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Our test car's white exterior over a black and orange interior made for a very sharp color combination. This is a serious sports car, with a very stout chassis, nicely communicative, precise steering, great body control, and excellent roadholding and grip. What we've also got is a VQ-series V-6 that is bordering on unacceptably coarse, hoarse, and harsh. When you give this car the stick, you're not rewarded with mellifluous mechanical noises; instead, you get a lot of harshness and a lot of driveline resonance and lash. I had forgotten that the 370Z has the automatic blipping of the throttle, which is kinda fun. This is a competent and competitive car for the price, but it borders on not being refined enough. I know it's not an Infiniti, but still. All that said, it sure looks great, and it telegraphs "sports car" to all onlookers. In fact, I was driving along a country road that paralleled an open field where several guys were playing with four-wheelers. One of them happened to be in line with my direction of travel. He looked over at me and gunned it, clearly itching for a race. I obliged. He beat me, but only because I came up on traffic and had to slow down. To celebrate his victory, he did a wheelie. I gave him a wave but kept all four of the 370Z's wheels on the ground.

You know what the Toyota Prius is and all that it stands for. The third generation of the iconic hybrid vehicle debuted two years ago. Now we’ve driven the Prius v, which Toyota unveiled at last January’s 2011 Detroit auto show. It’s the first time that Toyota has affixed the Prius badge to a vehicle that’s bigger than the current-generation hatchback and its predecessor, the car that made the Prius name a household word.