TRACK
As part of the launch, Mercedes had organised a track drive and from the moment I first set foot on its grounds, the Buddh International Circuit had an air of excitement and speed, obviously. It had rained, but, thankfully, it was dry at the time, and very hot. As I lined up behind the pace car and exited the pit-lane, I could feel the car much better.
The track surface was immaculate and free from any conceivable bumps. Getting a feel for the corners and instructions on the optimum racing line from Reinhold Renger was a nice way to spend my first full lap out on a Formula 1 track, ever. The CLA felt squat and planted through the first hairpin, and out on the back straight, the ride quality was sublime. Tackling corners at lower speeds on the out lap helped me analyse what I could be in for. The suspension felt sorted, the tyres felt sticky and the engine note, both from the CLA and the roaring SLS ahead, rewired my brain and set it to ‘Sport’ mode. The CLA was already in ‘Sport’ when I got it, but I switched to ‘Manual’ for the out lap, switching back to ‘Sport’ before the hot lap commenced.
As we turned on to the main straight, I gunned it. The needle climbed up to almost 200 km/h, before I had to brake hard for the first corner and into the hairpin again. The CLA leapt into the corner and held its line perfectly, the 4MATIC system doing its job very well indeed. Carrying the speed through the corner and running the kerbs let me accelerate out quicker, and, again, open it up on the back straight before braking hard for the section of rights and lefts ahead.
The feeling of being on a closed circuit is something I absolutely love. The freedom and confidence from knowing you have no interruptions and the faith I have in AMG meant I was focused 100 per cent on the drive. The CLA45 AMG is low, taut and extremely agile, responding well to every input. The brakes feel even more phenomenal on track and it’s easy to have a truly grand time at any track day, heading there even with a completely stock CLA45.
As we made our way around again, I felt even more confident and tried sliding the car into the corners at higher speeds than the ones I’d managed on the previous lap. It just went in as if it was on rails and felt unperturbed about the fact that there were three figures on the speedometer, albeit with the needle far from vertical. As I came into the pits and exited the car, taking off my helmet and handing it to the next journo, I patted the CLA with a smile and couldn’t help but look back as I walked away. It was that good!
The CLA45 AMG, then, is an incredible track-tool. It lets you have a lot of fun and then switch to the controlled efficiency mode, when you need it to be greener. Mercedes-Benz of India are targeting the youth with this, the country’s first high-performance compact sedan. However, with a price tag of Rs 68.5 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi), it will be something of a rarity, but will also find the right kind of home, we hope.
