Mercedes-Benz GLA 200 Sport - Road Test Review

In terms of kit, the GLA is quite passenger safety friendly with 7 fluffy airbags. The interior, just as every Mercedes, feels expensive and high quality by a person with keen eye and OCD. It feels quite German, where everything is exactly where it’s supposed to be. The dual panoramic roof light up the cabin beautifully but the legroom is compromised a bit in the back. The single display screen greets you with the Mercedes logo, but it’s not as user friendly as you would hope. It takes a German mind to figure out things that aren’t that obvious and same goes to the digital screen in the driver’s instrument cluster. The navigating through the settings isn’t very user friendly and some things just don’t make sense. For your permanent display next to the clock you can either have outside temperature, or speed in MPH which is a bit odd. The main display in the instrument cluster can only do one thing at a time, you can either have a digital speedo, or navigation directions, audio controls or car settings. So if you have a speedo set, you can’t browse through your music with the buttons on the steering wheel. What is also annoying is that you have to go through all those setting in the cluster to turn off the traction control. The GLA comes with blue tooth connectivity, a dial pad to manually dial someone, or voice command that doesn’t really work that well and comes  fitted with a brilliant Harmann audio system to blare you taste in music at the people next to you at a set of lights. What I did find astonishing is that in a car with a price tag of Rs 35 lakh, you don’t get a very important button, which is automatic climate control. But it’s sort of a compromise, I personally am willing to make. Partly because it has 7 airbags which cost a lot to make and put into a car, and party because the way this thing drives on the road.

The GLA weighs only 1500kgs so with 135bhp, the GLA isn’t really a slouch. The GLA comes with 3 modes Eco mode, Sport and Manual. In all modes you have the option to use or not use the Eco stop start function. In Eco/Comfort mode, the GLA cruises along quite well, it rides quite comfortably, and fells quite soft and tender to drive as the 7 speed automatic dual clutch gear box shifts economically at 3000rpms. Putting your foot down, does make the transmission hold the revs for longer, but in sport mode, it red lines and responds much quicker. But my favourite is the Manual mode, where you have total control of the gearbox. You can red line the rpms as much as you want but the transmission can be a little bit faster than it is. The GLA has a top speed of 225kmph but in manual or sport mode, it gets to 200 in 4^th gear and then runs out of puff. That extra 25 is just a bit too hard to achieve. But what I do admire for a car and engine of its relative size, the 0-100 time is, what I can verify, is under 8 seconds.

Off road, the car feels at home too. The 4matic AWD system from Mercedes works well on the rough stuff and with ample ground clearance of 183mm, you’d be surprised over the size of rocks this baby can handle with that 5 year old kids smug face.

So it doesn’t fare too well with equipment, nor do any of the controls make sense, but the consolation of power, feel, speed and performance is exhilarating enough to keep me in the driver’s seat. Let me put it this way, if I had to get a small luxury SUV, I’m GLAd this glamorous beast has arrived.