“Got anything fun?” I ask, not expecting an affirmative. I’ve only spotted base-level sedans and SUVs in my half-dozen visits to the Mercedes dealer. “Actually, I do,” comes the reply across the loaner desk, “would you like a GLA 35?” Hell yes! I’d love to try a baby AMG!
Ten years ago, a four-cylinder AWD crossover with an AMG badge would be laughable, but Mercedes spent the decade introducing AMG variants for nearly all its models. It seems blasphemous that many of these new AMGs lack earsplitting V8s—a long-time AMG hallmark—but such is the present, and AMG has even produced variants of the all-electric EQS!
The $50k GLA 35 is the entry point into the AMG range. (Though the CLA 35 sedan is also available at $50k.) It’s the medium-hot version of Mercedes’ smallest SUV, and it dances on a multi-mode sports suspension and scoots on the 302 hp and 295 ft-lbs developed by its turbo-four.
The press on the GLA 35 has been positive, and I can’t wait to collect the keys to my prize. And I don’t have to wait long, as a still sudsy GLA 35 is yanked out of the wash bay for my pleasure. Let’s see what we have here!
The prior generation GLA 45 looked like a hot hatch with a lift. This suited me just fine, as I love an aggressive hot hatch, but the market may have disagreed because Mercedes beefed up the GLA in 2021. The all-new taller and flabbier GLA will no longer be confused with five-doors like Mazda3, but the engorgement has turned the mini SUV into a scowling marshmallow. Puffy curves make body panels; its only aggressive details are its frowning AMG grill and narrowed eyes. Take your own measure of the model, but I don’t find it fetching!
The GLA is built on the A-class architecture that is shared with the A-series cars and GLB SUVs. From the GLA’s driver’s seat, I find nearly identical doors, dash, screens, and switches to the GLB 250 I borrowed last week. I liked the intuitive and ergonomically correct cabin in the GLB, and I like its twin in the GLA, too.
The differences in the GLA 35 come from its AMG trimmings. (These are also available to the GLB 35.) Fine leather and aluminum adorn the sports steering wheel, red seatbelts jazz up the cabin, and red-stitched microsuede upholsters the seats and doors. The details make me feel like I’m in a luxury vehicle, never mind the hard plastics from knee level down.
Oh, that steering wheel! With the perforated leather on my palms and polished aluminum paddles at my fingertips, the GLA 35 is asking to be driven hard! So I start up the mini SUV and leave the dealership on a mission to conquer my favorite back roads.
It’s probably for the better that there are five miles of residential avenues between me and rural romp. The slow-speed driving gives me time to acclimatize to the GLA 35 before the going gets good.
As I cruise past subdivisions and schools, I get mixed cues about whether I’m driving a hatchback or an SUV. The raked windscreen and higher beltline (the windows start further up the body) say car, but the dining-table seating position says truck. (My eye level in the GLA splits where it would be in a GLB SUV and C-class sedan.) And looking over my shoulder, I find the fat C pillars of a station wagon. (Coincidentally, the EPA classifies the GLA as a small wagon.)
The main drawback of last week’s GLB 250 was its flinty ride. Surprisingly, the GLA 35 is no worse on rotten roads, even though it has an AMG sports suspension. Yes, the potholes thump solidly in the GLA 35’s cabin, but the hits aren’t quite as sharp as they were in the GLB 250.
The suspension firmness reminds me of other sporting German metal—including my old E90 M3—which compromises ride comfort for increased handling prowess. If the GLA 35 turns out to be a pavement performance artist, I’ll forgive the mild shaking I’m enduring. (Sadly, the firmly padded seats don’t lessen the blows.)
Another improvement of the GLA 35 over the GLB 250 is the steering. The GLB had a strong, rubbery return to center that belied its electric power assistance. The GLA 35 also uses EPAS but has a more natural recentering force and a pleasing heft.
Sadly, both steering systems have lost their voices; very little road texture or wheel impact is communicated back to my hands.
The engine note is quiet and unremarkable as I tootle through town. It’s not until I mash the go pedal while merging onto a 50 mph boulevard that I hear the mill sing. When prodded with urgency, a (synthesized?) tenor induction note fills the cabin, punctuated by bass burps as the dual-clutch transmission slices seamlessly through the gears. It is a shot of adrenaline in a previously boring transit: Oh shit, this GLA 35 can scoot!
My heart pumping, I dive into the drive modes to set up the GLA 35 for my impending back road blitz. I forgo Sport+ for an individualized configuration full-kill engine and ESP with comfort suspension. The pavement in the East Bay isn’t perfect, and the extra chassis compliance will be helpful.
Soon the suburbs give way to sun-drenched curves. I pile revs and lateral Gs onto the GLA 35. With a head of steam, I discover that the GLA 35’s pièce de résistance is its chassis. Even with the shocks in Comfort mode, the GLA 35 scythes through the corners like a WRC car. While I feel the pavement pummeling in my seat, the car’s body stays flat, and its tires are firmly planted on the writhing road surface. The suspension never withers into float, even over large whoops on high-speed sweepers.
It’s a stellar performance that is matched by the alert front axle. There isn’t an iota of play in the steering, and the GLA 35 follows my inputs precisely and immediately. The 235/50 R19 Continental ProContact GX SSR front tires seem to have an inexhaustible grasp on the pavement—really, they just have more grip than I have guts—and the rear tires follow faithfully. Yes, here is an SUV that moves like a performance hatchback.
As my route tightens into switchbacks, it becomes apparent that the GLA 35 uses a front-biased AWD. The system performs well in spirited driving—it reminds me of the older Golf R—but it never provides that helpful rotation from the rear for which the Evo X and Focus RS are known. Thus, I am left wanting; does the faster GLA 45 rectify this shortcoming?
The next day my adventures with the GLA 35 are mundane. I take my kid to daycare and run errands in a torrential rainstorm.
The GLA is capable and comfortable for daily duty. (Though I wouldn’t mind a cushier seat.) I have an easy time adjusting the climate control and drive modes through the hard buttons on the center console, and Android Auto is a breeze to navigate using the bright and responsive touchscreen. This rendition of MBUX has a wonderful mix of on-screen features and high-use physical controls.
Since I ran chores last week in a GLB 250, I can’t help myself from comparing the GLA to the GLB.
The GLA is 9 inches shorter than its brother, and most of that length is lost from the trunk. There is still room for two large suitcases or four rollaboards under the GLA’s privacy cover, but its cargo hold is nowhere near as capacious as the GLB’s. I want the extra interior room from the GLB. Regardless, the GLA’s rear seats are perfectly comfortable for humans, large and small, even if they don’t slide fore and aft like the GLB’s.
Based on the two SUV’s cargo space and seating options, I see the GLA as being better for kidless couples and the GLB as the choice for small families.
The minor engine and transmission hiccups I experienced in the GLB 250 are fixed with the GLA 35. The AMG transmission programming avoids upshifts that would lug the engine and is more decisive at holding gears. Even though the GLA 35 has a 79 hp advantage over the GLB 250, the power difference isn’t that evident in light-to-light city driving.
As I wrap up my errands, I’m notified that my AMG GT S’s service is complete. I decide to pick up the car tomorrow, so I can have one more blast in the GLA 35 after the rain passes.
At 8:30am the following day, I’m cruising on the highway at 70 mph on my way to yet another juicy back road. The GLA 35’s highway manners are refined, with next to no wind noise and little tire noise making it through the bank vault doors. While I wish my loaner had options like the Driver Assistance Package for radar cruise control, it is still a great road trip companion.
When I exit the highway for the hinterlands, the roads are damp and occasionally sullied with mud and flooding. Nevertheless, I find a few choice straights and open sweepers where I can flog the GLA 35 for the last time.
Now the GLA 35’s extra 79 horses come to the forefront. Thick, unrelenting power smushes me into my seat from 2k to 5k rpm, then furiously crescendos in the final sprint to the redline (6.2k rpm). Yes, it is the manic top end that really sets the GLA 35 apart from the base engine GLA and GLB. The 8-speed DCT’s lower gears are tightly stacked, and I occasionally smack into the rev limiter as I try to keep pace with the flying tachometer needle. However, when I get it right, my redline upshifts keep me in the engine boiling.
When driven full tilt through the sweeping country roads, the previously laryngitic steering recovers its voice and starts to communicate the tires’ work. Lumps and undulations that challenge one front tire but not the other are sensed in the steering weight. While the steering isn’t as ceaselessly chatty as I’d like, the chassis communicates well.
Even with the ESP switched off, I can’t find any tail-wagging fun in the GLA 35. Instead, over-aggressive hands or over-exuberant feet will push the SUV into mild understeer. It is a small problem, though, as the limits are so high that they will rarely be found.
Yes, the GLA 35 is an entertaining confidence booster on a back road! Thanks to the way it flatters a driver, I can see it keeping up with more focused sports cars. For its punchy turbo power and safe driving dynamics, I’d liken it to the Evo IX of SUVs. Is it fun? Absolutely!
By the time I return to the dealership, the GLA 35 is mud flecked and needs another wash. Better to have fun and get dirty than to have never had fun at all!
I leave the keys with the valet but take away a newfound respect for AMG’s four-cylinder AWD offerings. The GLA 35 is a rorty little beastie and a great choice for those who want small-SUV practicality with hot hatch moves. I’d love to sample this drivetrain in the GLB!
Mike's Steering Column 