Jason Harper

The $63,000 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT is a strange creation. The interior is as nice as you’ll find on many fancy European cars. It can tow up to 7,200 pounds. It has 470 horsepower. It’s capable of speeds up to 160 miles per hour (without towing).

I pull a white Aston Martin Vantage S roadster out of a Manhattan garage and the rumble of the V-8 reverberates, vibrant and animalistic, down the crowded street.

The parking valets at my Santa Monica hotel know me by name. I’ve stayed here a number of times, but that isn’t the reason for my popularity. No, it’s clearly the Ferrari effect.

I inch out of a restaurant parking lot and onto California’s Pacific Coast Highway, questioning my sanity. I’ve driven some strange contraptions in my time, but the BAC Mono is one of the oddest.

Calling a $47,000 car cheap might seem crass. But it’s a rare day to find a Jaguar for less than $50,000, especially one that looks as good as the XF sedan.

It’s so loud in here that I might as well be operating farm machinery. The cabin reeks of gas, wafting in from the flat-six engine located in the rear of the car. My shoulders are sore from cranking the heavy steering wheel and the frame of the car bucks with every bump in the road.

BMW is working on the little engine that could.

The newly redesigned Mazda 6 is like a skateboard for grown ups. This thought crops up as I zip along a tangled web of hilly roads that make up a very good automotive playground.

The Mercedes-Benz GL SUV is big. Three rows of seats big. More than 5,400 pounds big.

I was stuck in the mother of all traffic jams while test-driving Lexus’s reworked, range-topping executive sedan. And I was counting my lucky stars.

Unlike, say, a 911 Turbo S, a Porsche Cayman S is not a vanity purchase. Tell somebody you’re considering buying one, and they might ask, “Oh, the SUV?”

There are cars that get attention. And then there are Lamborghinis.