{"id":36416,"date":"2026-07-21T11:39:57","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T15:39:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=36416"},"modified":"2026-07-21T11:39:57","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T15:39:57","slug":"2026-mercedes-cla350-ev","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/2026-mercedes-cla350-ev","title":{"rendered":"2026 Mercedes CLA350 EV"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Jellybean.<\/p>\n

Jellybean. While the interior of the 2026 Mercedes CLA350 EV is over the top, the streamlined exterior could be confused for other sedans.<\/em><\/div>\n

Henry Payne, The Detroit New<\/em><\/p>\n

Hell<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 ZOT! Like a greased jellybean, my Mercedes CLA 350 sedan shot onto I-75. Past a line of traffic. Headed to the moon.<\/p>\n

Quiet as a mouse.<\/p>\n

Nine years after the Tesla Model 3 sedan became an overnight sensation and ushered in a new age of performance electric vehicles, it\u2019s, well … playing second fiddle to the Model Y. Model 3\u2019s SUV doppelganger, introduced in 2019, now outsells the sedan by three-fold in a country ga-ga for utes. From the rugged Rivian R2 to the flashy Mustang Mach-E to the sculpted Hyundai Ioniq 5, automakers are drafting electric Model Y rivals\u00a0en masse.<\/em><\/p>\n

The CLA EV (which shares the CLA-Class model lineup with gas\/hybrid variants) is one of the few sedans that has dared take on the Model 3.<\/p>\n

It does so with trademark luxury, comfort, straight-line speed, style and convenience. Asterisks on style and convenience. Walk up to my $67K, all-wheel-drive CLA (the rear-wheel-drive CLA 250 starts at $48.5K) and you might mistake it for a Hyundai Ioniq 6 \u2014 another Model 3 competitor shelved this year (only the coming, estimated-$70K track-focused Ioniq 6 N will remain). Jellybean shape, horizontal rear taillight, ducktail, flush door handles.<\/p>\n

Mercedes only comes into focus with its giant star logo planted on a black, plastic grille under a Hyundai Sonta-like monobrow. It\u2019s busy … un-Mercedes like.<\/p>\n

Read full article here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jellybean. While the interior of the 2026 Mercedes CLA350 EV is over the top, the streamlined exterior could be confused for other sedans. Henry Payne, The Detroit New Hell\u00a0\u2014 ZOT! Like a greased jellybean, my Mercedes CLA 350 sedan shot onto I-75. Past a line of traffic. Headed to the moon. Quiet as a mouse. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,87],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36416"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36416"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36417,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36416\/revisions\/36417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}