The cabin is typical ATS – mandatory lustrousness blends with metal and stitching, all blended and layered, while the CUE infotainment system takes center stage with its flip-up hidden storage compartment beneath, itself fitted with a wireless phone charger pad. Other bits of high-tech knick-knackery include a Head-Up Display and a digital driver computer beneath the main instrument set. The cabin doesn’t hit as hard as some will like in creating a unique performance atmosphere – in fact, much of what you see from the driver seat is the same as the standard car, including the low-budget instrument cluster. A nice cabin, but the comparable BMW is simply on another level in this part of the game.

But what ATS-V lacks in blow-your-socks-off cabin looks, it makes up for in noise levels: cruising the highway at the speed limit or beyond, it’s notably quiet. Quieter than the BMW, and requiring absolutely no raising of one’s voice for a conversation. You could whisper, even.

But delightfully, when called upon, the engine drowns out all else.

All ATS-V models get a 3.6L V6, featuring numerous motorsports-derived optimizations and twin-turbochargers for 464 horsepower, and nearly as much torque. That’s about 40 more of each than the BMW. You can get a six-speed stick, the tester got the eight-speed automatic with paddle shift. Look for 0-60 in four seconds or less, and a quarter-mile pass in about 12. With those numbers, the ATS-V is sort of like a four-seat Corvette.

And the torque-monster engine is as furious and relentless when pushed as it is civilized and quiet when driven gently. The power delivery is a funny thing: where many comparable turbo engines actually lag, nearly failing to respond for just a moment after the throttle is jammed, the ATS-V leaps ahead instantly, then leaps ahead again, even faster and harder, once the compressors get into their game a few revs later. A forward surge, then a forward leap. Yahoo!

This engine isn’t much for high revs, but a nearly explosive upper-rpm slab of thrust creates a daunting and provocative power curve, forward pull of a generous duration in each gear, and virtually no interruption as those gears swap, one for the next, in quick order. The ATS-V’s appetite for pavement, driven thusly, is nothing short of ravenous: BAM. Second. BAM Third. It never runs out of steam, even at engine speeds where many twin-turbo max out, and start huffing hot air. And all the while, you’re thinking, “This is pretty stupid, but I’m having a great time.”

The eight-speed transmission neither shifts with the same laser-precise rev-matching or instant response as the BMW, though it gets the job done nonetheless.

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