Can't help with the GLA, but you'd be hard pushed to beat a 335d as an outstanding all rounder. The 6cyl diesels from BMW sound surprisingly good from the cabin, but won't match the petrol sound from the Merc exhaust of course. But other than that, I can see no downside to the F31 X-Drive - the best part of 700NM of torque has to be driven to be believed... real world weapon, with the dog in the back![]()