Their profit margins are in their options

 

right. so point being give a little back to the consumer. I mean I'm paying for a Luxury badge, I don't think halogen really helps the image

 

its 7"... same as new C class.

I think MB went wrong with CLA vs C class... they made FWD a sporty sedan and RWD luxury sedan.... they should have done the opposite but they probably didnt have cohones to do such major shift for C class.

C class will be priced same as before... just that car will have halogen lights and no climatronic :-).

 

Man only if more people had the same thinking as you and me!

The base CLA is targeted at those people who would otherwise be looking at the fully loaded Accord's & Camry's

But I know what i'd rather get..

 

I really like the interior (although the fixed screen is cheesy IMO)however as you and yowps3 pointed out this car will be EXTREMELY overpriced with options which is very misleading in this entry level luxury market. I would guess the photographed vehicles shown cost upwards of 50k. The exterior design is pleasing to the eyes although somewhat "stumpy" in appearance. Perhaps thats only in the photos.

Guess final judgement on quality will be determined once seen in person.

 

Neither Audi nor BMW are doing it, so I didn't expect MB to do it either. I will say it's interesting the A3 will be coming with standard xenons though. Good for Audi. Mercedes is unique among that trio one class above, with standard LEDs on the E-class.

More likely they realized the market actually doesn't value sportiness as much as you think you do in that class. That's why you have to get an M-sport BMW F30 in order to make it handle correctly, while every other trim they make (which make up the majority of sales) drives more on the luxury side of things. No one really cared about the Cadillac ATS' chassis dynamics besides car magazines. Making a C-class in the same vein would be a complete waste of time and would probably cause MB to lose sales.

I can tell you're out of touch because you think the market actually cares if the CLA is FWD or not. Sad, but true...

 

Even though a Mazda3 today has projectors standard, I don't think very many C-class buyers would be buying the halogen equipped model outside of Europe.

 

You can't have your cake and eat it too. Most people are already praising the great engine choices for NA, the class leading interior quality, and the major use of aluminum. You can't have projector lights in that equation either. Then, people are saying it will be overpriced. So you guys want not overpriced but with all the great design?

True, but the C class was never really sporty, and it sells so many units that it doesn't really matter. "Sport" is just for bragging rights, but when it comes down to it, people want luxury. Plus the CLA is a bit unrefined in terms of the ride that it was easy to market that as sporty

 

Reminds me of the commercial where the guy interviews the little kids and the girl says "We want MORE! MORE! "...
Good points, Im just cheap...lol

 

it is not really hard to understand what I wrote - they made CLA sporty, but it is FWD so it will be forever limited in being sporty.

They made C class luxurious even though FWD car will be always roomier.

As I said, they probably were too scared to rock the boat and change C class around.

So no, it doesnt make sense that your FWD car is sporty and that your RWD car is luxury.

 

Lexus just dropped Halogen from US cars, standard HID / optional LED now. So at least that's a step in the right direction.

Truthfully if I were in charge of any of them, I'd be ashamed to put Halogen in my Luxury badge and would quickly correct offerings like that

 

dude, every Corolla has LED projectors...

It is silly that very nice luxury car like C class thas halogen lights without projectors even.

If Lexus did that, forums would be in uproar and people here would swear brand off for good :-). If we can nickpick every Lexus decision we can surely do the same with MB.

Only reason they are doing it is because they want you to pay $1500-$2500 for upgraded LED headlights.

Not so long ago, a lot of cars came without radio installed, including some BMW's (and all of Toyota's basically).... it is not something we should encourage anymore. I think in 2014, people need to expect HIDs from luxury cars, let alone projectors. In Europe, only Yaris comes without projectors and facelift will bring projectors to Yaris in 2014.

Also, base cloth trim is very base, it is all black, looks like something you would find in cheap cars... the cloth on the pics is part of premium package priced at minimum $3500. You also have to pay for things like Cruise Control.

Should a luxury sedan look like this in 2014? btw, yes, many will be actually like this in Europe... I see A4's with halogens all day long, with yellow LED DRL replacements and it looks terrible.

 

 

i am so glad that lexus is finally doing it right. when in 2008/9 and i still say lexus not having standard HID on cars like es and is, i said that's just wrong (and same to bmw and mb)

 

Well complain all you want, Benz can't build enough CLA's and they sold 2.7 million C-class cars last go round so they seem to know what people want. We are in a transition period for lighting once again…remember when HIDs were rare? Now they are common…now its a move slowly to LED's…

The CLA is a base car so don't' expect the features on an S-class on it...

This…………..

and its really funny to see some people on forums now rationalize why not being sporty is fine and what people want when in the past when these same cars were sportier they were the internet darlings and sport meant everything.

Caddy and Lexus come along and all of a sudden sport doesn't matter and they don't' sell as well.

FYI TangoRed this is not directed to you as you seem to be one of the most level headed people around I've seen post, even if you like your Benz's