The MBUX Superscreen makes driving the Mercedes-Benz CLA Shooting Brake feel like a spaceship crossed with a movie theatre, and I love it

The dashboard of a new Mercedes-Benz is a big jump from older designs, thanks to an array of screens that would give NASA’s mission control a run for its money. The MBUX multimedia system has had various guises over the years, culminating in the latest Superscreen and Hyperscreen models.

The new Mercedes-Benz CLA Shooting Brake features the Superscreen display. This isn’t one giant screen as featured in the Hyperscreen on models like the new electric GLC, but it’s certainly evolved from the Superscreen we first saw on the E-Class, which had a separate driver display.

All three screens on the CLA sit behind a single piece of glass, including a 10.25-inch driver's display, a 14-inch central touchscreen display and a 14-inch passenger touchscreen display. Unlike the Hyperscreen, there are distinct areas where each screen finishes, but the overall effect is still very slick.

The Hyperscreen display is only available on the AMG Line Premium and AMG Line Premium Plus versions of the CLA Shooting Brake. The other models still have the driver's display and central display, just not the passenger display, replacing it with a panel covered in small three-pointed stars.

Fourth generation MBUX

The CLA was the first model to run the fourth generation of the MBUX entertainment system and use the MBOS architecture, which includes a Unity gaming engine to run the graphics. This is a highly advanced system that uses both Microsoft and Google large language models with its virtual assistant and uses Google Maps as the basis of its mapping.

The result is a system that at times feels better than Apple’s CarPlay integration, at least in look and feel. The mapping looks great and also offers a live camera feed when stopped at traffic lights to see the lights more easily and when making a turn – though I found having to look down at this a little off-putting, so I turned it off.

My model also featured a head-up display, which meant that I rarely had to look down at the screens at all while driving, which is a big plus for me. The driver display can be swapped between different views by swiping the thumb dial horizontally or vertically to change the info between the dials.

The apps

The MBOS runs individual apps, which you can add via the App Manager. These include music and video streaming apps such as Spotify, Apple Music, Disney Plus, and YouTube. The Video & TV app is powered by TiVo and lets you access all the TV and movie content in one place. This all streams via the car’s own 5G connection, so you don’t really need to connect your phone for anything apart from making and receiving calls.

The gaming offerings are a family-friendly mix, including Angry Birds and some simple arcade-style games such as City Dash, Candy Blast, Bird Dump, 9 Ball Pool, Fruit Slice Frenzy, Rally Champion and Beach Buggy. The system is capable of running much more intensive games, so it’s a shame there’s nothing approaching PlayStation level here. There is also TikTok for your dose of social media, though.

All of this is great for those times you’re parked up or charging, but it's even better if you’re sat in the passenger seat, as you can access them all while the car is moving, on your own personal 14-inch screen. Face detection is used to stop the driver from watching the screen too, and it will shut off the content after a couple of seconds if they do so.

As much as I enjoy driving the CLA, all of this makes me want to sit in the passenger seat. You can choose to connect headphones via Bluetooth or use the car’s speakers, which, as they are the Burmester 3D surround sound system with 16 speakers and 850W, sound amazing. As a driver, these speakers are probably my favourite part of the system, as they make all music sound great, whether it’s Apple Music streaming or just the radio.

Digital Extras

The display also gives you access to what Mercedes calls Digital Extras. These include everything from the MBUX Navigation and Entertainment to the massage function seats and MB.Drive Assist that provides steering and lane change assistance. Some come as standard with the car for a period of time, while others are on a subscription basis or a one-off fee. The massage function, for example, is £1.60 per month, £16 for 12 months, or £49 for permanent access.

There are free trial months available on many of the features, allowing you to try out the functions at no cost, and you can cancel all other options on a monthly basis, so you’re never tied into a long subscription.

The difficulty is that so many new electric cars, particularly Chinese brands, are offering many of these features as standard, so having to pay for these on top of the vehicle price can seem a bit much.

Can you have too much screen?

If you don’t need to use the navigation, the main display can switch to more of a screen saver background. This extends across both the central screen and the passenger screen, and although there’s a clear division between the two screens, it looks pretty slick. If you want to remove distractions completely, you can turn off the central and passenger displays completely, which can be handy when driving at night.

Though as the mapping switches to a dark mode at night, I didn’t find the screens distracting at all. Plus, the whole set-up feels a bit like a spaceship when you first start it up, which feels very futuristic and fun.

Though the Hyperscreen remains the slicker display, the Superscreen in the CLA Shooting Brake is still really impressive and offers the same MBUX features. As a complete system, with the head-up display and the Burmester speakers, it’s easily one of the best infotainment systems on the market, and to have this in what is a relatively entry-level model makes it all the more impressive.

The Mercedes-Benz CLA Shooting Brake starts from £39,715 on the road. Model tested is the CLA 350 4MATIC priced at £57,350.