A “cute ute” it ain’t. Although the all-new 2010 GMC Terrain shares most of its parts (and its powertrain) with its curvy platform-mate, the Chevy Equinox, the Terrain’s sharp angles and blingy chrome grill set it apart. The five-person Terrain has a few smarty pants tricks up its sleeve, too: a backup cam is standard, and the rear seats push forward to create ass-loads of storage space (63 cubic feet of cargo space). If you can find a small SUV that looks this burly but can do 32 miles per gallon (FWD hwy), email us.

Find out more info about the GMC Terrain

Last week, the fine folks at Volkswagen invited me to San Francisco to check out their cool, new ride—the 2010 VW GTI. So I did just that, and a whole lot more. Here is my account.

I arrived in my hotel room to a wondrous site. VW hooked me up with best gift ever—the key to the mini-bar! Oh, and also an iPod Touch loaded with their amazing Real Racing GTI iPhone/Touch app.

Later we went to dinner at a place where the chefs wore super-cool bandanas. TIP: If you go there, do not get drunk and tell them how much you enjoyed them in The Karate Kid.

The next morning I was greeted by a VW rep who hands me the keys to their new GTI, which looked something like this. And yes, it does kick ass.

Here I am taking a picture on the Golden Gate Bridge while driving the GTI. If you look carefully, you can hear the screams of my videographer in the passenger seat yelling, "Put your damn hands back on the wheel!"

On a winding road atop a hill, high above the city, I stopped to capture this beautiful shot.

On a winding road at the bottom of a hill, I stopped to capture this beautiful shot. My car-sick videographer. My bad.

At a former military base, VW set up a road course complete with racing instructors who displayed the car's amazing stability, incredible cornering and pushed the 2.0 liter, 200 horsepower, turbocharged, four-cylinder engine to its absolute limit. It was just like being in Fast & Furious. Well, if there was a scene where Paul Walker kept screaming, "Slow down, you're scaring the crap out of me!"

Then it was my turn behind the wheel. Here's my racing instructor. His voice said, "Oh yeah, that, uh, wasn't too bad," but his face said something else.

After racing, we went to lunch, where they served traditional Peruvian whipped potato...and daikon...and yucca...and 22 other items I've never heard of.

Following lunch, VW sent us to DJ School, where I dazzled the instructor with my under-the-leg/ripping-the-crotch-of-my-pants scratching technique. The secret? Lots of Red Bull.

Returning to the room I discovered THIS resting on a shelf just above the toilet. It's a personal oxygen mask and costs nearly $70. Apparently the VW reps did an extensive background check on me.

Later we went to a dance club to enjoy some San Francisco nightlife. Originally I took this picture because I was stunned to see that the girl seated was knitting at a dance club. But upon further inspection, that may not have been the weirdest thing in this shot.

Following a night of dancing with a really hot chick in purple pants and some kick-ass white boots, I chilled out with some classic bowling back at the hotel. Thanks VW.

THE STALLION: As the ruler of the Maranello stable, the grand-touring, range-topping 599 GTB had already claimed a spot in the Maxim Dream Car Garage, but with the Handling Gran Turismo Evoluzione upgrade version now available, we’re just gonna have to make room for another. The front-midengined beauty shouts speed and seduces even at a standstill; under its shrink-wrapped skin, the HGTE package makes the 599 quicker and harder handling. Its tires are stickier, its suspension is stiffer, and the ride height has been lowered. The exhaust note of the 6.0-liter V-12 engine has also been retuned (from “godlike” to, uh, “godlike and louder”), and the six-speed manual-automatic F-1-style transmission now shifts a bit faster (those pesky, lightning-quick 100-millisecond shift times? They’ve been shaved down to 80 milliseconds.) Hey! Every little bit counts when you’re trying to make it to work on time. Helio says: with a car this incredible, even the subtle changes the Ferrari engineers have made—the quicker gearbox, the lighter weight—all make a huge difference in the way it performs on the track. And, my God, that noise!

We love Land Rovers, mainly because they look slick on the street, but can seriously throw down on some muddy trail should the urge to go blasting through some serious off-road trails strike you. The LR4 is a big step up from the LR3. It has a bigger, 5.0-liter engine that churns out 375-hp. It also generates more torque than its predecessor, all while cutting down on fuel consumption and carbon emissions. They have also beefed up the suspension and the brakes to make it a better overall performer both on the road and when you're plowing through your neighbor's muddy yard in the middle of the night. It starts at $48,000 and goes way up from there.