Auto News 5

When my buddy Dave proposed that I join him and a couple other friends in an enduro kart race, I was ambivalent. Karting seems goofy. We're talking about grown adults donning race suits and helmets and squeezing themselves into a plastic seat attached to a lawn-mower engine and four tires that look like Stuart Little's space-saver spare. Karting shouldn't require a helmet; it should require a fez. Karts are to cars what ukuleles are to guitars. Also, I resent any sport that mandates spelling as if the dictionary were edited by Kool & the Gang.

It costs $100,000 more than a regular SL65 AMG, so buyers of the 2010 Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG Black Series had better get a little somethin' for their money. And they do-with carbon-fiber body panels, a fixed roof, and styling that makes the Black Series look as though it's an escapee from a DTM race.

The familiar sedan you see here is the most fuel-efficient BMW sold in the United States since the 13-hp Isetta of the late 1950s. And before you look at the specs, where you might expect to see some yawn-inducing straight-line performance numbers, we should point out that the 335d will whup the first- and second-generation M3s in a stoplight drag race. In fact, the 335d nearly keeps up with the muscle-car 335i, a twin-turbo bully of a 3-series that gives the current M3-V-8 and all-a run for its money.