At 7.6 seconds, the 2012 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon is 3.9 seconds quicker to 60 mph than the SUV it replaces, thanks to its new 285-hp, 3.6-liter V-6 and five-speed automatic. To put that in perspective: You could run a BMW M3 sedan to 60 mph and then, very immediately  thereafter, run the new  ute to 60 mph in the same time it would take the old one, with its four-speed auto and 3.8-liter noisemaker, to huff  its way to that speed.

Keep Reading: 2012 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon – Instrumented Test

At 7.6 seconds, the 2012 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon is 3.9 seconds quicker to 60 mph than the SUV it replaces, thanks to its new 285-hp, 3.6-liter V-6 and five-speed automatic. To put that in perspective: You could run a BMW M3 sedan to 60 mph and then, very immediately  thereafter, run the new  ute to 60 mph in the same time it would take the old one, with its four-speed auto and 3.8-liter noisemaker, to huff  its way to that speed.

Keep Reading: 2012 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon – Instrumented Test

At some point during a two-day drive of the all-new Mercedes-Benz ML63 AMG, something interesting happened. Your author learned to stop worrying and love the bomb.

Keep Reading: 2012 Mercedes-Benz ML63 AMG – First Drive Review

Land Rover has been trying to bolster its sales with a small ute for a while. The first, 2002’s Freelander, was slow, unpretty, and—at a base price of less than $26,000—might have been a bit too cheap to support the cachet of its brand. In Europe, where the brand’s image still is intimately tied to the utilitarian Defender, it worked. Here, where the brand is, like a double-nosed Andean tiger hound, something that matters primarily to the landed gentry, it didn’t. Freelander sales only occasionally surpassed those of anything else in the lineup. In becoming the LR2, Land Rover’s wee one grew more powerful, but it also just plain grew, gaining about 600 pounds in the process. It was quicker but still slow, slightly less unpretty, and, with a base sticker almost 10 grand higher than the Freelander’s, inaccessible to more people. Rover’s smallest continued to trade the bottom sales slot with the LR3/LR4.

Keep Reading: 2012 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque – Instrumented Test

Land Rover has been trying to bolster its sales with a small ute for a while. The first, 2002’s Freelander, was slow, unpretty, and—at a base price of less than $26,000—might have been a bit too cheap to support the cachet of its brand. In Europe, where the brand’s image still is intimately tied to the utilitarian Defender, it worked. Here, where the brand is, like a double-nosed Andean tiger hound, something that matters primarily to the landed gentry, it didn’t. Freelander sales only occasionally surpassed those of anything else in the lineup. In becoming the LR2, Land Rover’s wee one grew more powerful, but it also just plain grew, gaining about 600 pounds in the process. It was quicker but still slow, slightly less unpretty, and, with a base sticker almost 10 grand higher than the Freelander’s, inaccessible to more people. Rover’s smallest continued to trade the bottom sales slot with the LR3/LR4.

Keep Reading: 2012 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque – Instrumented Test

Now in its 33rd year, the Mercedes-Benz Geländewagen—a.k.a. the G-class—is in better shape than ever. This comes after the plan hatched a few years ago to replace the military-derived vehicle with the GL-class, a modern seven-passenger SUV built on a stretched M-class platform. (The second-gen GL is due this year; info and spy photos are here.) But continued strong sales convinced the company to keep the G in its portfolio, and a particular source of joy for the brand had been the remarkable success of its powerful and expensive AMG derivative, the G55. That model was discontinued after the 2011 model year—read our test and exit interview here—and was powered by the brand’s “beloved” (to borrow a word from AMG boss Ola Källenius) supercharged 5.5-liter V-8.

Now Mercedes-Benz is readying its next refresh of the G, which should banish the traces of 1990s design still scattered throughout the interior. This will include the adoption of the central COMAND knob to control infotainment functions, likely along with other more-modern M-B switchgear and displays. We don’t expect many exterior changes outside of perhaps minor bumper and lighting updates; the G-Wagen will look as the G-Wagen should when it arrives this spring. And if anything, given Benz’s current, aggressively angular styling language, the brutal SUV will at least sort of fit in stylistically with its showroom brethren. So long as they don’t mess with the bolt-action ka-CHUNK door locks, we’ll be good.

But there’s more: Mercedes-AMG is working on a G63, as depicted in the spy photos in this post, to replace the departed G55. Some rumors have pegged the next G AMG as a V-12–powered G65, but we’re hearing that’s not the case; rather, the G63 will adopt the 5.5-liter twin-turbo V-8 now installed in most of the current AMG 63 models. Like its predecessor, the G63 won’t defy physics on a twisty road, but it will be one of the most intimidating, loud, awesome, and seriously bad-ass vehicles extant.

Now in its 33rd year, the Mercedes-Benz Geländewagen—a.k.a. the G-class—is in better shape than ever. This comes after the plan hatched a few years ago to replace the military-derived vehicle with the GL-class, a modern seven-passenger SUV built on a stretched M-class platform. (The second-gen GL is due this year; info and spy photos are here.) But continued strong sales convinced the company to keep the G in its portfolio, and a particular source of joy for the brand had been the remarkable success of its powerful and expensive AMG derivative, the G55. That model was discontinued after the 2011 model year—read our test and exit interview here—and was powered by the brand’s “beloved” (to borrow a word from AMG boss Ola Källenius) supercharged 5.5-liter V-8.

Now Mercedes-Benz is readying its next refresh of the G, which should banish the traces of 1990s design still scattered throughout the interior. This will include the adoption of the central COMAND knob to control infotainment functions, likely along with other more-modern M-B switchgear and displays. We don’t expect many exterior changes outside of perhaps minor bumper and lighting updates; the G-Wagen will look as the G-Wagen should when it arrives this spring. And if anything, given Benz’s current, aggressively angular styling language, the brutal SUV will at least sort of fit in stylistically with its showroom brethren. So long as they don’t mess with the bolt-action ka-CHUNK door locks, we’ll be good.

But there’s more: Mercedes-AMG is working on a G63, as depicted in the spy photos in this post, to replace the departed G55. Some rumors have pegged the next G AMG as a V-12–powered G65, but we’re hearing that’s not the case; rather, the G63 will adopt the 5.5-liter twin-turbo V-8 now installed in most of the current AMG 63 models. Like its predecessor, the G63 won’t defy physics on a twisty road, but it will be one of the most intimidating, loud, awesome, and seriously bad-ass vehicles extant.