Ever since I watched Luc Besson’s 1998 film Taxi, the Mercedes-Benz 500E has been on my list of dream cars. Watching the silver German rockets chase the white Peugeot taxi through the streets of Marseille went a long way in forming my passion for cars when I was a young kid—I hope, and truthfully expect, that I’m not alone in this.

As the information about automobiles became more widespread, I found out how special that car really was. Developed in part and hand-built for Mercedes-Benz by Porsche in Stuttgart, it could go from a standstill to 60mph in 5.5 seconds, which was only a tad slower than the Ferrari Testarossa, a decidedly more exotic car. The 500E would go on to top out at 160mph only because of the redline limit and the 4-speed automatic gearbox. It was König der Autobahn, and you could most definitely drive it as a daily, or load up its spacious boot and still haul ass for a weekend trip away with the family.