Mercedes-Benz CLA Shooting Brake Launch

How often do you get an invite to drink free beer, eat free food - and check out one of Mercedes-Benz's latest cool creations on the roof of the iconic People's Park Centre as the RSAF Black Knights roar overhead in a "50" formation of F-16s to celebrate the nation's Gold Anniversary? Not often. So when Oneshift got the invite, we jumped at the chance.

The new CLA Shooting brake is billed by Daimler as "designed for urban hunting". If that sounds a bit weird, some history might help.

The original shooting brakes were built around the turn of last century to "take gentlemen on the hunt with their firearms and dogs". They weren't cars, but they weren't trundling trucks either. A sort of custom-built compromise between a sports car and an estate wagon. Enter the CLA Shooting Brake.

"We see the CLA Shooting Brake as a new, cool car to appeal to a younger set than traditionally go for Mercedes," said one of the staff as we chatted over a beer, prospective buyers goggled enviously and the jets roared overhead. "We are looking at young professionals, 30-40 years old as potential buyers, who don't want a pure sports car, but want style as well," they added.

The company adds that as the trend for buyers to keep their cars longer becomes more common, mid-life refreshes to existing lines (such as the Shooting Brake to the CLA range) make sense for manufacturers.

"This approach gives us a longer model lifespan, yet the buyer can keep up to date with the latest design without us cannibalising our own sales," said my guide. Smart move by Mercedes then.

But is the car anything really new, or just a stretched Coupe with a bigger, 495 litre capacity boot? Initial impressions (admittedly through Asahi goggles and under the wobbly neon lights of People's Park) are positive.

The new car's fluid body lines work much better on the longer design than on coupe or saloon styles. The CLA 200 and 250 come with what Mercedes optimistically describes as " 4+1-seater" layout inside, slightly better headroom than the Coupe in the back seats, very plush sports seats and an improved drag rating of Cd 0.26. It's even a bit eco thanks to coconut fibres in the padding and door panelling, lots of wood fibre parts, energy-efficient LEDs and a Euro 6-compliant powertrain.

For such an imposing looking car, it has relatively small and efficient engines - the 1.6 and 2.0 litre turbocharged fours don't look man enough on paper enough to haul all that Shooting Brakery around. Surprisingly, the 2-litre CLA250 Shooting Brake claims to reach 100kph in just under 7 seconds, and has a top speed of 240kph through the 7G-DCT dual clutch transmission.

The car also has plenty of new glitz and gadget additions too - paddle gear changers, a new grille, keyless operation, collision prevention, reversing camera and memory function seats. As well as that swoopy rear end design that we think looks better than on the coupe and saloon CLA versions.

As Wolfgang Huppenbauer, CEO at Daimler South East Asia told Oneshift, "We will just have to wait and see how many we sell. But we are getting interest in this new model already - and are convinced the car will sell well in Singapore."

He could be right. For buyers that want a Merc without the uncle image, that want decent load capacity without having to lumber around in a SUV, that want classy looks without having to buy a Porsche, the CLA Shooting Brake seems like the business. And at only a few thousand more than the equivalent CLA Coupe, well worth a look.

Almost as groovy as a Lockheed-Martin F-16, but not quite as expensive.

Credits: Story and Photos by Jeremy Torr