Gadgetory

in Europe mercedes-benz models range from small to large but in the US we're really just used to the big luxury barges can the 2015 GLA 250 convince Americans the mercedes-benz can go small I really like the design of this car I think it looks great from the outside and it's got practical interior space as well it's got room for about five people it's got cargo space it's kind of like a hatchback but raised up a bit higher driving position and it also comes with all-wheel-drive and that helps a lot there is an option that we have in this one it's that called pop bar wood trim it feels a little bit plasticky to me but according to the spec sheet it's real wood we also have a panoramic sunroof a big opening in front a smaller opening in the rear for the rear passengers and the front opening opens all the way so that's kind of nice to get a lot of fresh air in the car for cabin tech we've got the standard mercedes-benz command interface so I've got this dial on the console with a back button in the Clear button some buttons on the dashboard here for quick access to functions so I've got my audio I've got my hands-free phone system but what I don't have here is navigation because that option comes in a package that costs two thousand four hundred eighty dollars but to get that option actually need another package is the Premium Package which costs $2,300 that's almost five thousand dollars for navigation also in this car I only have the base audio system I can upgrade to a Harman Kardon logic seven system this GLA 250 also has the driver assist package to say these Benz does this stuff really well so for example I have adaptive cruise control that will actually match the speed of slower traffic ahead of me that's something mercedes-benz almost invented we've got Lane Keeping Assist in here which old steering wheel keep the car in its lane bridging towards economist when you put those two things together I don't have a rear-view camera on here but what I do have is automated parking assist so that can almost take the place of them the GLA 250 comes with a 2-liter four-cylinder engine but that's what direct injection and turbo charging 208 horsepower 258 pound-feet of torque and that engine is mated to a 7-speed dual-clutch transmission that's a type of transmission that uses computer-controlled clutches to shift a lot faster a lot more direct than a torque converter transmission there's a button on the console here and that will let me change between a sport mode and eco mode and a manual mode now this engine will get this car according to the EPA 24 miles per gallon city 32 miles rail and highway those are pretty piece of numbers that we can average around 30 and it's also got an idle stop features it'll actually shut down the engine and I found that system works pretty well I've been driving around with it in San Francisco and it hasn't really gotten in the way of my driving but I can turn off that system with a button on the dashboard with mercedes benz 4matic all-wheel drive system now in this case this is really a front wheel drive bias system but when I get slippery patches it can actually put up to 50% torque to the rear wheels that's for the ride quality I think that's one area where mercedes-benz falls down a bit with this car and I haven't really seen mercedes-benz do a good comfortable ride in a small car yet and it certainly isn't up to the standards set by rivals BMW and Audi and their smaller cars let's price out our 2015 mercedes-benz GLA 250 base price thirty three thousand three hundred dollars to get navigation we have to add the technology package that costs two thousand four hundred eighty dollars but to get that we have to have the premium package for another twenty three hundred dollars that's almost five thousand dollars for navigation driver assist package cost $2,500 and that cool parking assist feature cost nine hundred and seventy dollars with destination that puts our total price at forty two thousand nine hundred and fifty five dollars so I quite like the looks in the practicality and the general driving character of the GLA 250 one thing I don't like is the ride quality that's something that mercedes-benz just can't seem to get right in their smaller cars