Benz On A Budget

Say guten tag to the slick new CLA250, a Mercedes that even we can afford!

You’ve got to be pretty damn sexy to appear next to Kate Upton and still get anyone to look at you, but that’s exactly what the all-new Mercedes-Benz CLA250 pulled off in one of the best spots of this year’s Super Bowl. Not only is it almost as curvy as our favorite bombshell, but its sub-$30K sticker price had us choking on our seven-layer dip. We had the chance to drive the baby Benz, which hits dealerships this month, and good looks are just the beginning. The four-door coupe sticks to the road like chewed-up Trident on your shoe, and its direct-steer system and sport suspension provide tons of road feel. When we needed to blow by lesser vehicles, the seven-speed dual-clutch automatic—which we kept in sport mode—downshifted perfectly. (The 208 horses didn’t hurt, either.) Kate, we love you, but maybe it’s time we see other Benzes.

Spec Check

Base Price: $29,950

Engine: Turbocharged2.0-liter inline 4

Horsepower: 208

Torque: 258 lb.-ft.

0–60: 6.6 seconds (est.)

Top Speed: 149 mph

And…the $540,000 model:

You could buy 18 CLAs for the price of this electric beauty.

At over half a mil, the SLS AMG Electric Drive is the priciest Mercedes you—or, more likely, some douchey European prince—can buy. What do you get for that astronomical sum? The fastest production electric car in the world. The gull-winged god uses a 60 kWh lithium-ion battery pack to power four motors to the tune of 185 hp…each (or 740 horses total, math majors). That’s enough to propel the silent killer—the ED makes no noise whatsoever—from 0–60 in 3.9 seconds. Who said saving the planet couldn’t be an effin’ blast?