The last time we did this the American vanquished the mighty Bavarian with a brutal 1-2 combo of power and balance. Like the new challenger from Britain, the 2010 Jaguar XFR. Both were mentored by some of the best corner men in the business, Jaguar chief engineer Mike Cross and former GM Performance Division director and test ace, John Heinricy. Can Coventry’s battle cat take the belt away from our American hero? Badging aside, XFR upgrades amount to a front bumper with larger inlets, more deeply drawn rocker panels, quad exhaust pipes and the slightest of rear spoilers.

The idle is too lumpy, too raspy, too loud. Declutch a cold engine and coast to a stop, and the exhaust crackles and sizzles the sound of raw fuel hitting hot metal.There is something unapologetic ballsy about Roush’s latest creation, the 2010 Roush 427R Mustang. Ford’s torch red combined with Roush’s reverse Starsky and Hutch decals draws more cops than Dunkin’s free-doughnut Friday.

The photo car wears 19-inch wheels, though our tester has more reasonable 225/50 17 tires.The sweeping center stack has finger-friendly switchgear that manages to carry out a wide range of tasks without the need for an iDrive-type controller. It’s the same platform as the Chevy Cruze, but the suspension gets some notable refinements.

Four shift modes are available, with Sport Plus perhaps the most impressive. Like Porsche’s dual-clutch PDK transmission, the MCT in Sport Plus upshifts and downshifts as if guided by your thoughts. Then brake hard from speed when approaching a corner and watch as the MCT automatically blips the throttle and fires two machine-gun downshifts. Brilliant stuff.

I say seems because its interior passenger volume is actually slightly less than the CR-V’s, and considerably short of the RAV4’s. There’s no psycho-trickery about the interior’s quietness, though. GM’s application of quiet glass, triple door seals, and quite a novelty here active noise cancellation all make the Equinox darn silent for its category.