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Drive like a prince: Join us for a walk through Monaco's car collection

Small, crowded, and a royal pain in the trunk lid to drive into during rush hour, Monaco sounds like an improbable location for a huge car museum. And yet, this tiny city-state has been closely linked to car culture for over a century. It hosts two major racing events every year, many of its residents would qualify for a frequent shopper card if Rolls-Royce issued one, and Prince Rainier III began assembling a collection of cars in the late 1950s. He opened his collection to the public in 1993 and the museum quickly turned into a popular tourist attraction. The collection continued to grow after his death in April 2005; it moved to a new facility located right on Hercules Port in July 2022. Monaco being Monaco, you'd expect to walk into a room full of the latest, shiniest, and most powerful supercars ever to shred a tire. That's not the case: while there is no shortage of high-horsepower machines, the first cars you see after paying ˆ10 (approximately $11) to get in are pre-war models. In that era, the template for the car as we know it in 2023 hadn't been created, so an eclectic assortment of expensive and dauntingly experimental machines roamed whatever roads were available to them. One is the Leyat Helica, which was built in France in 1921 with a 1.2-liter air-cooled flat-twin sourced from the world of aviation. Fittingly, the two-cylinder spun a massive, plane-like propeller. Government vehicles get a special spot in the museum. They range from a Cadillac Series 6700 with an amusing blend of period-correct French-market yellow headlights and massive fins to a 2011 Lexus LS 600h with a custom-made transparent roof panel that was built by Belgian coachbuilder Carat Duchatelet for Prince Albert II's wedding. Here's where it all gets a little weird: you've got a 1952 Austin FX3, a Ghia-bodied 1959 Fiat 500 Jolly, a 1960 BMW Isetta, and a 1971 Lotus Seven. That has to be someone's idea of a perfect four-car garage.  One of the most significant cars in the collection lurks in the far corner of the main hall, which is located a level below the entrance. At first glance, it's a kitted-out Renault 4CV with auxiliary lights, a racing number on the front end, and a period-correct registration number issued in the Bouches-du-Rhone department of France. It doesn't look all that different than the later, unmodified 4CV parked right next to it. Here's what's special about it: this is one of the small handful of Type 1063 models built by Renault for competition.

BMW celebrates 30 years of M5 with 600-hp super sedan

It's been 30 years since BMW rolled out the first M5, and while displacement and cylinder count may have fluctuated over those past three decades, output has only increased. The first-generation E28 M5 packed a 3.5-liter inline-six with 252 horsepower and 243 lb-ft of torque. The second-gen E34 model that followed added an extra 100 cc (and later 200 more) to produce 310 hp and 266 lb-ft. The E39 followed with a 4.9-liter V8 churning out 394 hp and 369 lb-ft, replaced by the award-winning 5.0-liter V10 in the E60 with its 500 hp and 380 lb-ft before BMW rolled out the latest model with a 4.4-liter V8, its twin turbos making up for the two dropped cylinders and 600 cc of displacement to produce 560 hp and 502 lb-ft of torque. But even that's being left in the dust by the new special edition you see here.
The 30th Anniversary Edition BMW M5 packs that same 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8, but cranks the output up to a nice, round 600 horsepower and a solid 516 lb-ft of torque to go with it. That makes it more powerful, not only than any M5 that's come before it, but also any of its rivals. The Jaguar XFR-S and Audi RS6 Avant (the latter only available as a wagon and not in North America) both lag behind this ultimate of Ultimate Driving Machines; only the Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG trumps it on torque (but not on power), with 531 lb-ft in stock form and 590 in the S-Model.
As a result, the 0-60 time drops from a quoted 4.2 seconds in the stock M5 to a scant 3.7 in the 30th Anniversary edition (just one tick behind that twistier E63 S). The special M5 also comes with the Competition Package as standard, as well as a dedicated control module for the Active M Differential, a special Frozen Dark Silver matte finish, 20-inch alloys and black chrome badges. Special badges abound inside as well, where you'll also find black leather and Alcantara upholstery and aluminum trim. There'll even be a dedicated one-day course offered to owners at The Thermal Club in Palm Springs, CA, to further sweeten the deal.

Car technology I'm thankful and unthankful for

The past few years have seen a surge of tech features in new vehicles — everything from cloud-based content to semi-autonomous driving. While some of it makes the driving experience better, not all tech is useful or well thought out. Automakers who are adept at drivetrains, ride quality and in-cabin comforts often fail at infotainment interfaces and connectivity. From testing dozens of vehicles each year and in the spirit of gratitude, here are three car tech features I'm thankful — and a trio I could live without. Thanks Connected search: This seems like a no-brainer since everyone already has it on their smartphones, but not all automakers include it in the dashboard and as part of their nav systems. The best ones, such as Toyota Entune, leverage a driver's connected device to search for a range of services and don't charge a subscription or require a separate data plan for the car. I also like how systems like Chrysler Uconnect use Yelp or other apps to find everything from coffee to gas stations and allow searching via voice recognition. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto: It took two of the largest tech companies to get in-dash infotainment right. While they have their disadvantages (you're forced to use Apple Maps with CarPlay, for example), the two smartphone-integration platforms make it easier and safer to use their respective native apps for phoning, messaging, music and more behind the wheel by transferring a familiar UI to the dashboard — with no subscription required. Heated seats and steering wheels: I really appreciate these simple but pleasant features come wintertime. It's easy to get spoiled by bun-warmers on frosty mornings and using a heated steering wheel to warm the cold hands. I recently tested a 2018 Mercedes-Benz E400 Coupe that also had heated armrest that added to a cozy luxury experience. Bonus points for brands like Buick that allow setting seat heaters to turn on when the engine is remotely started. No thanks Automaker infotainment systems: Automakers have probably poured millions into creating their own infotainment systems, with the result largely being frustration on the part of most car owners. And Apple CarPlay and Android Auto coming along to make them obsolete. While some automaker systems, such as Toyota Entune and FCA's Uconnect, are easy and intuitive to use, it seems that high-end systems (I'm looking at you BMW iDrive and Mercedes-Benz COMAND) are the most difficult.