2003 Mercedes-Benz CLK55 AMG

The recipe comes straight out of the '60s musclecar heyday: Drop a biggish engine into a smallish chassis to create a lusty, V-8-powered, two-door hardtop coupe. The word "synergy" wasn't around in 1965, but that's what Mercedes-Benz gets in its top-of-the-range CLK55 AMG: a performance car that's more than the sum of its parts.

No, it's not the supercharged version, but the naturally aspirated, handbuilt V-8 still packs a 362-horsepower punch. Superb AMG sport seats both grip and coddle.

Those parts themselves aren't especially humble, either. The second-generation CLK line appeared for '03 (a Cabrio joins the family in '04) using a lot of existing E Class componentry to bring the swagger of the flagship CL coupes to a friendlier price point. The rigid, aerodynamic body carries a full complement of Mercedes' finest hardware, from well-sorted brakes, steering, and suspension bits to all the computer-based driver aids (Electronic Stability Control, Automatic Slip Control, Brake Assist, and more). You can get a CLK with 215 horsepower (the 3.2-liter V-6 CLK320) or 302 (the 5.0 V-8-powered CLK500), but the brew really starts to fizz when Mercedes adds the stroked 5.5-liter V-8 assembled by in-house tuners AMG. This isn't the supercharged version that stuffs 469 horses into an E55 super sedan or 493 into an S55 or SL55. But in naturally aspirated form, the engine makes 362 horses and 376 lb-ft of torque, giving the 3635-pound CLK plenty of pop.

Lapping Germany's Hockenheim race course (the new track through the stadium, not the old one through the woods), the CLK55 felt solid, but lively and eager. More responsive than the E55, more settled than the SL55, and more agile than the S55, the midsize coupe was the nicest of the line in hard direction changes, heavy braking into bends, and clawing out onto straights. The stiff body structure and supple suspension give good comfort and accurate control--about all we might have wished for was more talkative steering and a true manual gearbox.

An impromptu slalom competition demonstrated not only how calm the CLK remains when being flogged and how lustily the V-8 pulls from modest revs, but also how enthusiastic the electronic-traction nanny can be. Dashes through the course, at equal levels of intensity, consistently gave faster times and less drama when the ESP and ASR were left engaged. The dampness of a morning shower especially emphasized the system's value, but even when the pavement dried, the electronics were still the fast way to go. Impressive.