Mercedes GLA Facelift Shows Even Non-AMG Cars Have To Make Their Hours At The Nürburgring

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The world’s fastest production cars can lap the Nürburgring Nordschleife in just over seven minutes, but it’s not just hot cars that undergo 150 turns during development, as this facelifted Mercedes GLA proves.

The Nordschleife is used not only to test a car’s handling, but also its durability, which is why this standard GLA does a few laps, despite it probably taking more than 10 minutes to complete each 20, 8 km to complete. .

Mercedes didn’t unveil the second-generation GLA until December 2019 and it didn’t arrive at North American dealers until summer 2020. That doesn’t seem too long ago, but the GLA will likely have a standard six-year model cycle and that means Mercedes could take the wraps off the facelifted car this winter.

The Audi Q3 rival isn’t in line to get a ton of visual changes, but like the AMG versions of the GLA we’ve already tested, it looks like the headlamps and taillights will be getting different internal design features without change their external dimensions. The bumpers and grille will also benefit from some subtle tweaks, including new grille inserts, although the disguise of these prototypes makes it difficult to see exactly how the lower air intakes will reshape.

Related: 2023 Mercedes CLE Coupe thinks the C-Class’s interior is too good to mess with

Mercedes won’t be making any major changes to the interior either, as the GLA’s combined digital instrument panel and infotainment display lead the way in adopting a format rival BMW has only recently rolled out in its cars, although Merc’s larger models, such as the The C-Class and S-Class have separate screens. We can also expect an improved version of the MBUX control software and Mercedes will dump the touchpad controller on the console to free up storage space.

As for the mechanical specs, it will certainly follow current cars closely, but possibly with a small increase in power and efficiency. Base 2022 cars in Europe are powered by a 161 hp (163 hp) 1.3-liter turbo four that is available with or without hybrid power, but the US range starts with a 2.0-liter turbo four, good for 221 hp (224 hp). However, both markets will have a choice of front or all-wheel drive in sub-AMG models.

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Image Credits: CarPix for CarScoops

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