Mercedes-Benz GLA Review in 5 Points: Smart Luxury Buy or Overpriced?

Mercedes-Benz GLA Review: The luxury SUV segment offers multiple choices with a plush cabin, a sporty exterior, and feature-rich interiors. Buyers who wish to opt for an entry-level luxury SUV have a handful of choices available in the market. Around ₹50-60 lakh, you can get the entry-level German SUVs, which have refined petrol or diesel engines, have a premium cabin, and decent features on offer.

Around its price, if you are looking for a luxury SUV that has a premium cabin experience, punchy performance from the engine and decent fuel efficiency, you can check out the Mercedes-Benz GLA in the market. Though it has a smaller engine and limited features, the premium cabin and the comfortable seating offer an upmarket experience. Talking about its rivals, it competes with the BMW X1 and the Audi Q3 in its segment.

We lately got our hands on the Mercedes-Benz GLA and took it for a spin. We tested its performance, fuel efficiency, comfort, and features. Here is our review of the Mercedes-Benz GLA in five points, on whether or not it is worth every dime it demands. 

Let’s get started!

Performance

The Mercedes-Benz GLA comes with a 1.3L inline four-cylinder turbo petrol engine, which makes 161 bhp and 270 Nm of peak torque, paired with a seven-speed DCT gearbox.

The performance from the engine is good, and it feels peppy to drive. Since the size of the GLA is compact, it does not feel underpowered and has good performance on offer. The low-end lag is well contained, and it downshifts instantly to maintain the pace, and the mid-range is the sweetest. It redlines around 7,000RPM, and the engine does become quite vocal at that point. Moreover, the seven-speed DCT gearbox is slick to use, and the gearshifts are pretty smooth; you can even take manual control with the paddle shifters to make it more fun and engaging to drive.

Moreover, there are multiple driving modes as well, which completely transform the engine performance and the character of the engine. We mostly kept it in the Comfort and the Eco mode to extract good fuel efficiency, and sometimes engaged the Sports mode for some spirited driving. 

Talking about fuel efficiency, in the real world, we got around 10.6km/L. However, you can attain slightly higher numbers by driving it more sedately.

Ride Comfort and Handling

Talking about ride quality and comfort, the Mercedes-Benz GLA offers a good, comfortable riding experience, and the suspension is tuned slightly on the stiffer side. On slow speeds, the bumps do filter inside sometimes, and you can feel the stiffness, but when you are at good highway cruising speeds, it does not let anything filter inside and offers you a plush riding experience.

The steering wheel has good feel and feedback on offer, and feels connected to the road. Around corners, the body roll is well contained, and the 18-inch alloy wheels offer good grip at triple-digit speeds. Moreover, the GLA gives a sense of confidence to push it more, and the stiff suspension setup gives you spirited driving pleasure. While making quick overtakes, it does not feel laggy, and at city speeds, it is light and easy to maneuever.

Regarding seating comfort, the seats of the GLA are well cushioned, and the leatherette upholstery offers a plush cabin experience. Since it is the entry-level Mercedes-Benz car in the Indian market and has a compact size, it still manages to offer a spacious cabin.

Moreover, the German luxury automaker has used beige-coloured upholstery, which adds a sense of space. The rear seats of the GLA have decent space on offer. There is a good amount of knee and leg room, and the headroom is also considerable. However, the backrest angle is quite upright and sitting three passengers in the third row can become a tight fit.

Convenience and Safety Features

The Mercedes-Benz GLA is a feature-rich entry-level German SUV in the market. Some of the key features include 64-colours for ambient lighting, four driving modes, dual-zone climate control, a panoramic sunroof, a 360-degree parking camera, and more.

During our short drive experience, we loved the cabin experience in the GLA and especially during night drives, the ambient lighting enhances the overall aesthetics. Moreover, the infotainment screen is quite small in size, compared to other luxury SUVs in the segment, and is slick to use. 

Since it has wireless connectivity for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, it connects instantly. For music lovers, the GLA does not offer any branded audio system compared to its other German rivals, but the sound output from the music system is good, and it has an upmarket experience.

However, talking about safety features, it has a 360-degree parking camera, an active brake assist, seven airbags, highline TPMS, and others. The 360-degree camera offers a good view of what’s around, and at night, it does not pixelate. Although it does not come with ADAS functions, it still comes with blind spot assist, which is a very useful feature while going on highways and in city conditions. 

Design

The design of the Mercedes-Benz GLA is striking and has a bold exterior presence. The front profile has a big tri-star logo, with sharp LED headlamps and chrome on the lower parts of the bumper, elevating the overall premiumness of the front profile. The throw of the LED headlamps is okayish, and we expected slightly better illumination in pitch-dark areas. Despite the GLA having a strong LED headlamp throw, it misses out on leveling function, which we felt is slightly missing for a car of this price in the segment.

On the sides, the subtle use of chrome around the window lining, and on the lower panels, enhances the overall visual appeal of the GLA. The doors are heavy and feel robust. The ingress and the egress are pretty easy, and talking about the alloys, since it is the Progressive Line variant, it comes with 18-inch alloy wheels, and the design looks good on the regular variant.

At rear, the design of the LED taillamps is very similar to the elder sibling GLC. The overall rear profile is simple and elegant, and Mercedes-Benz offers chrome on the lower part of the bumper to enhance the premiumness. However, there are dual-exhaust outlets on the bumper, but the real exhaust pipes are located underneath.

Regarding the boot, there is ample space on offer. Since it has a powered tailgate with a gesture function, it becomes very easy to access it when you have luggage in your hands, and the loading lip is not too high, resulting in easy stuffing of items in the boot.

Price

The price of the Mercedes-Benz GLA starts at ₹59.11 lakh (on-road, Noida) for the GLA 200 petrol variant, and goes to ₹62.84 lakh (on-road, Noida) for the GLA 220d 4Matic AMG-Line variant.

Should you consider it?

Now the main question is, should you buy the Mercedes-Benz GLA 200? Our answer is Yes. If you want an entry-level luxury SUV with good performance, premium interiors, and one that is loaded with good tech and features, then you should consider the GLA. While it does not feel as spacious and dynamic as the other German competitors, like the BMW X1 or the Audi Q3, it can be a good option if you prioritise sporty exteriors, a tech-loaded cabin with chunky performance, and it is a good choice if you want to enter the luxury segment.

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