With the power of the Cosworth engine having etched itself on my soul forever and the comfort of leather armchairs, I needed something that would excite me every time I drove it and yet have the comfort for long distance traveling. I also wanted something that would not stand out too much from the crowd and so I quickly discounted such cars as the BMW M3, Mitsubishi EVO and the Subaru Imprezza - they were fast yes, but they either looked OTT or were the sort of car that would be ideal for a track day but hard to live with every day.

I am fortunate that I can consider vehicles way outside of my ability to purchase as I can use contract hire and offset the costs against the business. I considered that a Mercedes would be on a par with the Scorpio although I wasn't sure just how 'dynamic' they would be - I hadn't looked at the more recent models.

The local dealers had a beautiful CLK coupe in Silver in the showroom and I liked the look of it. I have to admit that although I new the AMG name, I wasn't fully aware of what it stood for, just assuming that it was a go faster version....

AMG used to be an independent conversion house, taking brand new Mercedes out of the showroom and building special order versions for wealthy customers. More recently they have been purchased by Mercedes who now own 51% of the company and the AMG versions of the models are now official Mercedes cars. All of the AMG conversions start by removing the standard engine and replacing it with an AMG developed 5.4 litre V8. In the CLK this is normally aspirated and develops 367 bhp whereas in the larger models (CL, E and S and the SL sportscar) it is supercharged (Kompressor in AMG speak) and develops up to 500bhp. They also produce a 3.2 litre V6 used in the C class and SLK.

AMG then take the standard suspension and uprate it, add much larger brakes and wheels and firm up the ride as a result.

The result is simply awesome. Imagine the Scorpios 2nd gear acceleration between 50 and 70mph happening in 4th gear between 100 and 120mph and you will get some idea of just how powerful these cars are. It's not just the power though, it's the torque that they develop which means being able to accelerate at incredible rates in any gear and at any speed.

The gearbox is a 5 speed automatic with manual control via the now obligatory F1 style buttons on the steering wheel. It also offers a clever feature called SpeedShift. Hold the gear lever over to the left for a couple of seconds and the box works out the best gear for your current speed. The box then will not then go up a gear until you reach the rev limiter or you move it out of SpeedShift - this is ideal for fast country driving where 3rd is the gear that you need for best acceleration up to highly illegal speeds.

Obviously such a brutal engine would normally demand great respect, especially in the wet. However the AMGs are almost foolproof with a new traction control system called ESP. TC in the Scorpio detects wheelspin in the rear wheels and applies the ABS to the spinning wheel and/or cuts the engine power. ESP uses the ABS sensors along with gyroscopes and a measurement of the steering wheel angle to determine wheel slip during cornering. If it detects understeer it applies the ABS brake to the front wheel on the inside of the turn, effectively pulling the front end tighter, if it's oversteer then it does the opposite pulling the rear end tighter. It's a very clever system that is almost impossible to catch out under any circumstances!