BEST BUYS

Sam Jenkins

MERCEDES-AMG

INCREDIBLE ENGINES HAVE BEEN AN AMG SIGNATURE from the very beginning. In 1965, two Daimler-Benz engineers tuned the Mercedes 300 SE's powerplant for a German Touring Car Championship entry. Even though the car was not officially supported by the factory, it won ten races in total. Two years later, Hans Werner Aufrecht and Erhard Melcher had left to form AMG.

Alongside more race engines came a string of tuned Mercedes-Benz road cars, which continued when Mercedes took a controlling interest in AMG in 1999. However, a recent change of priorities at Affalterbach has seen engines downsized and hybrid tech added, stripping the cars of their unique character.

Thankfully, there are still plenty of AMGs in the classic mould on the used market, usually for a considerable saving compared to their latest counterparts. Here we look at some of the best, from the W211 E55 of the early 2000s to the incredible CLK63 Black Series, via the more recent W205 C63 and the iconic SLS.

MERCEDES-BENZ 05 AMG COUPÉ (W205)

The second C63 proved turbochargers and AMG could mix

THE FIRST-GENERATION C63 COUPÉ, THE W204 OF 2011, set the bar high, tackling its V8-powered BMW M3 rival head-on with AMG's very first ground-up engine, the mighty M156 6.2-litre naturally aspirated V8. While still individually assembled under the same 'one man, one engine' philosophy, the M177 V8 found in the next C63, 2015's W205, couldn't be more different. Smaller in capacity by over 2 litres, it had twin turbochargers in a 'hot-vee' configuration and even 48V mild-hybrid assistance from late 2019. It was a far more modern powerplant, capable of greater efficiency figures under the right conditions, but AMG worked its magic to ensure there was still no shortage of the kind of character those three letters had led us to expect.