Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk

Jeep quotes a 3.5-second zero to 60 time for the Trackhawk, a figure that puts the 5350-lb five-seat SUV neck and neck with a Dodge Viper. I get the feeling Jeep's official number is a touch conservative—on multiple acceleration runs using Launch Control, I was able to cut a 3.3-second sprint to 60 (as measured by the car's Performance Pages dashboard app). Conditions were textbook ideal: The ambient temperature was cool and I was running on the brand-new pavement of Club Motorsport's long straightaway. But there was no magic touch, no delicate finesse required: Just mash the brake and pin the throttle as Launch Control instructs, then drop the brake and let the all-wheel drive system find the traction for you.Read more at www.oktilli.com

Audi TT RS

Toggling between Sport and the occasional Sport Plus, I send the TT surging along the back roads. Even on winter tires, this is a car with a lot of grip. I see how you'd soon come to rely on that traction. Little surprise that this front-engine car doesn't pivot at the hips like the mid-engine Porsche Cayman, its obvious competitor, but the Audi intoxicates with sound and grip. The steering is also very good. The previous generation's variable steering, even in Sport, left the wheel featherlight in switchback turns. This time the strategy is different. When switched into Sport, the 14.0:1 ratio is reduced to 12.0:1 but otherwise remains constant. So every steering wheel input feels exactly like the last. Wonderful.Read moren at www.oktilli.com

Ford Mustang

Next to the GT350’s flat-plane 5.2 liter V-8, the GT’s cross-plane 5.0 is an altogether mellower engine. From idle to redline there’s never any harshness, just the familiar rumbles and murmurs of a traditional V-8. A new active exhaust system is optional ($895) and has four settings to tailor its personality to your mood. In Quiet mode the exhaust still belts out the hits, but from behind the wheel you hear the engine up front more so than behind. Each successive step from Normal to Sport to Track twists the volume knob and makes the 5.0 more obnoxious or delightful depending on your point of view. Ford has even put in a Quiet Start feature that keeps the engine from waking the neighborhood when you fire up your Mustang up at 6 AM.More at www.oktilli.com

Kia Stinger

Controlled and agile, with huge reserves of front-end grip from its 19-inch Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tires, the rear-wheel-drive Stinger GT didn’t feel remotely out of its depth at the Ring. Only the worst of the Nordschleife’s horrific dips that cause extreme compression in every car’s suspension system questioned the Stinger’s resolve and body control. The steering feels natural, and the long, 114.4-inch wheelbase, coupled with a rear-driver’s limited-slip differential, makes neat little tail slides easy to hold.Read more at www.oktilli.com

Dodge Challenger SRT Demon

The whole ensemble is ridiculous. Even without a compound-warming burnout, those fat sticky tires grab every pebble and piece of roadway grit, flinging it all against the underside of the un-upholstered trunk to clatter like marbles in a coffee can. You leave twin gray streaks on the pavement with every 40 roll, supercharger whooping the world's angriest slide-whistle solo as you rocket into the next time zone. The exhaust note roars just a few decibels beyond aggressive, resonating through the cabin unimpeded by the missing rear seat. You can see why Dodge sells this as a quarter-mile car—driven any further, you'd risk massive fatigue, mostly in your smile muscles.For more chek www.oktilli.com

Volvo V90 Cross Country

This plush-but-not-pillowy ride suits the rest of the V90 Cross Country's character really well. I always thought the XC90 and S90 were harsher than they needed to be, given that they're not sporty, and the Cross Country addresses this.

The V90 Cross Country handled itself well on windy dirt roads not too far from Phoenix as well. These roads weren't anything that a Subaru Outback couldn't handle, but the soft suspension was very much welcome when the surface got rocky. Come to think of it, the Outback is an interesting comparison for the V90 Cross Country–really, the Volvo is just a much more luxurious version of the Subaru.Click www.oktilli.com for more

BMW M550i xDrive

It's the sense of control that comes through the clearest on the M550i. That's due in large part to the revamped ZF 8-speed Steptronic transmission, which, in this application, feels better to the dual-clutch gearboxes, matched with the V8. Launching from a stop delivers a boost of controllable but fierce acceleration, with shifts banged off both quickly and disturbingly smoothly. Puttering through small towns and villages, the M550i feels like any other 5. But as soon as the last house whizzes by, a drop of the throttle in third gear elicits a wave of torque starting at 1,800 RPM and pulling hard past five grand. The engine is a peach, revving freely up to 7k and providing plenty of motivation for the 4,400-pound sedan, but it's the set-it-and-forget-it transmission that's shockingly impressive. There are paddles, and it takes less than one hand to count the number of times I used them.Read more at www.oktilli.com