The idea sounded fraught with danger: another sub-$30,000 Benz, this time with a transverse engine, front-wheel drivetrain. Apparitions of chintzy C-Class Sport Coupes (but with terminal understeer) danced in my head as I winged toward the launch in St. Tropez, France. Is the three-pointed star ready to go slumming again? Isn't this VW territory?

This new bargain Benz is called the CLA-Class. It's based on Euro-market A-Class hatchback underpinnings, but skinned in the stylish "four-door coupe" bodywork we Yanks find infinitely more palatable, complete with frameless door glass and a swoopy C-pillar. Of course, that gorgeous styling giveth—knee-weakening good looks and a 0.23 claimed drag coefficient—and it taketh away. Rear seat comfort is lacking—the headlining scraped this 5-foot, 10-inch rider's scalp, and the cushion was none too cushy. As for the bargain aspect, good luck finding one for the advertised sub-$30,000 base price. Tempting options such as self-parking, a panoramic sunroof, Distronic radar cruise, harman/kardon Logic 7 audio, COMAND navigation, and 4Matic all-wheel drive threaten to bridge the gap with the C-Class' base price of $38k.

I'll spare you the suspense, because after driving the car for about as long as you've been reading this review, it became crystal clear that this new CLA is no C-Class Sport Coupe. That car was sort of a cynical play to get a low advertised price that could lure folks into the showroom, where they might be talked upmarket. This one is all about meeting Euro CO2 and U.S. CAFE regulations. Mercedes needs people—a lot of new people—to want this car, not one of the bigger ones into which salesmen of yore might reflexively have tried to upgrade them.

Consequently, everything you see, hear, touch, or feel has been tailored to the standards of the Mercedes lineup. The instruments and vent registers could be mistaken for those of the SLS. The standard MB Tex vinyl will pass for leather to casual observers, and cowhides are optional. The sport seats (standard in the U.S.) offer abundant lateral support. The 2.0-liter, direct-injected turbo makes a delightful snarl when it's on the boil, settling into the background the rest of the time, while the 208 hp and 258 lb-ft of torque it delivers move the sub-3300-pound sedan around quite briskly. That's thanks in no small measure to the seven nicely spaced gear ratios in the twin-clutch, paddle-shifted transmission.

Somewhat miraculously, given the torque at play, the driver's sense of touch is never troubled with torque steer. I tried standing on the gas from a stop with the wheel turned, kicking down mid-corner at low speeds, and nuthin'. This is impressive, considering there's no tricky multi-link virtual steering axis front suspension at work—just a humble strut and control-arm setup. It's either magic, or (as Mercedes asserts) such forces are being cancelled by the electric power steering, which also allegedly compensates for extreme road crowns and heavy crosswinds, and applies corrective steering if the driver hasn't mastered "steering into a skid."