Pontiac — Some road warriors like to crank up Springsteen’s “Born to Run.” Others prefer Tom Cochrane’s “Life is a Highway” or AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell.”

I’ll take the Chevy Corvette Z06’s flat-plane crank overhead-cam V-8 engine.

Wound at 8,500 RPM around M1 Concourse’s 1.5-mile circuit in Pontiac — WAAAAWRRHH! — the music from the ‘Vette’s four centrally-mounted pipes out back is irresistible. The eight-speed, dual-clutch gearbox downshifts automatically from 4^th to 2^nd into the hairpin — WHAP! WHAP! — holding gear in the meat of the 6,000 RPM rev band so that I could explode off the corner and down the back straight. WAAAAWRRHH! to 120 mph it howled.

Look back over 70 years of Corvette’s greatest hits, and the Z06’s Ferrari-inspired 5.5-liter V-8 — the most powerful, normally-aspirated engine built today — is right at the top. This is a Ferrari in ‘Vette drag. Taking the Corvette C8’s inherently balanced mid-engine layout, Z06 cranks up the shock stiffness by 30% over the base Stingray’s Z51 track package for a flat, nimble chassis that responded instantly to my steering inputs.

Unlike front-engine ‘Vettes of yore, the car’s 107-inch wheelbase shrank around me, and I rotated easily from corner to corner, nailing apexes with effortless precision. It’s a confident feeling and very close to the screaming, 9,000-RPM flat-6 Porsche 911 GT3 RS — the benchmark for supercar handling and visceral thrills — that I recently destroyed California’s Thermal Raceway with.

Can we compare 911 GT3 RS data (courtesy of Car and Driver) to give you a sense of just how good this ‘Vette is? Same 1.16 lateral g-loads on the skid pad, similar 0-60 mph time (2.6 seconds for Z06, 2.7 for GT3), similar braking (139-feet 70-0 mph Z06 versus 133 feet for GT3). Whoa.

Yet my $147,690 ‘Vette is $125K cheaper than the Porsche — and 1/3^rd the price of the Ferrari 269GTB whose engine it mirrors.

These are cars at the summit of production performance — rare gems curated by Ferrari, Porsches, McLaren and yes, Chevrolet — to be supreme on track and on road.

Think I exaggerate? Consider supercar enthusiast Frank Moceri, 58, of Bloomfield Hills.

An avid racer, Moceri’s stable includes a 2012 Ferrari 458 Challenge, 2016 Ferrari 458 Challenge and a 2023 Corvette Z06. High-revving, flat-plane crank V-8s all. Moceri races the Ferraris all over the country from Road America in Wisconsin to Daytona to Sonoma, California.

“The Ferraris are race cars with stripped interiors. They’re lighter, stiffer, better handling — but the Z06 is really good,” he said as we admired his black-and-red Z06 next to my orange tester in M1’s paddock. “I like to take it on track as a break from the hardcore Ferraris.”

The flat-plane crank V-8, the taut handling, the mid-engine style. All that appealed to him, and the fact that the ‘Vette — like his first, 1981 Camaro Z28 sports car — is Made in America by a hometown brand.

“The mid-engine C8 had instant appeal for me when it first came out in 2020,” said Moceri. He tracks his cars and waited for the superior Z06. The only time he’s taken it on the road was for a trip to Florida — where he took it out on another test track, The Motor Enclave outside Tampa (designed by one of M1’s founders, Brad Oleshansky).

“The 1,200-mile trip helped me reach the 1,500 miles recommended by Chevy before tracking the car,” smiled Moceri.

He enjoyed the trip, which is more than a lot of owners can say about their track toys. I had a pal buy a 911 GT3 that he traded it in for a Targa a year later because it was killing his back. Great track car, problematic road car.

Not the Z06 which, despite its stiffer setup, uses its magnetic dampers to good effect in TOUR mode. I ran errands around town with the ‘Vette’s healthy cargo space (the frunk holds a carry-on suitcase, the rear a set of golf clubs) and was no worse for the wear, thanks to the comfortable seats and ride.

Sure, like Dom Turretto showing off his guns in a muscle shirt, Z06 wants you to know it has 670 horses under the rear deck. Start it up in the morning — WHOOM! CRACKLE! POP! — and it’ll wake everyone in the neighborhood. Idle in SPORT or TRACK mode and it sounds like an IndyCar in the pits. Or a T-Rex gargling razor blades. But you can select STEALTH mode to turn down the theater when desired.

It’s part of a cabin filled with high-tech tools to match any luxe vehicle. For 2024, the rear-camera mirror comes standard, which is a good thing because you can’t see out of the narrow greenhouse. Cadillac IMSA prototypes use camera mirrors for better visibility in race traffic, and I found it essential when switching lanes in Detroit traffic as well.

I navigated the metro area with wireless Android Auto, barked voice commands at the screen, programmed the Z MODE steering wheel button, and located the Personal Data Recorder in the screen should I want to record my hot laps.

Because at the end of the day, this rocket is all about hot laps. Track it or sell it.

You’ll know the Z06 by its wicked exoskeleton. Huge front air intakes to feed additional engine oil coolers. Expanded side intakes. And a (must have) aero package with front spoiler, dive planes and rear wing that gives the appearance of a scorpion ready to strike. The aero package makes about 734 pounds of downforce at 180 mph — well below the GT3 RS’s 1,900 pounds — but you’ll never see those speeds unless Nürburgring is your local track.

Better to buy the optional near-slick Michelin Cup 2 tires — or better yet, just buy a set of slicks. On my hot laps around M1, the brakes were so ferocious that the standard Michelin Pilot Sport 4S summer tires (10.8 inches wide front, 13.6 inches rear) struggled to maintain grip. Slicks could take full advantage of the brakes, not to mention the added cornering Gs.

Owner Moceri is so enamored with his Z06 that he thinks Chevy should follow Ferrari and create a Corvette Challenge series with a stripped-down Z06. “I’d buy it,” he smiled. And I doubt he’d miss the stereo with that glorious V-8 soundtrack.

2023 Chevrolet Corvette Z06

Vehicle type: Mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive two-passenger supercar

Price: $112,295 base, including $1,395 destination ($147,690 as tested)

Power plant: 5.5-liter V-8

Power: 670 horsepower, 460 pound-feet of torque

Transmission: eight-speed automatic

Performance: 0-60 mph, 2.6 seconds (Car and Driver); top speed, 189 mph

Weight: 3,434 pounds (mfr.)

Fuel economy: EPA 12 mpg city/19 mpg highway/14 mpg combined

Report card

Highs: V-8 from the gods; tenacious grip

Lows: New-car plastic smell; its limits can only be approached on track

Overall: 4 stars

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.

Charlevoix — The BMW 760i is a land yacht. Striking bow. Sumptuous living quarters. All the latest technological amenities that require a shelf of manuals to operate. A big ol’ V-8 engine below decks to get you to your next port of call.

Let me give you a tour.

Like a yacht, I took the BMW’s flagship model up north to Charlevoix for the weekend. But I didn’t tow it, I drove it. The Lake Michigan coastline is peppered with marinas stuffed with sailboats, motorboats and yachts in summertime. Not all of us own a boat, but we have friends who do. They tend to be generous — welcoming friends aboard their prized assets for entertainment, water skiing, or just to hang out and watch fireworks.

Celebrity yachts are measured in feet like, say, the DeVos family’s 178-footer or Kid Rock’s 200-foot cutter. The seventh-generation 7-series length is measured in inches (212 to be exact) but has no less presence. The bow is particularly formidable with its enormous kidneys, black trim and squared-off hood that reminded many of my passengers of a Rolls.

There was no Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornament parting the waves, but the front end is so tall that BMW has adopted mid-facia headlights (like many SUVs on the market) to reduce glare for oncoming traffic. The Jeep Cherokee innovated this design back in 2014, but it has since been adopted by premium brands from GMC to BMW to Buick. With the headlights next to the grille, the fascia focus is on the thin LD “eyebrow” lights at the hood-line.

The rest of the car’s flanks are simple, clean, business-like. The real action starts when you open the front door. Or rather, when it opens for you.

Push a button on the Bimmer’s slab-like doors and they briefly gap — then swing open automatically (though not too far if another vehicle is parked next door) to welcome you in. Slide in, press the brake pedal and the door swings shut behind you. Or just speak and the door will close. Cool.

Want to exit? Push the door icon on the left-side dash and the door automatically opens for you to get out. Walk away from the 7, and the doors will swing closed behind you with the touch of the BMW fob. There are myriad other options to learn, and buyers should insist on a day-long course to cover them all (heck, my wife got a healthy electronics course when buying her $30K Subaru).

Like the exterior, the interior is beautifully, simply crafted. A curved, hoodless 27-inch screen dominates the dash — 12.3-inch digital instrument and 14.9-inch infotainment displays contained within. They are supported by wireless Android Auto so you can tell the car where to go (another hiccup: the native voice recognition system is inconsistent). Though BMW was a pioneer of remote rotary screen controllers 20 years ago, the brand now also offers touchscreen control for our smartphone era. I never used the controller (nor did anyone else who drove it) — an artifact that now takes up precious console room.

That console space is helped by a small, exquisite glass shifter. Yes, glass. While BMW has been experimenting with a variety of polarizing exterior designs — 10-story kidney grilles, Lego block M2s — its interior use of glass controls is beyond reproach. Check out the jewel-like glass seat controls on the 760i. They are as functional as they are beautiful.

But the real interior show is in the back seat. Literally.

In the front infotainment display (among the blizzard of apps) is a blizzard of modes to match your mood (SPORT, EXPRESSIVE, RELAX). One of those modes is THEATER.

Activate it and the entire rear seat turns into an Emagine cinema. A 31-inch screen (equipped to show movies, Fire TV channels and so forth) folds down from the roof. Blinds go down across the side and rear windows. If the front passenger seat is empty, the right rear-seat occupant can turn their seat into a Barcalounger to better enjoy the entertainment.

Access the mini-screens on the door handles (yes, the door handles have mini-screens), then choose the chair recline option, which not only collapses the front seat but activates an ottoman for your feet. Be sure and fluff up the pillow attached to the rear headrest. What, no drink bar?

The rear passenger can further take control by activating seat massagers for the entire cabin. Kudos to one of my family members for discovering this feature while I was driving. Should the driver be annoyed by this intrusion, they can switch the massager off in their own front screen. Drivers are likely to be more annoyed by discovering they can no longer see out the back of the car thanks to the blind over the rear window. My tester did not come with a rearview camera mirror. A rare technical hiccup.

There is no hiccup when it comes to power. Talk to boat companies and they demand big engines to handle the Great Lakes’ multiple weather challenges — and to simply get their successful passengers where they need to go on time.

The 760i sports a thumping, 4.4-liter, twin-turbo V-8 with 536 horsepower and enough torque to tow the Queen Mary. Mated to an eight-speed automatic, it’s as smooth as you’d expect from one of the world’s premier engine makers. And the addition of rear-wheel-steer helps it carve sharp corners (and tight parking lots). Yet, the eight-holer — even in SPORT mode — seems as removed as the engines of cruise liners deep below decks.

Just like mega-yachts, the 760i comes with hands-free driving (on divided highways only), with a camera monitoring you from behind the instrument display to ensure you stay engaged. BMW trails Cadillac’s Super Cruise, which is the best hands-free system I’ve driven from Detroit to Charlevoix. The Bimmer performs similar tricks like auto lane changes but it hasn’t mapped as much interstate as Super Cruise and the system cut out frequently during my journey. Neither does it have subtle features (innovated by Ford’s BlueCruise and Tesla Autopilot) that automatically move your vehicle to the outside of the left-lane when passing large 18-wheelers.

For a $150,000 land yacht, these are notable misses. Though most owners — especially those who will experience this vehicle entirely from the rear seat after hiring a skipper — will never explore its myriad features.

Instead, they will enjoy showing off their state-of-the-art craft, from its cabin glass sculptures to its lovely graphics interface to its luscious red leather seats (just like the ones in the Bimmer in the latest “Mission Impossible” movie).

If one of those owners invites you on deck for a tour, be sure to accept.

Next week:

2023 BMW 760i xDrive

Vehicle type: Front-engine, all-wheel-drive five-passenger sports sedan

Price: $114,595 base, including $995 destination ($149,045 as tested)

Power plant: 4.4-liter twin-turbocharged V-8

Power: 536 horsepower, 553 pound-feet of torque

Transmission: eight-speed automatic

Performance: 0-60 mph, 4.1 seconds (mfr.); 130 mph

Weight: 5,095 pounds

Fuel economy: EPA 18 mpg city/26 mpg highway/21 mpg combined

Report card

Highs: Technological showcase; powerful V-8

Lows: Lags in self-driving tech; polarizing styling

Overall: 3 stars

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.

Bowmanville, Ontario — Subaru has carved out a niche in the competitive U.S. landscape against full-line behemoths like Chevrolet, Toyota and Ford by offering competent cars like the Impreza to consumers who want reliable, affordable, all-wheel-drive vehicles.

Consumers like Mrs. Payne.

So when Subie comes to market with a new Impreza every five years, I get the chance to see the customer buying experience up close and personal. When the 2024 Impreza arrived in my driveway this June, my wife wanted to put it through the paces on a road trip to Ontario, where I would be racing sports cars at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (or, simply, Mosport to race fans).

She was not just interested in the latest Subaru take on tech goo-gaws that her husband writes about all the time (big touchscreens, wireless Apple CarPlay, driver-assistance systems) but also whether the new model suffered from the same bug that has plagued her current 2017 car.

On the cusp of buying her third-generation Impreza, this is a make-or-break generation for my wife. While the Impreza has met her needs — to the point where she is a missionary for Subaru to friends and family — the ‘17 model has failed in one crucial area: it has an electronic hiccup that is driving her bonkers.

When left unattended for a few days, her Impreza Sport’s battery will drain — leaving her stranded at, say, the airport upon return from out of town. Ouch. After multiple visits to her dealer and multiple new batteries, the problem hasn’t been resolved.

Happily, the ‘24 Subie has improved other details that annoyed her. Kind of like upgrading the 20-year-old microwave in your kitchen that takes 15 minutes to heat leftover lasagna.

On I-94 east to the Port Huron crossing into Canada, Mrs. Payne activated adaptive cruise control (oh, she loves this feature) in the new Impreza and cruised along between 70 and 77 mph — adjusting the speed with a simple toggle on the steering wheel. That’s a noted upgrade from the ‘17 feature that would speed up in 5 mph increments. Want to adjust in 1 mph increments? That requires an awkward, loooooong button hold. It drove her batty.

Problem solved. On such little things does loyalty hang, and Mrs. Payne appreciated Subaru’s attention to details. It was like product managers had been listening in on to our conversations for five years.

Motorheads like me like to buy different stuff — the most wicked-looking sports car here, the latest self-driving EV there — and my influence on my wife’s buying habits is not trivial. I’ve been an Impreza WRX and STI fanboy for years, and my wife — who still prefers sedans over SUVs — knew that I was impressed with Subaru’s performance engineering. She also knew I wouldn’t let a Subaru into our house until they hired a competent design team — which they finally did for the fourth-gen 2012 Impreza.

But fundamentally, she wants an appliance that fits her life. All-wheel drive that gets her up the driveway in January, heated seats for Michigan winters, a hatchback to fit our luggage when we go up north after winter finally ends.

She liked the modest tweaks designers had made for the ‘24 hatchback, like the frameless grille inspired by an athletic shoe. But she was more impressed by the redesigned center console, which replaced the hand brake with an e-brake to open up room for staggered cupholders, and a wireless charger so she could navigate with wireless Apple CarPlay.

Now we’re talking. No more wires crisscrossing the console. No phone-draining battery while navigating for hours. Mrs. Payne simply set our destination to Bowmanville, Ontario, on her phone and the car automatically picked it up on Impreza’s new 11.6-inch vertical screen.

As she chugged across Canada in wireless adaptive-cruise heaven, I related to her that we were driving the Impreza RS.

“It’s a new model featuring a 2.5-liter Boxer-4 engine with 30 more horsepower than the standard 152-horse, 2.0-liter engine it carried over from your Sport model and, um . . . ”

Too much motorhead talk. She hadn’t noticed the power difference. Didn’t care. What did matter to her was that the cabin was quieter and the continuously-variable transmission improved from last gen, making for smooth acceleration as she merged into traffic on Canada’s 401 highway.

Which is why Subaru has made evolutionary drivetrain changes for 2024. Consumers are content with its performance, reliability, 29 mpg efficiency. Which is why government mandates to force Subaru to go electric (along with the rest of the industry) make little sense to Subaru’s core customers.

Fuel was never an issue during our 800-mile, five-day round trip. We made a single fuel stop for five minutes at a Petro Canada next to our hotel on Friday night. That’s all we needed (in addition to more power, the RS gets a bigger gas tank for 2024 and a 100-mile increase in gas range to 564 miles). A year ago, we thought about driving my Tesla Model 3 to Mosport but abandoned the idea because recharging would have added significant inconvenience to a tightly timed weekend in Bowmanville — a town that does not have fast chargers where we could charge overnight.

Instead, we drove a Volvo XC90 plug-in tester in 2023 (reviewed here) so we could use the gas engine on the long trip — and the 23-mile reserve battery for local trips from our hotel to the race track. We plugged in every night on a 110-volt charger in a nearby Hyundai dealer, but the battery wasn’t nearly enough to make the daily 44-mile round-trip to the track and back.

Running back and forth to the charger each night made Mrs. Payne wonder what made the $84,000 Volvo a better appliance than the $28,000 Subaru.

Speaking of battery issues, the 12-volt lead acid battery will dog my wife’s purchase of the new 2024 model. Will the 12-volt system have the same drain as her current Subie? Will the residual trade-in be hurt by the Impreza’s battery issue?

The questions led her to shop the compact car market (no EVs on her list), but the AWD choices are few. VW’s Golf-based AWD AllTrack has exited the market, which leaves only the Mazda3 Turbo.

Motorheads like me love the Mazda but its small, remote touchscreen is a turn-off to my wife — especially now that the new Impreza Sport comes standard with the big touchscreen. The Impreza’s rear seat/cargo room is also bigger than the Mazda to hold more Paynes and their stuff.

The new ‘Ru isn’t perfect — budget constraints mean the backup camera doesn’t sound an audible as it approaches an object, and there is no heated steering wheel option. Mrs. Payne had hoped for both. But overall she liked the upgrades to her microwave — er, auto — appliance.

And we didn’t experience an overnight battery drain. Looks like Subie still has a loyal customer.

Next week: 2023 BMW 760i

2024 Subaru Impreza

Vehicle type: Front-engine, all-wheel-drive, five-passenger hatchback

Price: $24,085 base including $1,095 destination ($29,239 RS as tested)

Power plant: 2.0-liter Boxer 4-cylinder; 2.5-liter Boxer 4-cylinder

Power: 152 horsepower, 145 pound-feet of torque (2.0L); 182 horsepower, 178 pound-feet of torque (2.5L)

Transmission: Continuously-variable

Performance: 0-60 mph, 8.2 seconds (Car and Driver est.); gas range, 564 miles

Weight: 3,275 pounds (as tested)

Fuel economy: EPA 27 mpg city/34 mpg highway/30 mpg combined (2.0L); 26 mpg city/33 mpg highway/29 mpg combined (2.5L)

Report card

Highs: Rare all-wheel-drive compact sedan; upgraded screen/tech

Lows: No heated steering wheel; no backup camera audible

Overall: 4 stars

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne

Pontiac — If the Mustang GT500 and F-150 Raptor R F-150 had a child, it would be called the Ford Performance 700 F-150.

This insane, supercharged 700-horsepower V8-powered pickup could star in “Meg 2: The Trench.” Or maybe “Oppenheimer.” It’s a nuclear bomb strapped to a Ford F-150 chassis. Fishtailing onto M1 Concourse’s back straight, I dropped the hammer and hung on for dear life. The three-ton beast exploded down the straightaway — the speedometer mercifully limited to 110 mph before we took off for the moon. Or before the Goodyear Grabber tires vaporized off the 22-inch wheels — whichever comes first.

That’s right, I took an F-150 to the race track. Apparently, Ford found that making a 700-horsepower supercharged $109K Raptor R off-road hellion wasn’t enough to satisfy buyers’ appetites for all things V-8. Ford says the future is electric pickups, which is like Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse introducing a vegan menu. They know their customers still come for the red meat.

Indeed, the Ford Performance 700 package was introduced at the annual Carlisle Ford Nationals red meat-fest in Pennsylvania this June amongst a celebration of Ford hot rods, aftermarket mod shops, drag racers and more. If my week with the Meg is any indication — it should sell like hot cakes. Make that hot steaks.

My friend Kevin took one look at my Regular Cab two-door stealth weapon and called his dealer on the spot.

Order: I want a standard $40K XLT pickup with extra beef, quad pipes and a side of 22s.

Dealer: Boom. Done. That’ll be 67 grand.

Ka-ching.

Ford must have been sick of seeing all that V-8 accessory business going out the door to Hennessey, Saleen and Roush. So it’s made the FP700 package available on any F-150 trim. You read that right, any trim you want. XL, XLT, Lariat, Platinum. Rear-wheel or all-wheel drive.

Plenty of upscale customers who could afford a $109,145 Raptor R — but who don’t want the rugged, look-at-me off-road wardrobe — will opt for, say a loaded $66,650 Platinum Crew Cab stuffed with the smokin’ supercharged V-8 FP700 package. For such customers, adding $27,000 — $12,350 for the engine plus installation — will be pocket-change totaling $93,000-plus.

But if you don’t have that kind of coin, then outfitting a base F-150 is not only half the price of a Raptor R — but a serious, muscle-car-slayin’ sleeper supertruck.

The Ford Performance 700 Regular Cab was the first time I have taken a pickup on the track. The closest thing to that was a Dodge Durango SRT that I terrorized Indianapolis Motor Speedway with a few years ago. The Ford Meg was surprisingly manageable around M1’s technical 1.5-mile course. Credit the two-door’s relative light weight, rear-wheel drive and short wheelbase (you can only option a 5.5-foot bed) compared with the volume four-door Crew Cab F-150.

Bringing the cruise missile back to earth after the back straight was a challenge for the F-150’s standard brakes (the FP700 package is a drivetrain option only) and General Grabber tires, so driver beware. But the one suspension modification — a lowered rear end — seemed to keep the Meg planted through the long, almost-180-degree, Turn 7 right-hander. More impressive was that I could keep it floored through M1’s uphill Turn 8 right-hander — a test for any sports car — before I properly backed off for the 90-degree righthander to follow.

Light weight aside, the short wheelbase XLT model had its drawbacks — most obviously some serious rear tire squirm thanks to the solid rear axle. Outfitting my pickup with limited slip out back would make tight parking lot turns more comfortable. Hit the highway, however, and you can let the big boy roam.

I took the FP700 to the Celebrate Lutz event in Ypsilanti (it feels like something Maximum Bob would have designed, yes?) and it was no secret to some of the motorheads there.

“I heard you drive up. That’s the Ford Performance V-8, isn’t it?” said one industry insider, his face lit up with a smile as wide as the Ford’s chrome fender.

For all of its grins, the FP700 demands respect. Put the similar 700-horse 5.2-liter V-8 in the Raptor R and it will hit 60 mph in an astonishing 3.7 seconds. My XLT can’t be far off, and the truck gulped traffic on I-696 like a killer whale devouring goldfish.

Triple-digit speeds come in a hurry in a truck that, remember, is still sitting on stock suspension.

Beyond the visceral thrills, the FP700 pack comes in two flavors: Black Edition (mine) and Bronze Edition. The Black features black wheels and graphics, the Bronze boasts appropriately colored accents. Both come with the aforementioned 22s, rear lowering kit, a black painted grille, fender vents and special graphics. Other available goodies include sport exhaust, roof spoiler, tailgate spoiler and tires to wrap around the big wheels. While the pickup lacks rear seats, it boasts a healthy 8,200-pound towing capacity.

I figured my $48,000 XLT — which included features like adaptive cruise control and 360-degree camera — pushed $76K when outfitted with the FP700 package. While that’s a bargain compared to a 700-horsepower Raptor R, it’s only about five grand shy of the standard 450-horse, turbo-V6, terrain-chewing Raptor supertruck, which is loaded with SuperCrew cabin and top-line F-150 interior amenities.

Dealer installation means the pickup is, like its F-150 stablemates, backed by Ford’s full 3-year/36,000 mile warranty. So don’t be shy with your right lead foot when you pull up next to a 495-horse Corvette at a Woodward stoplight.

Next week: 2024 Subaru Impreza

2023 Ford Performance 700 F-150

Vehicle type: Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, five-passenger pickup

Price: Estimated $75,775 as tested ($48,755 XLT plus estimated $27,000 FP700 dealer upgrade)

Powerplant: Supercharged 5.0-liter V-8

Power: 700 horsepower, 590 pound-feet of torque

Transmission: 10-speed automatic

Performance: 0-60 mph, NA; top speed, 110 mph; towing, 8,200 pounds

Weight: NA

Fuel economy: 10 city/15 highway/12 combined (Detroit News estimate)

Report card

Highs: Sleeper truck; Raptor R power for two-thirds the price

Lows: Lacks amenities of a $70K truck; nearly as expensive as a V-6 Raptor

Overall: 3 stars

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne