{"id":78318,"date":"2026-08-24T22:58:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T22:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/78318\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T22:58:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T22:58:11","slug":"the-mercedes-cla-350-4matic-destroys-epa-rated-range-with-shocking-efficiency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/78318\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mercedes CLA 350 4Matic Destroys EPA-Rated Range With Shocking Efficiency"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Mercedes-Benz CLA is the company&#8217;s smallest and lowest-priced EV in North America.\u00a0<br \/>\nIn a 70 mph range test, the four-door car blew way past its EPA-rated range of 312 miles.\u00a0<br \/>\nIt managed to eke out 4.44 miles per kilowatt-hour from its 85-kWh pack.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Mercedes-Benz&#8217;s littlest EV is actually one of its most impressive. The new <a href=\"https:\/\/insideevs.com\/reviews\/781882\/2026-mercedes-cla-first-drive\/\" data-inline-widget=\"internal-links\" data-type-id=\"0\" data-params=\"%7B%22article_edition_id%22%3A%22781882%22%2C%22section%22%3A%222%22%2C%22alias%22%3A%222026-mercedes-cla-first-drive%22%7D\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">2027 Mercedes CLA-Class<\/a> sedan absolutely crushed its EPA-rated range in Tom Moloughney&#8217;s latest 70 mph highway range test by going 385 miles between fill-ups.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The CLA packs a decently big battery for being the smallest electric Merc on sale in North America: 85 kWh. But it isn&#8217;t just the big battery that gives the Mercedes such an impressive range. It&#8217;s also quite efficient. At the end of Moloughney&#8217;s test for his State of Charge YouTube channel, he saw an average of 4.44 miles per kilowatt-hour.\u00a0That&#8217;s far beyond what it&#8217;s supposed to be capable of.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fueleconomy.gov\/feg\/Find.do?action=sbs&amp;id=50660\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">EPA<\/a>, the all-wheel drive Mercedes CLA 350 4Matic has 312 miles of range, considerably less than the single-motor rear-wheel drive model&#8217;s 374-mile range. Since Moloughney&#8217;s test car was an all-wheel drive 4Matic model, it beat what the EPA says it can do by a whopping 73 miles\u2014and did it all on the highway at 70 mph. Moloughney isn&#8217;t alone, either, as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.caranddriver.com\/mercedes-benz\/cla-class-ev-2027\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Car and Driver&#8217;s<\/a> 75 mph highway test saw 340 miles.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It wasn&#8217;t like he did anything to give the Merc a boost, either, like messing with tire pressures or driving in especially good conditions. He filled the tires to Mercedes&#8217; recommendations and did the test in the summer on the New Jersey Turnpike. If anything, the Turnpike&#8217;s horrific road surface, with its tire-destroying craters and loads of potholes patches, should be a detriment to an EV&#8217;s range.<\/p>\n<p>        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/16x9-tr.png\" alt=\"2026 Mercedes CLA EV Review\" width=\"16\" height=\"9\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Photo by: Mack Hogan\/InsideEVs<\/p>\n<p>Also interesting is that the CLA&#8217;s efficiency didn&#8217;t really drop off as the battery depleted. For the first 95 miles, it was averaging 4.50 mi\/kWh. For the next 100 miles, it actually improved to 4.52 mi\/kWh. The next 95 miles were at 4.46, and then it finished the final 95 miles at 4.44. Mercedes poured a ton of effort into the CLA&#8217;s efficiency, like using silicone carbide inverters and a two-speed gearbox. Fortunately for the Germans, that effort seems to have paid off. The CLA is a seriously efficient EV, up there with some of the most energy-sipping cars.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/insideevs.com\/news\/805634\/lucid-air-sapphire-beats-supercars\/\" data-inline-widget=\"internal-links\" data-type-id=\"0\" data-params=\"%7B%22article_edition_id%22%3A%22805634%22%2C%22section%22%3A%221%22%2C%22alias%22%3A%22lucid-air-sapphire-beats-supercars%22%7D\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Lucid Air<\/a> has proven to get around 5.0 mi\/kWh, and the Tesla Model 3 has managed 4.6 mi\/kWh in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.edmunds.com\/car-news\/2026-tesla-model-3-rwd-range-tested.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Edmunds<\/a>&#8216; testing. But the little Merc has is now among the most efficient EVs on the market and comes in at a relatively affordable price, with the 350 4Matic starting at $51,950. Considering the luxury and range you get, I&#8217;d say that&#8217;s a pretty good value.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sizer\" draggable=\"false\" src=\"data:image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAABAAAAAJCAYAAAA7KqwyAAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAABpJREFUeNpi\/P\/\/PwMlgImBQjBqwLAwACDAAOVfAw9\/ZDvcAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC\" alt=\"\"\/> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787612291_454_thumb.jpg\" alt=\"YouTube video player\" width=\"16\" height=\"9\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"block rounded-radius-4 img-dim w-num-52 h-num-52 cursor-pointer\"\/>                                                                          <\/p>\n<p class=\"comfort-title-large flex gap-spacing-sm-base items-center\">\n<p>\t\tWe want your opinion!\n\t<\/p>\n<p>What would you like to see on Insideevs.com?<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/insideevs.com\/survey\/2025\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\tTake our 3 minute survey.\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"compact-body-medium\">&#8211; The InsideEVs team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Mercedes-Benz CLA is the company&#8217;s smallest and lowest-priced EV in North America.\u00a0 In a 70 mph range&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78319,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20951],"tags":[8364,20974,20976,6213,30688,24293,23157,21652,34200,33455,34100,3622,42,22235,21647,32588],"class_list":["post-78318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mercedes-benz","tag-audi","tag-b2c","tag-bev","tag-bmw","tag-eco","tag-efficiency-focused","tag-in-depth-review","tag-long-range","tag-lucid-air","tag-mercedes-benz-group","tag-mercedes-cla","tag-mercedes-benz","tag-news","tag-premium","tag-sedan","tag-tesla-model-3"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}