The sun bears down hot and bright on the tightly wound road course at Spring Mountain Motor Resort and Country Club in the desert just outside Pahrump, Nevada. You’re in Third gear, winding a high-strung turbocharged five-cylinder engine to its 7000-rpm redline. You careen toward Turn 3, a tight, decreasing radius number with a really late apex.

Photo Gallery: Audi TT RS – First Drive – European Car Magazine

Sport utility vehicles ain’t what they used to be. Thank goodness. Most of us really don’t need an old-school, body-on-frame, gas-guzzling galoot. Mercedes-Benz knows this and has given us the M-Class midsize crossover, made with a unibody construction. Sorry to use the cliché “car-like” but that’s exactly what it is.

Photo Gallery: 2012 Mercedes-Benz M-Class – European Car Magazine

We’re nearing a historic moment in automotive history. As a new BMW 3 Series platform looms on the horizon, and with it a new M3—which, it’s speculated, will be powered by a turbocharged version of the BMW inline six-cylinder engine—the naturally aspirated BMW M car as we knew it will have ceased to exist.

Photo Gallery: 2011 BMW 1 Series M Coupe – European Car Magazine

I needed to be reminded what it’s like to have a totally carefree, relaxed motoring experience. Bought new nearly 14 years ago, my car has developed a few nagging noises and personality disorders. Lucky for me the rest of the staff was committed to other vehicles or trips so into the 2011 BMW 535i sedan I went.

Photo Gallery: 2011 BMW 535i – European Car Magazine

Knott’s Berry Farm started as a family restaurant and morphed into a sizable theme park, complete with Wild West shows, roller coasters and assorted “spin and hurl” rides. My college girlfriend was the lead operator on an attraction that would send its screaming passengers to 60 mph in 4.5 seconds, terminating with a 90-degree incline that briefly headed skyward until coasting back to the start. Although the entire sequence took 20 seconds, folks would wait half an hour under the hot SoCal sun to become the equivalent of human slingshot ammo.

Photo Gallery: 2012 BMW M5 – European Car Magazine

I’d like to think the bit of extra work I’ve put in over the last few weeks is partially the reason why editor Bidrawn tossed me the key fob to the 2012 Audi A7 and said I could use it for a few days.

Photo Gallery: 2012 Audi A7 – European Car Magazine

Just when some onlookers thought MINI had lost the plot and gone all soft on us with the Countryman, along comes the MINI Coupe to shovel a generous helping of spice back into the brand.

Photo Gallery: MINI Coupe – Web Exclusive – European Car Magazine

Photo Gallery: MINI Coupe – Web Exclusive – European Car Magazine