In recent articles, we've touted the value proposition in the long overlooked W220 and W215 cars of the mid 2000s. These cars offer extremely well-aged styling, tremendous power (in the AMG variants) and an incredible value at their current price points. As is the case with collector cars, when the bulk of the good, low-mile examples are snatched up by collectors, the remaining examples will rise steadily in value. Today's example is one of the good ones. A very good one. But is it priced ahead of the coming curve?
Offered for sale on Ebay out of Forest City, PA, this incredible W215 CL65 AMG comes with only 6,500 miles on the odometer. This, most likely, is the lowest mile W215 in the country and its the flagship, bi-turbo V12 variant, to boot.
The CL65's handbuilt, twin-turbocharged 6.0-liter V-12 spanks them all, grunting out 738 pound-feet at just 3000 rpm. And that's only because Mercedes-Benz electronically limits it to that number; fully unleashed, it'd be good for a transmission-shredding 885 pound-feet worth. Its 604-horsepower rating almost gets lost in the blur. AMG's power mongers begin with the architecture of the twin-blown V-12 that powers both Maybach sedans and several upper-deck Mercedes of the day and gives it a significantly longer stroke, upsized pistons, larger fuel injectors, higher intake-valve lift, longer valve-opening duration, larger turbochargers packing 22 psi of boost, a super-large air-to-water intercooler, oil jets that spray the bottom of each piston, and a big oil cooler.
These cars were astounding machines when they were produced 15+ years ago and their appeal has never really dwindled, but the price point certainly has. Many 50k -100k mile examples of these super coupes could be had at 10-20% of their original MSRP just a year ago, but the tide is turning and prices are going up. This example, showing only 6,500 miles on the odometer is being offered at an asking price of $68,000! Now, while that may seem astounding to most, one look at the original window sticker (included with the car) reminds us that the seller paid $183,360.00 for this car brand new. That's the equivalent of $201,356 in today's dollars. For reference, that $133,356 in inflation-adjusted depreciation works out to be a little more than $20.51 per mile! Ouch.
While the photos are lacking much detail and seller's description is virtually non-existent: "604 Horsepower Extremely fast and very classy vehicle. As New condition" the car clearly speaks for itself. Condition appears consistent with an example of this mileage and we imagine a cursory inspection of the vehicle will confirm as such.
We're sure the pricing on this car will spark a bit of debate, and while we're not sure we'd lay out nearly $70k for a 15-year old CL65 ourselves, we do believe there is a buyer/collector out there for this one. That buyer just might not materialize for another year or so...
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