Mercedes-Benz CLK DTM AMG
Why 3.5: AMG widened a CLK to DTM race-car proportions and supercharged the V8 to 574hp, then built exactly 100 coupes. Forbidden Fruit by default — Mercedes never certified it for the US — and rare enough that most examples now live in climate-controlled storage between concours appearances.
Layout
Natural habitat
Ride comfort
Sound
The supercharged 5.4 runs near-straight-through pipes, so blower whine sits over a hammering V8 with almost no silencing — homologation, not refinement. The supercharger flattens the top end above 6,500 rpm, which holds it below the naturally aspirated screamers.
8-cylinder · supercharged · 6,500 rpm redline · rated 8.0 / 10 for engine sound
Market value
Median asking price, good condition · €270k (2004) → €442k (2026), trending up · illustrative data
Child seats · ISOFIX
There aren't any — strict two-seater.
No ISOFIX up front. The CLK's front passenger seat instead takes a BabySmart-compatible Mercedes child seat, seatbelt-mounted, which disables the airbag once it's recognized.
The DTM AMG deletes the standard CLK's rear seats for weight, so this is academic in practice.
2003 Mercedes CLK (C209) owner's manual excerpts on BabySmart/ISOFIX fitment (owner-community sourced, not manufacturer documentation)
The long version
Mercedes built the CLK DTM AMG to let road-going customers buy into the silhouette-racer look of its DTM touring car program, widening the standard CLK's arches and adding real aero rather than styling appliques, then capping production at 100 coupes worldwide. It never crossed the Atlantic — no federalization, no grey-market path that makes financial sense at this rarity — so it wears Forbidden Fruit purely on availability, the same way the Saxo VTS or Mégane R26.R do. The supercharged V8 and DTM-derived chassis are genuinely serious hardware, but the ownership pattern is exactly what triple-digit production runs produce: a handful of committed drivers who take theirs to historic track days, and a larger group holding an appreciating hundred-car set. Values have roughly doubled since the mid-2010s as the DTM-heritage story catches up with the rarity, which does nothing to get more of them driven.