The Gazette (Montreal) (Enlarge photo)

06/06/2008 08:03. The last time I was this excited driving an automobile was in 1992. The car was a BMW M5 and it was so intoxicating that I would drive around in third gear just so I could hear that big, high-revving 3.6-litre in-line six

thrash its way to 7,000 rpm, the sweet sound of the cylinders expelling spent exhaust gases competing with the roar of the pistons sucking gas and air through individual throttle bodies.

I didn't sleep much that week.

Technological progress may have taken some of the lustre from that early M5's performance. Six cylinders seem lacking in this age when eight cylinders is the price of entry into the performance category and 10 is considered mid-range. If you really want to get somebody's attention, there had better be 12 great, big honking cylinders, preferably aided by... // The Gazette (Montreal)