I went from a 2005 Mustang GT that I owned for 10 years, to a 2015 BMW M235i, and then to a 2018 Camaro 2SS 1LE. Now I'm thinking the Camaro is too track-focused and would like to go back to a car more like the BMW - comfortable and fast for daily driver use, but capable of a track day once a year or so.

I took a big depreciation hit on the BMW, almost $20K in 3 years, and the same thing will happen with the Camaro if I sell/trade it in 2020. That's why I'm looking at CPO this time. Budget is between $40K and $50K. I'm probably looking at 2017 models?

I have been doing one HPDE road course track day per year since 2007 and would like to continue that. My favorite tracks are Lime Rock and Watkins Glen. The Camaro and BMW were both "fun" cars that mainly were driven in nice weather and stored during winters, while I used a 2015 MINI as a daily driver. My plan going forward would be to sell/trade both the Camaro and the MINI and just get one car to use year round.

When I bought the M235i, I was also considering the Audi S3 and MB CLA45 AMG. I had watched the Motor Trend Head-to-Head video comparison between the M235i and the AMG - the Benz beat the M235i by a small margin with Randy Pobst driving at Willow Springs - but both Jonny Lieberman and Randy complained about the transmission in the AMG. Their conclusion was that the BMW was more fun to drive, but the Mercedes had the better engine, brakes, and interior.

Questions:

1. has the transmission been improved or replaced in the CLA 45 AMG since 2014?
2. what other 2017-18 AMG models should I be looking at?

Welcome and congratulations on the search. Lots of fun AMG models, the only limitation is budget.

I would say all AMG63 models are viable track cars excepting maybe the S, GLS, GLE and G.

An S63 coupe would be fun to see on a hot lap.