Distance: 151km
Location: Vancouver, Squamish
Date: June 23, 2018
Up front: A hatchback is a hatchback is a hatchback no matter how many features you add onto it. It’s got hatchback space up front, a hatchback layout in the back, and a hatchback shape on the outside. The GLA is Mercedes-Benz’s entry-level crossover like how the CLA is its entry-level sedan of the same generation. The layout is much the same except in a more upright driving position, perfect for old people who find it difficult to get up.
The materials are nice everywhere you touch but look visibly cheaper everywhere you don’t. It’s not as luxury as some would have expected from a premium brand, but enough to impress the basic IPA-drinking, kale salad-eating, potted plant-growing friend.
In the back: Rear space is disappointing. The car looks boxy and rugged on the outside but a magician of a designer waved his wand and a third of the interior space is gone to thick doors, and shallow seats. You’ll fit, but you won’t feel like you’re even getting C-class sedan kind of space. The front seats are bulky making it difficult to see ahead and the rear window is short making light into the cabin scarce without the sunroof.
Driving: There’s an off-road mode, but it doesn’t do much except slip less better on gravel. Don’t let the body cladding and raised ride height fool you into following a Jeep Wrangler with this thing, think of it as a raised hatchback A-class. The crossover has slightly more give on rougher roads that are scarred by cold winters, but less fun to drive than the compact hatchback. You can’t have the best of both worlds.
