Auto News 5

We're flat-out on Germany's Sachsenring race track in the new Mercedes SLS AMG, chassis number 00045, a mildly camouflaged pre-production model. Ahead is an SL65 AMG Black Series--twin-turbo V-12, 670 hp, 738 lb-ft of torque--driven by Tobias Moers, head of AMG's r&d division, seasoned race instructor and today's pace-setter. Filling his mirrors, our red gullwing keeps pushing harder and harder, even though its normally aspirated 6.2-liter V-8 is rated at a comparably modest 571 hp and 479 lb-ft. The Sachsenring has plenty of slow corners, lots of climbs and descents, two long straights and two very fast and very blind fourth-gear bends.

Months in service:Ten
Miles to date: 27,530

The brand-new Kia Forte Koup is Kia's first two-door coupe and a sibling to the new Forte sedan, which is Kia's replacement for its sad-sack Spectra and its answer to cars like the Honda Civic, the Toyota Corolla, and the Mazda3. The "Koup" moniker is a melding of the "K" from "Kia" and the "oup" from "coupe." The Forte Koup will be at Kia dealers by August or September.

For 2010, the Range Rover gets a variety of upgrades aimed at improving the driving experience: both available engines have an extra dose of horsepower, the interior is even more luxurious, and the level of technology, both inside the cabin and under the skin, is more impressive than ever.

Bill Reinert, Toyota's in-house energy guru and resident contrarian, looks like he's just taken a whiff of a long-expired container of milk.

Months in fleet: Six
Mileage to date: 10,615 miles

Your retinas may be reeling from the visual assault of the blinding yellow Ferrari Scuderia Spider 16M, but that optical barrage doesn't pack half the wallop this Italian inflicts on your cochlea. There is nothing graceful, respectful, or restrained about the Ferrari's exhaust note. In response to any quick stab of the aluminum accelerator pedal, the engine-control computer tells valves in the exhaust to bypass the mufflers. I call those baffles valvole di vaffanculo, because to open them is to raise an acoustic middle finger to anyone within earshot. (Valvole in Italian means valve. Vaffanculo, if you have never watched The Sopranos, is Italy's favorite NC-17 way of telling you to go fly a kite.) Luckily, the 503 rambunctious horses under the glass cover provide sufficient thrust to make the car disappear in an invisible cloud of hydrocarbons before anyone has the chance to flip the bird back at you.

Months in Fleet: Four
Miles to Date: 8,830

For 2010, the Mercedes-Benz S-class gains its first-ever hybrid powertrain, a clear indication that its maker is shifting from a strict diesel approach to efficiency and finally acknowledging the worth of hybrids as an essential step on the path to electric propulsion. What's more, the Mercedes S400 Hybrid is the world's first production hybrid automobile using lithium-ion batteries (the Tesla Roadster is powered solely by Li-ion batteries). Hybrid propulsion systems aren't anything new, of course, but they're still rare in the luxury class, where the Lexus LS600hL has been standing alone for the past two years.

The Q7's 3.0-liter TDI diesel V-6 is a winner. It's so quiet, so smooth, and so powerful. Well, so torquey, I guess I should say, since it has 406 lb-ft, compared with 266 lb-ft for the 3.6-liter gasoline V-6 offered in the base Q7. Cruising at 80 mph on the freeway is effortless, and if you gun it to 90 mph or higher while you're passing, it's as if the engine is not even exerting itself. The powertrain is also very smooth and refined at slower, around-town speeds. It's a very tractable engine, well-mated to its six-speed automatic. Audi estimates a 0-to-60-mph time of 8.5 seconds (not bad for a 5512-pound, 16.7-foot-long crossover) and a range of up to 600 miles in freeway driving, based on the highway EPA rating of 25 mpg and the 26.4-gallon fuel tank.

I can't say I ever thought our Four Seasons Jaguar XF Supercharged needed more power, but the XFR's extra 90 hp is an absolute hoot. The XF's superb chassis easily handles the extra power, and subtle differences in the interior and exterior details let enthusiasts know your XFR is something special.

In photos, you can't tell the size of the 2009 WheeGo Whip. They look tiny -- perhaps the size of a Smart ForTwo. In person, all that changes. Regardless of which powertrain is fitted under the Whip's hood, this car is bigger than you expect.

I know this isn't the first thing I should be commenting on after my first-ever drive in a Porsche 911, but, wow, what a gorgeous interior. The no-nonsense, leather-swathed cabin says "expensive and fast" better than our Audi R8, with all of its carbon fiber trim, or our Nissan GT-R, with its multiple electronic display screens.

Is the Horsepower War Almost Over?
War is hell, unless it's a horsepower war, in which case it's kind of fun. For more than a decade, the cars from AMG have been on the front lines of the horsepower wars, which have seen the top autobahn rockets - most, naturally, from Germany - zoom past 300, then 400, and now 500 horsepower. But all good wars must one day come to an end, and for the horsepower wars, that day is starting to feel very close indeed. The new E63 AMG, for example, uses the same engine as the previous model (AMG's near-ubiquitous 6.2-liter V-8) and pushes its headline figure ahead by only 11 hp.

Months in Fleet: Four
Mileage to Date: 17,752

In pursuit of better fuel economy, carmakers have created various forms of hybrids. In pursuit of a childhood dream, Chris Lentz created a wild hybrid.