Mercedes CLK63 AMG Black Series (2008) CAR review

Black Series? Sounds posh and a little edgy. What's all that about then?

AMG groups its cars into five divisions. The Black Series machines are second only to the borderline psychotic and super-expensive Signature Series (i.e. CLK DTM) cars in the line-up. Black Series cars are stripped out, track focused and expensive (just like the Signature Series cars then) and this particular weapon is the second MB car to receive the Black treatment. A permanent hard top SLK 55 AMG with a carbon roof was the first.

So what's special about this CLK Black?

If you can ignore the fact that the Signature and Black Series cars appear to share a strangely similar philosophy, the CLK Black's spec is as mouthwatering as its price is eye-watering (around £100,000). AMG takes the competent but bland CLK 63 AMG Coupe and does what it probably wanted to do to the car to start with: strip it out, tune it up, fit track-orientated suspension and brakes and unleash a car that feels as tight and as trick as anything it has ever built. Aside from the F1 safety car-alike bodywork with its assorted scoops, flips and wings, the CLK 63 Black has a not-inconsiderable 507bhp – 26bhp up on the standard model – from its 6.3-litre, naturally aspirated, mainly handbuilt V8. This is a phenomenal engine; utterly smooth but revvy and angry and easily a match for BMW’s M Power V10. The Black gets a tuned exhaust system, which not only releases extra horses from the motor but also a barrage of bangs, pops, growls and grumbles. Other mods to this all-aluminium engine include a reprogrammed ECU and a tuned intake system while those 507 gee-gees gallop to the rear wheels via AMG's Speedshift seven-speed auto (there's no manual option) with a shorter final drive ratio. There's also a limited-slip diff that feels suitably sticky on the track.