The new 2014 Mercedes-Benz CLA 45 AMG becomes the lowest-priced performance model in the maker's AMG line-up.

What is the price of luxury? That might seem an intangible question to answer, but there’s no doubt the new 2014 Mercedes-Benz E550, at a starting price of $92,500, fits the bill. But what about the new Mercedes CLA, which is being advertised at its base price of $29,900?

It’s long been dogma that anything with the maker’s tri-star badge would be perceived as rising above the competition.  In this case, however, the competitors include not only traditional ones like BMW and Audi, but even more mainstream marques such as Ford – whose Fusion sedan in its Titanium edition trim comes in at almost $1,500 more than the new Mercedes CLA.

Luxury carmakers have been rapidly expanding their line-ups lately — the Mercedes family is today an alphabetic mash-up – and in the process of filling every possible open niche, they’re moving down-market as well as up.  But that returns us to the basic question: is the 2014 Mercedes CLA a true luxury car? Indeed, would we consider it a real Mercedes if it weren’t adorned with that familiar and enviable tri-star?

The 2014 CLA 250, meanwhile, is now the lowest-priced base model Mercedes offers in the U.S.

We set off to answer that by spending a few days driving both the basic 2014 Mercedes-Benz CLA 250, as well as the $47,450 Mercedes-Benz CLA 45 AMG, the least expensive model in the family to carry that performance brand’s designation. What we discovered is that the question requires some subtle shading, rather than a yes-or-no answer.

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To start out, the new 2014 CLA features just about as striking a design as anything in the Mercedes-Benz family.  As the model designation suggests, it is essentially a downsized version of the familiar Mercedes CLS, the industry’s breakthrough coupe-like sedan, albeit it at just a little over a third of the price.

That alone is likely to get a lot of folks to drop in on Mercedes showrooms, if nothing else, and should be enough to convince many to buy the new CLA. But there are still some issues that need be considered, not all of them up to what one might expect of a true luxury car.

The coupe-like roofline, for example, results in some serious compromises, mostly for rear seat passengers who’ll have to duck to climb in and out. An even modestly tall passenger will likely be banging their head, especially as the new CLA features a surprisingly rough ride. And getting a view out of the rear windows means even shorter passengers have to duck down, much like on a small commuter plane, to get a glimpse of the world going by. The good news is that while there’s little headroom there’s a reasonable amount of elbow and knee space.

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The new Mercedes CLA, with CEO Dieter Zetsche shown during its Detroit unveiling last January.

The interior of the base CLA 250 clearly isn’t as lavishly outfitted as its larger and more expensive coupe-like cousin, never mind the old base model, the Mercedes C-Class. But it’s no econobox, either, and a darned site nicer than that earlier, dreadful attempt to create a new base luxury segment, the old Mercedes C-Coupe of a decade back.

Even the basic CLA fabrics are attractive and feature nice color choices and stylish trim, such as the brushed metal-like panel that covers much of the dashboard.  The optional navigation screen is perhaps the most controversial feature – if one can base that on conversations with a gaggle of other journalists who have driven the new sedan.

Unlike the built-in LCD displays on other Mercedes models, or the pop-up screens Audi favors, the CLA gets what first looks like a tablet computer mounted atop the center stack.  No, it isn’t removable, and it doesn’t have all the apps and features, say, an Apple iPad would offer.  But while it seems a bit awkward to our eyes, the approach could connect with the tech savvy Millennials and Gen-Xers Mercedes has targeted with the new 2014 CLA.

Inside the CLA 45 AMG - a roomy and stylish layout but little rear headroom.

If anything could disappoint them it is the still-cumbersome COMAND system that operates the CLA infotainment system, just as in other models.  It takes a bit of time to get familiar with and even then this non-touch approach certainly isn’t as intuitive as swiping your fingers across the face of a tablet.

As we mentioned, the ride inside the CLA is a bit rougher than expected from a Mercedes. That’s all the more so when we switched to the CLA 45 AMG.  It can be downright jouncy as it hits even moderate potholes and highway tar strips.  What was equally surprising was the level of noise inside the cabin.  While we don’t have hard numbers to offer as comparison, we found road noise, in particular, to be a moderate bit higher than even mainstream competitors like the Ford Fusion, never mind the Mercedes C-Class.

The new sedan, we should note, is based on a unique architecture developed by Mercedes-Benz for a mix of small vehicle offerings. Dubbed the New Generation Compact Car, or NGCC, platform, it will eventually serve as the foundation for other models such as the latest Mercedes A- and B-Class lines, along with the GLA crossover.  We’ll get the latter in the U.S. about a year from now, along with the battery-based version of the B-Class.

This shot of the CLA 250 shows the tablet-like navi screen mounted atop the center stack.

(Intriguingly, American drivers will eventually get one or more NGCC-based models from Infiniti, the Japanese parent Nissan having entered into a wide-ranging alliance with Mercedes’ parent Daimler AG.  This includes sharing several new product platforms.)

The new architecture has some nice advantages.  By sharing it among a wide range of different models – and then by producing the CLA on an assembly plant in Hungary – Mercedes has been able to hold costs down to levels long considered impossible to achieve by a luxury maker.  Even adding in the $925 delivery charge, the base model will come in at less than $31,000 – if you can find a dealer stocking one without the inevitable, costly options.

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From a dynamic standpoint, the NGCC platform is, at its heart, front-wheel-drive, something that might shock Mercedes purists.  But as rival Audi has shown, that doesn’t have to be a bad thing.  The 2014 CLA was reasonably well poised, if not quite as well-balanced as the maker’s traditional rear-drive models. Steering was precise and predictable.  And the brakes were equally up to the challenge.

The Mercedes CLA 45 AMG will come standard with 4Matic. The CLA 250 is the only Mercedes front-driver, though AWD will soon be offered as an option.

An optional 4Matic package for the CLA 250 will become available by the first quarter of next year, but it’s already standard gear on the Mercedes CLA 45 AMG and you quickly come to appreciate the way it balances out the car, as we learned during a winding afternoon’s drive through the hills and dales of the Blue Ridge Mountains an hour’s drive outside of Washington, D.C.

The good news is that even the base Mercedes CLA’s turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four proved more than adequate as we climbed to more than 5,000 feet. The engine pushes out a more than adequate 208 horsepower and a solid 258 lb-ft of torque.  The CLA 250 isn’t a rocket but it handles well off the light and easily accelerates into freeway traffic or when you’re doing a quick pass.

Better yet, it’s rated at 26 miles per gallon in the city, 38 on the highway, and 30 mpg in the combined city/highway cycle.  Despite our lead right foot, it came close to the combined number during our jaunt.

The CLA 45 AMG will have one of the highest specific outputs on the market - producing 335 hp from a mere 2-liter turbo inline-4 engine.

We’ll have to wait for the official EPA fuel economy ratings on the Mercedes-Benz CLA 45 AMG, though in two separate runs we found it yielding mid-20 mpg numbers. The German maker claims the CLA 45 AMG has the highest specific power rating of any engine out there, a term that refers to the amount of horsepower per liter. While the new McLaren P1 may be slightly higher, in fact, Mercedes has no reason to hide its corporate head. The CLA’s AMG edition produces an inspiring 335 horsepower out of its own 2.0-liter turbo-four, and 332 lb-ft of torque.

In practice, however, the package was a bit less impressive, with our two test vehicles showing a moderate amount of initial turbo-lag, something we rarely experience these days.  It wasn’t anywhere near what we used to suffer through but still was just enough of a hesitation to take a bit of the thrill away during a hard launch.  And considering the steep price premium for the otherwise well-equipped AMG it was a modest letdown.

All that said, we were still generally impressed by the 2014 Mercedes-Benz CLA.  The car is unabashedly sexy, with one of the most emotionally satisfying designs to emerge from the German maker’s styling studios in recent years.  The price tag, even when bumping up to the $35,000 average Mercedes expects, is quite a feat. Those who want to upgrade from mainstream brands to sport a tri-star on the hood will clearly want to check out the new car.

There are some shortfalls, especially if you’re going to be stuck in the back seat.  But we anticipate that won’t be enough to deter the legions of young, first-time luxury buyers who are going to be racing to Mercedes showrooms to check out the 2014 CLA 250 and CLA 45 AMG.