Mercedes-AMG C 63 S (W205)
Why 7.3: A hand-built V8 in a compact sedan, rear-drive only — the last of its kind, and its owners know it. Values bottomed and turned the day the four-cylinder successor was announced.
Layout
Natural habitat
Ride comfort
Sound
The M177 still lands a heavy cross-plane thump and the valved exhaust cracks properly on the overrun. But the turbos sit inside the vee and eat the top octave, so it never reaches the 6.2 M156 it replaced. Below the W204, above most boosted saloons.
8-cylinder · turbocharged · 7,000 rpm redline · rated 7.0 / 10 for engine sound
Market value
Median asking price, good condition · €63k (2016) → €55k (2026), trending down · illustrative data
Child seats · ISOFIX
Two ISOFIX anchors on the outer rear seats, compatible with any standard ISOFIX seat — no Mercedes-specific hardware required.
No ISOFIX on the front passenger seat — Mercedes' own W205 manual limits the anchors to the rear.
Mercedes-Benz USA C-Class (W205) owner's manual — ISOFIX/i-Size rear seat fitting page
The long version
Buyers here aren't nostalgic for a car that just left; they went shopping specifically because the replacement is a turbo four with an electric motor bolted on, and a hand-built engine in a compact sedan sounds like the last of something worth having. It shows in how the cars get used — high miles, real winters, genuine commuting, because the appeal is an everyday-usable V8 rather than a trailer queen. Wagon buyers are the purest version of this instinct: same engine, more room, even less pretense about what the car is for.