The Nissan GT-R is not warm and cuddly. Perhaps that's to be expected of a car that is widely known as Godzilla. The GT-R's fearsome legend grew during the years it was sequestered in far-off Japan, but its awesome prowess came to be known worldwide thanks to its long-running feature role in the Gran Turismo video game series. Finally, the GT-R's international stardom proved so great that Nissan developed the sixth-generation model for a worldwide market, including North America.

Scientists can't classify it as an element, but soil is one of the few substances on this planet we simply cannot live without. Foliage and food sources spring from it, our modern world is built atop of it, and arguably, it provides the basis for one of the most entertaining forms of motorsport ever created: rallying.

So, what makes this G37 an Anniversary Edition? Well, it has a Premium package, a navigation package, a sport package, and four-wheel active steering. It also has a new exterior color that most of us would call gray but Nissan calls Graphite Shadow. Its interior is leather, colored Monaco Red. (We've had lots of cars with red leather interiors lately, and I have to say that they don't really float my boat, but this one is well-executed.)

Months in Fleet: One
Miles to date: 3163

Miles: 19,500
Months in Fleet: Eight

High-performance SUVs seem to be the answer to a question no one asked. An ultrafast vehicle with a center of gravity higher than some sports cars' rooflines and weighs as much as several sports cars combined? Sounds like a recipe for a rollover. Nonetheless, automakers have found the concept rather popular -- and profitable -- and we can't deny that these vehicles can be impressive performers.

It's easy enough to be wooed by the svelte form of the Infiniti G37 coupe, but its $36,915 entry price isn't exactly an easy hurdle for all consumers to clear. Perhaps G37 fans on a strict budget may be intrigued by the 2010 Nissan Altima 3.5 SR Coupe. It's hard to argue that the two-door Altima isn't an attractive car, but does the midsize, front-wheel-drive coupe have enough substance to support its good looks?

Months in fleet: Five
Mileage to date: 18,246

The Lexus LFA and the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG are about as different in approach and ability as a muscular sprinter is from a sinewy long-distance runner. It's a clash of characters along the lines of a Suzuki Hayabusa sportbike taking on a BMW K1300S, a Moog synthesizer compared with a Steinway piano, or techno music as opposed to Beethoven. This is a little surprising when one compares the almost identical DNA of the two supercoupes. Both cars are front-engined; are powered by high-revving, normally aspirated engines; feature a well-balanced transaxle layout; rely on lightweight body structures; and make do with nonadjustable suspension and steering setups.

After a decade-plus run, production of well over 1-million units, and global distribution, Chrysler's spunky homage to 1930s design has ground to a halt. The last Chrysler PT Cruiser has been delivered and no replacement is likely. The chronology that follows celebrates the bright moments of its illustrious life.

It's hard to justify the cost of a luxury wagon when an SUV gives you more room, is cheaper, and in some cases, drives better. The Mercedes-Benz E350 4matic wagon is a nice car, but with a $66,775 price tag, it's not very logical.

Once the poster child of the traditional-SUV segment, the Ford Explorer is now a front-wheel-drive, four-cylinder, unibody crossover -- at least in base trim. It may be a strange and dramatic departure from the Explorer of yesteryear, but Ford execs are confident the new strategy can halt the icon's cliff dive from 445,157 sales in 2000 to 31,864 through the first six months of 2010. Fuel economy, they say, is the reason the segment has stalled. That explains the four-cylinder base engine, a 2.0-liter turbocharged unit generating 237 hp and 250 lb-ft of torque. The numbers aren't official yet, but a 30 percent increase in fuel economy over last year's V-6 is expected, which should yield 18 mpg in the city and 26 mpg on the highway.

The 2008 introduction of the Genesis sedan has been the exclamation point to Hyundai's rapid ascension from bargain brand to mainstream automaker. The premium, rear-wheel-drive entry showed the Koreans had the confidence and desire to take on more prestigious and more established brands by going head-to-head with the likes of the Lexus GS460 and the Mercedes-Benz E550. Hyundai isn't slowing down, though. The company is continuing its ambitious march forward with the bigger, pricier, and more luxurious 2011 Hyundai Equus, set to arrive in August.

Over the past five years, just about every German automaker has rushed to combine the body styles coupe and sedan, with varying levels of success. Not Audi. The automaker from Ingolstadt has more or less sat coolly on the sidelines as its rivals launched all manner of so-called four-door coupes, sport-activity vehicles, and four-door-coupe-hatchback supercars. Now, at last, we're seeing Audi's contribution to this fledgling segment in the form of the production A7.

World-class luxury and mind-altering performance, a rate combination of traits that few automakers are capable of bringing to the table. Mercedes-Benz is one such automaker and its latest creations, the AMG versions of the new 2011 CL-Class, certainly fit the bill.

The new 2011 Mustang GT with the 5.0-liter engine is nothing short of amazing. I really feel bad for 2010 Mustang GT owners, and if I were one, I'd want my money back. The upgraded power is ridiculous with 412 ponies now stuffed under the hood and a short-throw six-speed manual gearbox.

In late 1990, the Ford Explorer made its debut, effectively defining the sport-utility vehicle segment that it would reign over for the decade that followed. Based on the Ford Ranger pickup, its mechanicals didn't exactly set the world on fire, but the concept of a versatile, off-road-ready family hauler did.

Driving pleasure doesn't get much more involving than this. The Porsche 911 alerts your sixth sense even in basic Carrera form, but you can, of course, upgrade according to your budget: Carrera S, Turbo, Turbo S, GT3, GT3 RS. Last in line is now the GT2 RS, which musters an awe-inspiring 620 hp. BMW tells a similar story, with the six-cylinder 3-series models meeting their master in the V-8-engined M3, which in turn is eclipsed by the brand-new 450-hp GTS. Both top-of-the-range coupes are track-oriented, featuring adjustable wings and suspension elements along with race seats and roll cages. On the road, they feel firm, look loud, and make a fair bit of noise, but if you don't mind extra tramlining and a harsh ride, these German sportsters are perfectly acceptable everyday stimulants from spring through autumn. Feel inclined to sign on the dotted line? Hold your breath. After all, the $245,000 Porsche is limited to 500 pieces, and BMW will assemble only 136 units of the fire-orange GTS, which costs about $140,000 in Europe and, unlike the Porsche, will not be sold in the United States.

The new QX56 is a huge beast, but it's also incredibly useful and luxurious. You could say the same about previous-generation QX, too, but the new model also adds a great deal more refinement, slick styling (rather than a simpler, truck-like look), more available features, and significantly more power. I particularly enjoyed the heated steering wheel, ventilated seats, and seriously nice sound system.

According to the Wolfsburg grapevine, the Volkswagen Group is set to increase its 19.9 percent share in Suzuki by ten percent annually over the next four to five years. What for? We've already learned that VW might be interested in building a low-cost, Japanese version of the Up! but now it seems that the Germans are also eyeing Suzuki's crossovers, particularly the next generation of the SX4.

The last place one would expect to find devotion to a two-decade-old, iron-block six-cylinder engine is Volkswagen. The company has developed a line of powerful turbocharged, direct-injected four-cylinders, but VW remains committed to an aging engine that defies easy categorization: the VR6.

If you think about it, it's really quite surprising that we, as a country, love the Volkswagen Jetta as much as we have. It's been VW's most successful car here for thirty years, and yet it's been an afterthought this whole time. Take a Golf -- one of the most popular cars in the world, but never embraced by the U.S. public -- add a trunk, and voila, you have a bestseller.

Contrary to Nissan's "4DSC" marketing campaign, the Maxima is no four-door sports car in my eyes. It's definitely a sporty four-door, but it feels too heavy to be a true sports car. The 290-hp V-6 does make the front-wheel-drive Maxima quite peppy, but a consequence of this is that there's a fair amount of torque steer under hard acceleration. It doesn't help that a CVT (the only available transmission in this car) is the least sporty type of transmission out there. The CVT does its job pretty well, although the engine takes a while to wind out in "first gear" when you're shifting manually through the six simulated ratios of the CVT (selectable via the console shifter or the column-mounted paddles).