For all the hell they've wrought on American society -- think McRib -- advertisers have also done the public a great service. BMW's latest television and Web commercials are case in point: they reveal the glory that is the heart of every BMW M3, its eight-cylinder engine.

What better way to spread the gospel of BMW's new 4.0-liter V-8? The latest ad campaign isn't only centered on the engine, it's centered inside it. The ad, created by Austin-based GSD&M Idea City, is a 30-second clip capturing the firing pattern of a single cylinder from the inside out -- without the use of CGI or other visual trickery. It was shot over the course of four days, using specially prepared engines with holes drilled in for cameras to get the ad footage.

You've seen the ad by now if you watch shows like The Colbert Report, The Daily Show and Anderson Cooper 360. If you watch anything remotely less liberal, catch it below in this YouTube clip -- and watch the making-of video, too:

A weeklong drive of Mitsubishi’s Lancer Evolution GSR impressed jaw-dropping performance, but it also served to help reinforce, quickly, what I liked better about the Subaru WRX STi that I’d driven a few months back: greater livability, drivability, and practicality.

First off, both of these cars are extremely fast. Both can accelerate to 60 mph in about five seconds; and as we’ve pointed out in our road tests of the STi and the Evo, the Evo maintains more of the sharp-edged feel of the last generation of these performance cars while the STi takes a different approach, still allowing tremendous grip but more suspension compliance.

And while it’s entirely possible — based on what I’ve seen from the magazines that have had both vehicles out for some track time — that I might choose the Evolution after a stint of back-to-back track driving, day in and day out on pockmarked roads the STi is the clear choice.

Yes, the new Evo is somewhat improved in its drivability. The new 4B11 engine is less peaky than its predecessor, with a little less turbo lag and a broader powerband. But drivability is still far from stellar compared to the STi’s revamped 2.5-liter turbo flat-four, which although it turns out similar horsepower figures and yields almost equally fast acceleration, just feels more drivable. And of course there’s the soon-to-arrive BMW 135i, a refined alternative that will further shake up the scene.

Just as in the STi, it pays to keep the Evo’s revs up; if you’re on the high side of 3000 rpm, there’s a lot less lag before the turbo swiftly spools up and delivers its heavy-hitting punch. Much below there in, say, third or fourth gear, you can full-throttle it and still count off a second or two before it really delivers. The Evo's engine is decidedly unhappy lugging along at 1500 rpm in second or third gear in traffic where most other modern performance cars are tolerant if not responsive. And it’s one of the toughest cars I’ve driven in recent years to launch in a smooth fashion from a stop going uphill, without either balking or hurtling ahead—a strong argument for the TC-SST semi-automatic transmission that’s offered in the pricier MR.

The Evo’s steering is arguably superior, as it still manages to have that same quick-ratio feel without feeling too twitchy and while also bringing great feedback from the road.

But you’ll feel and hear the road from wherever you are in the Evo. The overall boom and din inside the cabin at 80 mph on rough pavement (and just about any speed) is perhaps greater than I’ve recently experienced in many roadsters—including the soft-top Audi TT I drove the week before. Is your relationship important? Be prepared for questions like ‘Why is this car so loud?,’ and ‘Why does it have to be so bumpy?’ I certainly heard them.

I much prefer the STi’s hatchback style to the Evo’s sedan body style, but the Evo’s racy front-end styling seemed to be a hit with everyone.

Inside it’s a different story. The Evo’s great Recaro front seats are tremendously supportive but the steering wheel doesn’t telescope. Overall, the interior overall felt a bit plain — certainly better than the last generation car — however the base cloth upholstery felt cheap and unduly attracted lint and hair. The headliner buzzed on downshifts or early upshifts and felt to be made of cardboard; and the doors closed with a disconcertingly hollow sound and feel. And as for first impressions, the first time I got into the Evo with my size-13 dress shoes on, the toe area was scraped up by the sharp, ragged edges of a flimsy heater vent outlet. Sneakers only, folks.

Enthusiast magazines are absolutely gushing over the Evo — rightly so. But if you you’re leaning toward the speedy Mitsu, go get yourself and a companion stuck in traffic on the test drive, ya hear?

We're still waiting for some seat time in the much-anticipated, rear-wheel-drive Pontiac G8 sport sedan, but the details continue to trickle in regarding exactly how the G8 differs from Australia's home-grown muscle car, the Holden Commodore SS, which the G8 will be assembled alongside.

Fortunately, it's sounding like what's soon arriving to Pontiac dealerships is remarkably similar mechanically to what's sold on the other side of the world.

According to Pontiac's marketing director, Craig Bierly, there are relatively few chassis differences between the Commodore SS and the sporty G8 GT model. Bierly verified that the so-called FE2 suspension, standard on the G8 GT and optional on the G8 V6, is identical to that used in the Aussie Commodore SS. On the other hand, the FE1 suspension, standard on the V6 model, is a U.S.-exclusive tune.

Prices and equipment for the G8 were announced last year. The G8 V6, with a 256-hp, 3.6-liter V-6, will start at $27,595, while the G8 GT, with a 361-hp, 6.0-liter V-8, teases at $29,995 — both significantly lower than the Commodore's translated sticker price.

One thing that the U.S.-market Commodore..ehem, G8 GT...will have on the big 6.0-liter V-8 that the Down Under car doesn't is Active Fuel Management, which brings the V-8's EPA highway estimate up to 24 mpg. The 25-mpg figure for the V-6 model isn't much better, and is significantly lower than that of the Grand Prix, which the G8 is replacing. Performance is a strength though for both models; the V-8 can get to 60 mph in 5.3 seconds, and the car has a near-ideal weight distribution.

GM's Australian division, Holden, also built the GTO coupe, which was sold in the U.S. through the 2006 model year. It was closely related to the Australian-market Holden Monaro and was eventually discontinued due to slow sales. GM had been hoping to sell 20,000 GTOs per year, but sales struggled to reach that rate in any of its model years; the company is hoping to move about 50 percent more than the original GTO target, according to Bierly, or about 30,000 G8s annually.

Bierly said that some important lessons were learned with the GTO in sales and marketing channels. For instance, relative to the GTO the G8 will be offered in a reduced number of color and trim variations — one of several factors that contributes to faster dealership delivery and less time at port. Bierly also said that the current car was developed with the U.S. market as part of the plan, while the GTO was brought over on very short notice, mid-product cycle.

The first 888 G8s to be sold in the U.S. will be brought over as a group and given a special instrument-panel plaque featuring a VIN-related number sequence from 001 to 888. There are well over twice that number of Pontiac dealerships in the U.S.

At the North American International Auto Show there's a bewildering number of new designs — including quite a mix of production premieres, production-bound 'concept' prototypes, and even a few unhindered, let-the-designers-loose concepts.

To our untrained eyes, it's often hard to judge them at first glance, especially amidst all the bright lights and auto-show hype. We can separate the hits from the duds with our gut feelings — and by asking whether a concept fits its purpose and has nice proportions — but to get a better sense of which new designs are hits and which may be misses, we checked in with Imre Molnar, the dean of the College for Creative Studies (CCS), which has one of the top automotive design programs in the country and is based in Detroit.

“The principal theme this year has been sustainable transportation and environmental concern,” said Molnar without hesitation, explaining that the industry is already being affected by a number of concerns, including new fuel efficiency regulations that were recently approved. “It's very encouraging to see them put green so high in designers' thinking.”

Chrysler introduced three new concepts, all using under-development plug-in hybrid technology but each with a different 'range extending' powertrain element. Molnar said that the Dodge ZEO and Chrysler ecoVoyager concepts were hits. The ecoVoyager he described as “attractive and compelling,” while the ZEO is, he said, “unusually angular for a sporty car,” but a clear evolution of the previous Bee concept. The design of the Jeep Renegade concept wasn't quite as refined, he said, but still good.

Purely from the standpoint of shapes, surfaces, and proportions, Molnar chose the fast-looking Mazda Furai as his favorite from the show. The latest in a series of concepts that develop Mazda's future design direction, under the supervision of Lawrence van den Acker, the general manager of Mazda's design division, the Furai is more abstract than the thinly veiled, production-bound prototypes now commonly called concept cars.

“Mazda's doing flamboyant expressions of the brand rather than focusing on practical design exercises,” said Molnar, and he's excited to see what will come of it. The cars, he said, are “extremely adventurous and very sophisticated.” The Furai, he says, is “a true concept car, with wild, pret-a-porte styling that's audacious and very thought-provoking, with a good 'wow' factor.”

Another one of Molnar's picks, though for purity of purpose and straightforward appeal more than for the appeal of its sheetmetal, is the Toyota A-Bat, a small, car-based Toyota pickup concept with an frugal hybrid powertrain. “It's the most exciting concept, with regards to 'it has to be made,'” said Molnar.

On the other hand, Molnar was disappointed with the production-bound Fisker Karma, the 100-mpg plug-in hybrid luxury sedan shown publicly for the first time at Detroit. Molnar commended Fisker's design work at Aston Martin and BMW, but said that the Karma's proportions and surfaces just don't work well from a design standpoint.

Noteworthy, but neither a hit nor a miss, is the Ford Explorer America concept. It follows a very purposeful, boxy shape, albeit with rounded edges, according to Molnar, and it's a further evolution of the memorably named Synus concept from 2005. The new concept manages to make ordinary sheetmetal look more sturdy, like billet material, just by the form taken by its surfaces, Molnar said.

Molnar also likes the design of Volkswagen's Passat CC, even though it's a completely different approach. “It has a very organic, biological form,” said Molnar, adding that the design owes a lot to the trends started with Chris Bangle and his BMW concepts from earlier this decade, with curves that look like they're derived from nature. “The CC has very sophisticated surface forms,” he said.

Why the wide range in design today, both in terms of up-close details and the shape of sheetmetal? Up until the last three years or so, according to Molnar, you could relate the way things looked to the manufacturing technology of the time. But with the widespread use of the five-axis CNC mill, times have changed and recent designs have been able to allow any combination of organic surfaces with creases and sharper edges. “Now the technology can give us any shape,” said Molnar.

“Callaway is bringin’ it!” someone just told me over my shoulder, staring at this pic of the new Callaway C16 Cabrio. What they’re bringing, we couldn’t clarify despite repeated attempts to talk through their Taco Bell 64-ouncer. But we can confirm Callaway is bringing something to New York—a supercharged, modified ‘Vette dubbed the C16 Cabrio. The ‘vertible ‘Vette, plumped up with Callaway supercharging and styling, spits out 616 horsepower and brazenly wears a pricetag of about $130,000, putting it in Ford GT category as well as weekend studio in Orlando category. It just goes to show you: there’s no substitution for cubic inches except supercharging. And balls.

CALLAWAY SPINS C16 CABRIO INTO JAVITS—TheCarConnection.com