GLA 2018

In another half—hour, the faint glow in the distance will transform the nighttime sky into the shimmering skyline of your city. Before long, you'll be snaking between the buildings, dashing through the puddles of light cast by the street lamps, and pulling up to your own front door. But just for now, you're going to let your mind keep basking in the starlit darkness behind you.

Showing up at a massively popular music festival without tickets may have seemed like a great idea when you loaded up your GLA on Friday and headed out of town. But kudos to whichever one of you suggested packing a few pieces of camping gear. Even if you thought you'd be making the festival lawn your "hotel" for the weekend, it turns out a nearby state park has an unplugged ambiance that's even more entrancing.

Spontaneous decompression.
Some of your friends — like the one asleep in your back seat right now — didn't get why you wanted an SUV, a Mercedes-Benz SUV no less, instead of something more — how did they put it — "practical." Nothing like an impromptu 400-mile road trip to help them see past the status symbol in your GLA's grille. Practical, you showed them, is room for all of you, and all of your stuff. It's the confidence to venture into the wild without a formal invitation, even though you'd have fit in anywhere formal, too. It's the rush of a turbo and big tires on a winding road, and of surefooted safety in a sobering moment. It's a roadside stop to restock your snacks and refill the cooler, without refueling your GLA. Finally home, you watch the liftgate close on the now-empty trunk. The glisten in its taillamps reminds you of the starlight. The weekend didn't turn out anything like you planned. But it was practically perfect.

Four for the record books.
A small fist can pack a mean punch. Evidence: the AMG GLA 45. Its handcrafted AMG 2.0L turbo engine is the most powerful 4 cylinder in production, with 375 hp. That also equates to an industry-leading 188 hp/liter. Turbo boost leads its class, maxing out at 26.1 psi.15 And it'll rush you to 60 in 4.3 seconds,16 with an AMG SPEEDSHIFT® DCT 7 speed and torque-vectoring AMG Performance 4matic® shrewdly allotting its 350 lb ft of torque to all four 19" or 20" AMG® wheels.1

More than the way it looks.
Aggressive intakes in its new front apron feed air to the GLA 45, and lure your eyes to the new LED headlamps and wheel options. Racing-bred AMG brakes, suspension and exhaust live up to the fresh visuals. Live it up even further by opting for the multimode AMG Performance Exhaust, AMG RIDE CONTROL with two-stage damping and a RACE mode, or the AMG DYNAMIC PLUS Package that also adds a limited-slip front diff and 167-mph top speed.17