2025 Mercedes CLA Review: The Best Mercedes EV Yet

484 miles. Enough to drive from Hull to Paris without having to stop for a charge, in case you fancy taking some chip spice to add to your ratatouille. That’s the quoted figure that the electric Mercedes CLA was revealed to have earlier this year. Should point out there was no official mention of niche Northern food seasoning alongside that.

On paper, that makes it the EV capable of going the furthest on a single charge in the UK (until the BMW iX3 arrives, anyway, and in a country that seems particularly prone to range anxiety, that is quite the selling point.

While the figure is the key takeaway, the technology to achieve that makes for some interesting nerdy reading. The 85kWh battery pack is by no means the largest you’ll find even in a Mercedes, but its nickel manganese cobalt makeup (or NMC, as we’ll now refer to it for the sake of our sanity) is claimed to offer greater energy density while reducing emissions by around 30 per cent in its production compared with more conventional alternatives.

So yes, for the glossy spec sheets and press releases, all sounds promising. Delightfully, we can kick this review off by saying it makes for great range anxiety medication, too. Over the course of a day of motoring journalist lead-footed driving, our time with a kit-heavy CLA 250+ returned 4.2mi/kWh, equating to about 350 miles and probably comfortably more over time. Impressive, frankly, and more so when you consider its max DC of 320kW puts it amongst the fastest-charging EVs on the market.

As a showcase of battery technology, then, the Mercedes CLA is brilliant. What about as a car, though?

Well, there’s no mistaking it as anything other than an electric Mercedes on the literal face of it. Count those LED-illuminated stars on the panel you’d find as a grille on incoming ICE versions, and you’ll come to a total of 142. Or so we’re told, we couldn’t be bothered to count.

There’s the usual blobby Mercedes EV traits too, all contributing to a drag coefficient 0.21, which, to say pretty low, helping it achieve its immense range. All good and well, but we do think it’s a little too plain for its own good.
That’s not criticism we’d aim at the cabin. Its raised centre console, bright colour options and gigantic mass of LED stars serving as a placeholder for the passenger screen you didn’t option all serve to create quite a stylish interior.

It looks nice, but we have to knock immediate points off for continuing Mercedes’ touch-sensitive steering wheel buttons to only serve to infuriate you. Please, Mercedes, follow Volkswagen and give us some real buttons.

With a reliance on the infotainment system for many of the cars’ functions, though, we are delighted to report that the infotainment embedded across two 14-inch displays is pretty remarkable. Mercedes says the hardware processes quickly enough to be classified officially as a supercomputer. We say it’s quick enough not to make you stress about using it.

Throw in seamless wireless integration of both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and a handily-reachable shortcut to mute the speed warning bong, and it’s a double thumbs up from us.

Probably from anyone you put in the back, too. The CLA offers a pretty impressive amount of legroom and even an agreeable space for your head despite the somewhat sloped roofline. Moreso on both accounts than you’d find in a BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe or Audi A3 Saloon, we reckon.

Ah, driving. That’s another thing that the Mercedes CLA does. Honestly, that’s about as much excitement we can attribute to the experience – there’s really little to get you excited.

In many ways, that can be seen as a good thing. At a cruise, it’s a remarkably comfortable thing with beautiful judgment on the setup of its adaptive suspension, with a pillow-like ride in most settings. That does firm up a touch in Sport, but it’s not a largely perceivable difference. The result is something that’s quite floaty and prone to a bit of body roll under heavy cornering, and not exactly doing much to disguise the near two-tonne kerbweight.

See also the electronic steering, which sits on the light side of the spectrum and never threatens to offer much in the way of feedback or driver involvement. It does make nipping around town a breeze, though, as does a crystal-clear 360-degree camera system.

Here in the UK, you can only have the CLA with a rear-mounted single motor, producing 268bhp and 247lb ft of torque. Curiously, that’s linked up to a two-speed gearbox that switches ratios around 60mph, with an amusing thud accompanying it when it changes. It’s not a rapid car, as the quoted 0-62mph of 6.7 seconds would show, but it’s nippy enough. Space for a faster AMG-badged version down the line, perhaps?

Pricing for the Mercedes CLA kicks off at £45,615, while the range-topping AMG Line Premium Edition, with its nice 19-inch wheels and extended bits of kit, takes that to £51,770

Traditional German rivals have yet to come into the scene in EV form, but it does put it around the ballpark of the quicker but ageing Tesla Model 3. We’d go for the CLA, given the keys to both.

With its impressive range and battery tech backed up by a lovely, if somewhat dull to drive, package, we’re concluding that the CLA is the best Mercedes EV yet.

The stats

• Engine: Single-electric motor
• Gearbox: Two-speed transmission
• Power (bhp): 268
• Torque (lb ft): 247
• 0-62mph: 6.7 seconds
• Top speed: 130mph
• Weight: 2055kg
• Starting price: £45,615