South African’s are not particularly fond of station wagons, rather opting for false send of security offered by crossovers and compact SUVs. Which is pity really because, station wagons offer all the space and load lugging capabilities of their cross over competition, but with a healthy dose of driving pleasure. Think RS4, RS6 from Audi and C 63 AMG Estate, CLS 63 AMG Shooting Brake.
The baby shooting brake you see here draws inspiration directly from its bigger brother the CLS Shooting Brake by managing to take the form of a sports car with five seats and a large tailgate (with 1354 litres of packing space). Let’s not go so far as to throw in the much abused four-door coupe description, shall we?
Equipped with the most powerful series-production turbocharged four-cylinder engine in the world Mercedes CLA 45 AMG promises a thrilling drive, generating a remarkable 133 kW per litre of displacement and catapulting the CLA 45 AMG Shooting Brake from standstill to 100 km/h in 4.7 seconds.
Power is sent to ground through Merc’s AMG SPEEDSHIFT DCT 7-speed sports transmission (with Race Start function for optimum acceleration), via their performance 4MATIC all-wheel drive system.
The exclusive exterior is mirrored in the Shooting Brake’s interior with classy touches including the sports seats in Artico made leather and Dinamica microfiber, with red contrasting topstitching and red seat belts. Requisite flat-bottomed multifunction sports steering wheel with shift paddles and the AMG DRIVE UNIT in the centre console, points towards the nature of this immensely good looking Sportswagon.
The CLA 45 AMG Shooting Brake is making its show debut in March 2015 at the Geneva International Motor Show. No word if it will come to South African market (it most likely will), if it does, expect it possibly towards the end of 2015.
