Trunk comparison: Mercedes Benz CLA Shooting Brake vs Opel Corsa

Key Message

The Mercedes‑Benz CLA Shooting Brake offers significantly more usable cargo space than the Opel Corsa.

Three differences stand out: the trunk is +18.1 in (35%) longer with the seats folded down, even +15.7 in (61%) longer in everyday use with the rear seats upright, and the depth from the loading edge to the trunk floor is +1.6 in (22%) greater.

Smaller differences also exist: the Corsa's trunk opening is 0.8 in (3%) higher, the CLA's loading edge is 2 in (7%) higher above the ground, the narrowest width in the CLA is 3.5 in (9%) larger, and the CLA's opening width is only 1% larger.

Impact on Usability

The significantly greater length of the CLA with folded seats (+35%) makes it much better suited for long items such as boards, furniture parts, or long boxes — practical situations during moving, for sports equipment, or tradespeople's needs.

The fact that the CLA already offers +61% more trunk length with the rear seats upright means a noticeable advantage in everyday use: larger luggage, strollers, or multiple suitcases can be easily accommodated, making the CLA more practical for families and frequent travelers.

The greater depth (+22%) increases the usable loading area between the loading edge and floor, allowing bulky, taller, or stacked items to be stored more stably and space-efficiently. This significantly facilitates storing boxes, cube-shaped items, or crates.

Smaller differences have less impact: the slightly higher loading edge of the CLA (+7%) makes lifting very heavy items slightly more difficult, while the slightly higher opening of the Corsa (+3%) minimally eases loading very tall, slender items.

The slightly greater narrowest width of the CLA (+9%) is an advantage for wide loads but remains below your required 10% threshold and is therefore only a moderate improvement. The opening width (+1%) is negligible.

Conclusion: For users who regularly need to transport long or many items (tradespeople, sports, moving, family luggage), the CLA Shooting Brake is noticeably more practical due to significantly greater loading lengths and a deeper loading floor.

For occasional drivers with mostly small to medium cargo needs, the more compact Corsa remains sufficient and offers slight advantages when loading very tall items and a marginally lower loading edge.