feel disconnected from the wheels.

You get a rather spacious cabin in the CLA Electric, but the boot is smaller than in its alternatives

Mercedes has made the most of the CLA Electric’s cabin space, with a pair of highly-adjustable front seats that make it easy to get comfortable behind the wheel and plenty of storage cubbies for odds and ends.

You get the typical Mercedes pop-open storage between the seats, a pair of cupholders in front of that and door bins large enough to hold water bottles. There’s a storage compartment beneath the ‘floating’ centre console, too, and a good-sized glovebox.

Space in the back seats

Where the CLA Electric’s sloping roofline might have you concerned, there’s actually a lot of room in the back of the small, swoopy saloon car. The full-length glass roof means there’s plenty of headroom, as it extends back beyond the tops of your passengers’ heads, while there’s a decent amount of leg space too.

The only real downside is the low-mounted position of the rear seat bench in order to achieve all that space, because your thighs don’t really get any support as you’re so close to the floor. You get two ISOFIX mounting points in the back, too.

It’s still more spacious inside than a BMW i4, and there’s no hump in the floor in the Mercedes, but it’s not as capacious back there as in a Tesla Model 3.

Boot space

A 405-litre boot means the CLA Electric lags behind the the BMW i4 (470 litres) and the Tesla Model 3 (594 litres) for luggage space in the back, and while the boot opening is a nice, rectangular shape, there’s still a bit of a load lip to contend with. The BMW’s hatchback tailgate is far more convenient for loading in bulky items.

The Mercedes’ calling card, however, is its enormous 101-litre front boot (frunk), one of the biggest in any car on sale today. The capacity doesn’t change between the rear-wheel drive and four-wheel drive versions, either.

Lots of cutting-edge tech which ought to make your life easier, but it’s not all that convincing

The unofficial talking point of the CLA Electric isn’t its slippery shape or massive electric range, but the larger-than-life dashboard which more closely resembles Piccadilly Circus than a Mercedes.

It comes equipped with a 14.0-inch central display for the infotainment and a digital instrument cluster for the driver, with an optional third screen (also 14.0 inches) for the passenger.

The graphics are crisp and clear across the board, and Mercedes has equipped the CLA Electric with a cabin-facing camera should you wish to take a selfie on a family trip, or if you need to take an emergency conference call from the car (when you’re safely parked at the side of the road, of course).

You’ll find the menus are easy to navigate and while the screen is responsive, it can be a bit laggy if you’re too quick with your swiping. It’s going to take a while to get used to the dashboard’s outlandish appearance, too, and it’s irritating to use climate controls.

Otherwise the CLA Electric's cabin is rather swish, with lots of premium materials to choose from such as leather, vegan leather, wood, aluminium or even hemp fibre for the trims. The seats not only look great but are comfortable too, and Mercedes has fitted the CLA Electric with an AI assistant software that can answer a load of questions and even find you an address and plug it into the sat-nav for you.

It’s not totally fool-proof though, sometimes getting it wrong, but the sat-nav itself is great, even going so far as to give you an augmented-reality view of the real world with arrows on the driver’s display telling you where to go. BMW has the same AR tech in its cars, though, so it’s not a novelty.

There are a fair few scratchy plastics around the cabin, too, notably on the lower door cars, lower centre console and under the dashboard which is a shame considering how nice the rest of the interior is.

The electric range is what makes the CLA so remarkable, offering nearly 500 miles to a charge (484 miles in the CLA 250+ Sport model), edging out the range-topping EQS saloon which can only manage a puny 481 miles by comparison.

It’s the CLA Electric’s efficiency and light weight which offers it such a figure, with a low-drag shape and advanced wheel hubs and motors which allow the small saloon to coast for a very long time when you’re not using the motors.

A totally flat floor with aerodynamic covers for the suspension bits under the car help with that efficiency, too, but we still couldn’t match Mercedes’ claimed range figure in our testing. We only achieved a figure of 4.2mi/kWh, meaning a maximum range of 357 miles in the real world, only 73% of the claimed total.

Even the most light-footed driver on the same test drive managed to achieve 4.8mi/kWh for 408 miles, which while better, is still a good way off the official figure.

Mercedes has built a rapid 320kW charging rate into the CLA Electric’s battery tech, which means you can in theory add 124 miles of charge in just 10 minutes at a fast enough charger. From 10-80% should only take 22 minutes, while charging from empty to full at an 11kW home box will take nine hours.

Every CLA Electric is subject to the luxury car tax from years two to six as they cost well over £40,000, while being an EV means you’re subject to the lowest band of road tax, and company car drivers will also be in the lowest band for Benefit in Kind payments.

The CLA Electric is too new to have been tested by Euro NCAP, but given its predecessor’s five-star score and the stellar performance of the larger EQE and EQS electric saloons, you can expect the small saloon to offer excellent crash protection.

Mercedes has fitted the new model with a comprehensive suite of crash protection systems as well as a super-strong body shell and clever new airbags inside to stop the front occupants from hitting one another in a collision.

You get emergency braking assist, lane-keeping cruise control, driver attention monitoring and an emergency steering system in case of a potential crash, too.

Mercedes came a stellar second place out of 31 manufacturers entered into the 2025 Driver Power survey for owner satisfaction, which should give you confidence in your CLA Electric ownership. The car is too new for any model-specific reliability woes to have reared their heads, but we wouldn’t be too concerned about that considering the older EQS model has only had a few minor recalls.

Mercedes offers a typical three-year, 60,000-mile warranty on its products, though you can extend it on a one- or two-year basis, or pay-as-you-go. The battery is covered for up to eight years or 100,000 miles should there be a fault.