Vehicle Type: Sedan

Price: $52,750

Transmission: five-speed automatic transmission

Safety Features: Driver and passenger side airbags and ABS anti-lock brakes are standard

Engine: 4.3- liter , 302 horsepower V4 Front Engine/ Rear Wheel Drive

Fuel Economy: 17 mpg city/22 mpg highway

Jake's Corner, Arizona -- Back in the "hey days" of the thirties, when autos were still toys of the rich in Europe, and records were trumpeted around the world, it was a point of national pride to have the most potent cars. American, British and German drivers set and reset the absolute speed records, and races were dominated by the European brands. The products from Daimler-Benz were known as 'Silver Arrows.' Now Mercedes-Benz makes 500 lucky buyers happy each of the next three years, as they take delivery of their personal examples.

Even on these relatively deserted Arizona mountain roads, we were not able to fully explore the potential of the C43, which combines the new V8 engine with tuning wizardry from the AMG company. To back up the beefed-up engine, a five-speed automatic transmission from the SL500 sports car is used, and when combined with low profile 17" wheels and tires, we really appreciated the larger vented disc brakes

Not only is the reworked V8 engine about 10 percent more powerful than the standard version, it gains about 100 horsepower on the most potent 6- cylinder offered in the standard C-Class. To make things even better, the V8 is 44 pounds lighter than the six, thus improving the balance of the car.