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Ever notice how anyone driving slower than you is a moron and everyone passing you is a maniac? Funny, me too. That same logic tends to show up in car reviews - any easy-to-tame car is brandished as boring. Worse, if the driver runs out of talent before the car runs out of grip, it's an evil bastard. The Ferrari 599GTO solves this by being one of the fastest, most perfectly balanced, and most capable cars in the world - and at the same time, its absurdly high limits are totally approachable. It makes good drivers very fast; it makes great drivers set world records.inline_mediumwraptextright0029050897/reviews/driven/1005_2011_ferrari_599gtoferrari-599-gTO-front-view-4.jpgtrue

Ever notice how anyone driving slower than you is a moron and everyone passing you is a maniac? Funny, me too. That same logic tends to show up in car reviews - any easy-to-tame car is brandished as boring. Worse, if the driver runs out of talent before the car runs out of grip, it's an evil bastard. The Ferrari 599GTO solves this by being one of the fastest, most perfectly balanced, and most capable cars in the world - and at the same time, its absurdly high limits are totally approachable. It makes good drivers very fast; it makes great drivers set world records.

The first thing I noticed about this Mini is its adorable cream, black, and silver color scheme, which I love. The second thing I noticed is that this Mini Camden Edition talks to you! Start the car and a male/female trio starts chatting through some unseen speaker. It all starts as soon as you insert the flat round key and push the start button. Usually the woman chirps in first with some sort of comment like "All systems go!" and an admonition to fasten your seatbelt. All of them have British accents. Here's a sampling of other conversations I got to listen to. They can be switched off, but I was curious to see how large of a conversational vocabulary is built into the car; quite large, it seems:inline_mediumwraptextright0029004970/reviews/editors_notebook/1004_2010_mini_cooper_camden_edition1004_04a+2010_mini_cooper_camden_edition+front_three_quarter_view.jpgtrue

Congratulations to the budding Warren Buffetts and the junior Steve Jobses who preserved their slice of the entrepreneurial pie while the world's economy crumbled. Those of you anticipating a reward for a job well done are shopping on the appropriate page.inline_mediumwraptextright0028832119/reviews/driven/1006_2011_bmw_alpina_b71006_01+2011_BMW_alpina_b7+front_three_quarter_view.jpgtrue