[alcatraz]

Mercedes has announced a series of changes that will be applied to the GLA. Here they are!

The GLA can now be equipped with an adaptive damping suspension and a DYNAMIC SELECT system with four different modes: Comfort, Sport, Eco, Individual and Off-road. It will also gain Apple CarPlay and MirrorLink compatibility being offered early in the new year.

The other update is a new engine offering.

The GLA 220 d is getting an additional 7 PS (5 kW). That should allow the entry-level crossover to accelerate from 0-100 km/h in 7.7 seconds and should have a top speed of 223 km/h (138 mph).

Mercedes B, CLA & GLA gain new features & upgraded engines

 

[AMGz]

Since most of my driving is in the city with little rough terrain (cottage), Apple CarPlay will be of most interest to me out of all improvements made.

 

[BYTech]

Thanks for sharing I'm super excited about CarPlay

 

[d1poet]

I'm very Interested in the MirrorLink as I"m an android user. Does "being offered early in the new year" mean that the first production cars made sept-Dec will not have this ability. And if so can the Command software be upgraded?

 

[nightscar]

Ugh at all the 45 updates/upgrades! Love the car still but hate that MB decided to make such big changes after the first year.

 

[m-type]

hope the car stays in sport or sport+ after parking over night, most likely not... it will probably default back to Eco

 

[Truthiness]

I mean I can't blame them for saving some stuff and releasing it the next year. It's what every company does. Maybe some people who were holding back before will now feel compelled to put down the deposit.

 

[nightscar]

I completely understand that too though I do not really buy too much into that when it comes to new generation vehicles. The car is still practically brand new even if the second year has no changes in it but this feels almost like a complete overhaul and again I cannot reiterate this enough, it is just it's second year for the GLA. Extra power, bunch of great features added as standard and as an option? Most second year updates are minor changes to differentiate one year from the other like maybe bigger multimedia screen or optional USB plug and brand new style of wheels.

I know it coincided with the changes with the CLA/A-Class which has been out for at least a couple or years (CLA came out later 2013?) so it makes sense to have big changes but isn't it almost unprecedented to do this kind of big update/upgrade after the first year?


I still love my GLA45 but as a consumer, I can't help but feel indignant because the first year model not only loses value much quicker but it also becomes somewhat dated. I'll continually enjoy my GLA45 but there will always be that thing scratching in the back of my head that knows there's already a better version out there and I wouldn't even have the car for 6 months by the time it comes out.

Just a personal gripe of mine.

 

[m-type]

you'll never win that game, technology is a bit*h.

But yea its hard for MB to keep claiming most powerful 4 cylinder in the world from year to year with competition closing in. not surprised if MY17 get more HP. People are getting 420HP with down pipe and a tune

 

[ZomZom]

Love my 2015. The only change that'd tempt me would be a 3-door option.

 

[AMGz]

Love my 2015. The only change that'd tempt me would be a 3-door option.

With how MB is aggressive with growing its product portfolio and even throwing in unique models, i'm surprised they didn't do this yet or haven't provided any direction on it, especially when Range Rover has done it.

 

[nightscar]

you'll never win that game, technology is a bit*h.

But yea its hard for MB to keep claiming most powerful 4 cylinder in the world from year to year with competition closing in. not surprised if MY17 get more HP. People are getting 420HP with down pipe and a tune

It's not even really just the tech advancement, I know that it's just bad timing for the GLA. Had the GLA come out at the same time as the CLA/A-Class then it would have been the third year for the power bump, it is unfortunate that it arrives on GLAs second year.

But it is also the other features like keyless GO being standard, Dynamic Select, bigger multimedia screen, etc... Actually I believe most of those features are already available on the CLA45 in the current year (could be wrong) which should have just been added to the GLA in it's first year.

 

[crabman]

The stuff that matters like dynamic, electronic dampers, locking differential, etc are new on both the CLA and GLA and for that matter the A45. The power bump is actually the least important of the changes since it will hardly be noticed. At 350 a 20 hp bump isn't exactly huge and the power difference will exist mostly in the mind of owners because they know 370 is a higher number than 350. I'd bet if you had people drive one car at the old power level and another at the new power level without telling them one was more powerful the vast majority would not notice there had been a difference.

The downpipe, headers, etc methods for power increases are not applicable to what an OEM can do since they don't have the option to delete the cats or relocate them with high flow units that wouldn't sniff or pass the federal guidelines for light off. Nor is there a body of high mileage tuned cars on the road that can speak to the eventual long term reliability of the engine after the wicks been turned up. We do however know that this will be the highest power iteration of this engine and they are moving on to a new engine because they consider this one maxed out. While that doesn't tell you how much the engine can take it certainly says something about how much power MB is willing to warranty.

The lack of a 3 door surprises me especially with the 45 since its more a toy car than a tool. You have to figure in order to get payoff they would want to be able to sell 250s with it because those actually pay the bills and I'm not sure how well it sells there? Regardless I'd be all over it so my left arm could rest on the arm rest instead of hanging out in the space behind it.

 

[nightscar]

I think the revised transmission gear ratios along with the torque increase will be noticeable enough to those who who buys the GLA45 especially to those who track the cars and just by how slow these cars get off from a start. I also think 20hp can be felt to be honest, I mean it's about 5% hp increase, which is pretty good. It's not like just some placebo effect like replacing the air filter. lol

But of course if you don't drive the current GLA45 daily right now then start driving the new one then you will not notice the difference but I bet all GLA45 owners right now will know there is a power bump between the what they have now and the upcoming version.


As for the 3-door option, I'd love to see one too but you guys got to remember that these are still marketed as an SUV and not a hatchback. The Evoque Coupe looks great but I am not really sure how many RR sells of them in comparison to the 5-door. I've seen maybe 2-3 Evoque Coupes on the wild while the 5-door is almost as common as a CLA here in Los Angeles.

 

[crabman]

Agreed on the gear ratios or at least tentatively agree, we don't know how far numerically lower they went but gearing is a fairly easy to notice change if its substantial enough most particularly with manual transmissions. I've installed gears many times. The power I've also done many times because I've modded cars all my life and 20 real hp on the dyno with a higher hp car is not easy to feel although internet bench racers might disagree. There is a lot of mental trickery involved in cars and the feeling of performance and power. Make a car louder and change nothing else and people will perceive it as being more powerful. Simply tell them its more powerful without changing a thing and they will perceive it as being more powerful. A million and one air filters housings were sold just that way with people who gained nothing swearing they have contrary to all evidence. I'd bet good money that I could take two of these cars add that 20 hp to one let a bunch of people try them and it would go unnoticed by most every single driver that tried the two cars. On the other hand if I told them which one had 20 more hp every single person would then say they could easily tell the difference. I've been seeing this stuff all my life.

You do hit on a good point about the gearing though, I had forgot to mention it but I consider it a more important change than the power as well. As to getting off from a start I think you might have forgotten that the revised gearing is from 3rd to 7th with 1st and 2nd being unchanged so moving off from a start will be unchanged from a gearing standpoint. This doesn't mean that it wont pull out from a start better though, it would be a good bet the transmission and clutching algorithms and logic will be improved because most every car with a DCT I've had experience with gets better with every revision in that regard.

I didn't know they made a Evoque Coupe, I've never seen one.

 

[doyall]

... Had the GLA come out at the same time as the CLA/A-Class then it would have been the third year for the power bump, it is unfortunate that it arrives on GLAs second year. ...

... The car is still practically brand new even if the second year has no changes in it but this feels almost like a complete overhaul and again I cannot reiterate this enough, it is just it's second year for the GLA.
....

Actually, MY16 will be the third year for the GLA. It was introduced in Europe for MY14, same as the CLA. Didn't come to USA until MY15 however. So, this could be considered the mid-cycle refresh.

 

[Boxster986S]

Love my 2015. The only change that'd tempt me would be a 3-door option.

I would absolutely go for a three door option!

 

[nightscar]

You do hit on a good point about the gearing though, I had forgot to mention it but I consider it a more important change than the power as well. As to getting off from a start I think you might have forgotten that the revised gearing is from 3rd to 7th with 1st and 2nd being unchanged so moving off from a start will be unchanged from a gearing standpoint. This doesn't mean that it wont pull out from a start better though, it would be a good bet the transmission and clutching algorithms and logic will be improved because most every car with a DCT I've had experience with gets better with every revision in that regard.

I didn't know they made a Evoque Coupe, I've never seen one.

I didn't forget about 1st and 2nd being unchanged, I just didn't know that those won't be changed. lol


And yeah the Evoque is a beauty and honestly had it possessed more power I might gone for it... well also if it were made by a more reliable maker.

 

[nightscar]

Actually, MY16 will be the third year for the GLA. It was introduced in Europe for MY14, same as the CLA. Didn't come to USA until MY15 however. So, this could be considered the mid-cycle refresh.

MY may have started the same as the CLA but iirc CLA still came out in 2013 while GLA came out in 2014.

 

[Sweet Tooth]

I'm excited to see the 3 door option. Here are some of the renders that I have seen.