Compare the2024 Mercedes CLAVS 2024 Alfa Romeo Giulia

For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Mercedes CLA have pretensioners to tighten the seatbelts and eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision and force limiters to limit the pressure the belts will exert on the passengers. The Alfa Romeo Giulia doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.

The CLA’s optional pre-crash front seatbelts will tighten automatically in the event the vehicle detects an impending crash, improving protection against injury significantly. The Giulia doesn’t offer pre-crash pretensioners.

The CLA’s standard pretensioning seatbelts also sense rear collisions and remove slack from the seatbelts to help protect the occupants from whiplash and other injuries. The Giulia doesn’t offer a whiplash protection system.

The CLA offers an optional Surround View System to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The Giulia only offers a rear monitor and front and rear parking sensors that beep or flash a light. That doesn’t help with obstacles to the sides.

Both the CLA and Giulia have rear cross-traffic warning, but the CLA has Active Brake Assist (automatically applies the brakes) to better prevent a collision when backing near traffic. The Giulia’s Rear Cross-Path Detection doesn’t automatically brake.

Both the CLA and the Giulia have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver and front passenger knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning, available all wheel drive and lane departure warning systems.

There are almost 3 times as many Mercedes dealers as there are Alfa Romeo dealers, which makes it much easier should you ever need service under the CLA’s warranty.

J.D. Power and Associates rated the CLA second among small premium cars in their 2023 Initial Quality Study. The Giulia isn’t in the top three in its category.

J.D. Power and Associates’ 2022 survey of the owners of three-year-old vehicles provides the long-term dependability statistics that show that Mercedes vehicles are more reliable than Alfa Romeo With 50 fewer problems per 100 vehicles in the first three years of ownership, J.D. Power ranks Mercedes higher than Alfa Romeo.

As tested in Car and Driver the Mercedes CLA is faster than the Alfa Romeo Giulia:

On the EPA test cycle the CLA gets better mileage than the Giulia:

Regenerative brakes improve the CLA’s fuel efficiency by converting inertia back into energy instead of wasting it. The Giulia doesn’t offer a regenerative braking system.

The CLA offers a standard sequential manual gearbox (SMG). With no clutch pedal to worry about and a fully automatic mode, an SMG is much more efficient than a conventional automatic but just as easy to drive. The Giulia doesn’t offer an SMG or a conventional manual transmission.

The CLA stops much shorter than the Giulia:

The CLA’s standard tires provide better handling because they have a lower 45 series profile (height to width ratio) that provides a stiffer sidewall than the Giulia’s standard 50 series tires.

For better ride, handling and brake cooling the CLA has standard 18-inch wheels. Smaller 17-inch wheels are standard on the Giulia.

The CLA’s drift compensation steering can automatically compensate for road conditions which would cause the vehicle to drift from side to side, helping the driver to keep the vehicle straight more easily. The Giulia doesn’t offer drift compensation steering.

For better handling and stability, the track (width between the wheels) on the CLA is 2.2 inches wider in the front than on the Giulia.

The CLA 250 4MATIC handles at .86 G’s, while the Giulia Ti Q4 pulls only .80 G’s of cornering force in a Motor Trend skidpad test.

The CLA 250 4MATIC executes Motor Trend’s “Figure Eight” maneuver quicker than the Giulia Ti (26.5 seconds @ .67 average G’s vs. 27.1 seconds @ .66 average G’s).

To make loading groceries and cargo easier when your hands are full, the CLA’s trunk can be opened just by kicking your foot under the back bumper, leaving your hands completely free. The Giulia doesn’t offer a hands-free gesture to open its trunk, forcing you to put cargo down if your hands are full.

Unlike the driver-only memory seat and mirrors in the Giulia, the CLA has standard driver and passenger memory, so that when drivers switch, the memory setting adjusts the driver’s seat and outside mirror angle and the front passenger seat also adjusts to the new passenger’s preset preferences.

The CLA offers an optional heads-up display that projects speed and navigation instruction readouts in front of the driver’s line of sight, allowing drivers to view information without diverting their eyes from the road. The Giulia doesn’t offer a heads-up display.

If the windows are left open on the CLA the driver can close them all at the outside door handle or from a distance using the remote. On a hot day the driver can lower the windows from a distance using the keyless remote. The driver of the Giulia can only operate the windows from inside the vehicle, with the ignition on.

When the CLA is put in reverse, the passenger rearview mirror tilts from its original position. This gives the driver a better view of the curb during parallel parking maneuvers. Shifting out of reverse puts the mirror into its original position. The Giulia’s mirror doesn’t automatically adjust for backing.

The CLA’s Active Parking Assist can parallel park or back into a parking spot by itself, starting, stopping and changing direction automatically. The Giulia doesn’t offer an automated parking system.

J.D. Power and Associates rated the CLA first among small premium cars in owner reported satisfaction. This includes how well the vehicle performs and satisfies its owner’s expectations. The Giulia isn’t in the top three.

The Mercedes CLA outsold the Alfa Romeo Giulia by 72% during 2022.