I do wonder how much of this perception is attributed to the smaller dimensions of the A/CLA/GLA and how much of this perception can indeed be attributed to any lower-quality pieces needed to reach the lower price point of the A/CLA/GLA.
Larger, heavier vehicles have always felt more "solid" to me, and this solidity is what some attribute to a luxury vehicle experience.
I don't have the experience these automotive editors do, so that's why I genuinely wonder what attributes to their perception...
So I guess I should be specific about my concern. Of COURSE you cannot compare the A/CLA/GLA to the S-Class... but the C-Class starts at a mere $6,000 more than a CLA. If someone intelligent and observant, something I certainly think of all the C/D editors, can say the C-Class feels like a MB, just perhaps smaller, but the CLA feels cheap and not like just a small MB, there is a problem.
On top of THAT... the NEW C-Class really ups the ante over the old C-Class. I'm really torn about what I think about this. There are getting be a bunch of things that have been attributed to "cost cutting" that the C-Class doesn't suffer from... Keyless Go, amount of plastic in the interior, headlamp options, even things like needing a prop rod for the hood (I'm guessing the C-Class has struts to hold up the hood but I guess I don't know for sure).
Some valid points have been made in other threads about MB needing to cover R&D for the new platform of the A/CLA/GLA... but honestly all that means is that the initial buyers are additional for basically nothing until a lot of that R&D is paid off... It certainly makes me want to wait for MB to adjust content/quality levels.
MB should have better been able to estimate the popularity of these models... but at the end of the day it really shouldn't have mattered. It's the cost associated with taking the risk of a new model. If every automaker launched a new platform or vehicle and priced and spec'd it accordingly so that, if it bombed in the marketplace, the would have minimal losses, every new vehicle would be underwhelming at best.
I love the A/CLA/GLA. I really do. I'd like this to be my first AMG unless leasing the new C63 is somehow viable. At the same time, I will be frustrated and disappointed if in a year or two MB fixes all this stuff. I'll feel like I paid for that and that's not something I expect from MB.
The bottom line is that, as much as I love the new platform, I feel like I have blinders on if I won't consider what the C/D are saying. Eddie Alterman, the Editor-In-Chief drove the CLA45 away the day I got to see it, and when I emailed him later to ask what he thought, he said "CLA45 was a little underwhelming at $58 grand. Felt like a the world's heaviest Evo."
I think people like us... people actively caring and engaging in forums like this, need to send our feedback to MB USA. MB genuinely needs criticism that will help them build a better product, or at least tell the world where they did justifiably spent the money in areas that, perhaps, Audi didn't. At the very least, they deserve our honesty and we deserve the product we really want.
