photo courtesy Cars and Bids

$19,750 – 22,500
Collector status: Buy and hold

Mercedes-Benz upped the ante in 1998 in its ongoing battle with BMW’s M3. Taking advantage of its newly acquired majority stake in German tuner AMG, they dropped a 4.3-liter V8 engine into its compact C-Class sedan. This gave it an over 60-horsepower advantage over the E36 M3 (US models with the comparatively anemic S52 motor), propelling the Baby Benz to 60 mph in under six seconds with a top speed of 155 mph. These figures are comparable to the M3 and would have likely benefitted from a manual gearbox (not available on US models). Best of all, the performance is cradled in the comforts of a Mercedes-Benz.

The W202 C43 AMG is relatively rare with less than 1,500 coming off the line (the first AMG car to be built entirely at the Mercedes-Benz factory). This compares to over 12,000 E36 M3 sedans, which Hagerty values at $47,700 in No 2 condition. The MY2000s are particularly rare, with only 91 built, and they have the added benefit of the 5G-Tronic Speedshift auto-manual gearbox. But a C43 AMG from any production year would be a unique and enjoyable motoring investment.