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The BMW 7-series is a fine automobile. So good, in fact, that the Alpina modifications seem to subtract more than they add. The Alpina B7 is identifiable by its soft and grippy leather steering wheel, the signature twenty-one-spoke Alpina wheels, exterior cosmetic enhancements, and a smattering of interior trim bits. But the B7 goes far beyond aesthetics. The chassis benefits from shorter and stiffer springs, larger brakes, wider rear tires, and revised tuning of the active dampers. Under the hood, BMW's 4.4-liter, twin-turbo V-8 is built with a new block, heads, turbochargers, and intercoolers, bumping output from 400 hp and 450 lb-ft to 500 hp and 516 lb-ft.

Months in service: 11
Miles to date: 28,669

"Are you feeling strange?" asks photographer Paul Harmer. I am. And so is he. Tingling limbs, light-headedness, shortness of breath -- Harmer thinks he's having a panic attack, while I fret absurdly about deep-vein thrombosis. This is not a good place to have either affliction. We may be sitting in comfort aboard an air-conditioned Mini Cooper S Countryman, but we're also climbing a dirt road deep in the heart of Chile's Atacama Desert, miles from the nearest doctor. But then it dawns on our travel-blunted brains: this is altitude sickness. We're closing on a peak topping 13,000 feet, around the altitude at which oxygen masks drop in the cabins of unpressurized aircraft.