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There isn’t one particular thing about the new Chrysler 300 SRT8 that makes it special. Not the 470-horsepower V8, which also grunts out 470 lb-ft of torque, nor the refined traction control system beneath it. It’s not the crystal-clear, 900-watt, 19-speaker sound system, nor the classy suede interior it bathes in auditory excellence.

No, what makes the 300 SRT8 so special is how well all the high-performance technology and luxury styling can co-exist so successfully in one machine. In that sense, the 2012 Chrysler 300 SRT8 is a nearly perfect car. And yes, I realize that’s a remarkable thing to say about a Chrysler.

The massive amount of brawn comes from a 6.4-liter engine developed by SRT, Chrysler’s performance division. Don’t let the HEMI badges and combustion chambers fool you, this is not an old-school American V8. That’s a good thing. Granted, nearly six and half liters of displacement is old-school huge, but everything else about it is thoroughly modern. Variable-length intakes and variable cam (there’s still only one) timing ensure a fat power curve across the 6,400 RPM rev range. An unobtrusive cylinder deactivation system kills four cylinders under light loads. This boosts the highway fuel economy to around 30 mpg, and the car maintains the burbling exhaust note even as it operates as a V4.

With roots firmly planted in Mercedes sedans from the ’90s, you’d be forgiven for dismissing the 300’s five-speed automatic as an outdated spec. But the SRT team spent a lot of time and money refining the transmission’s programming, so the box puts the power to the ground flawlessly. Unlike those old Mercedes sedans, this modern Chrysler lets you choose your own shifts via cast aluminum paddles mounted behind the wheel. Hustling the 4,365-pound behemoth around California’s Willow Springs Raceway, the gearbox actually helped me set my fastest time in “Sport” mode, with it doing the shifting for me. That’s impressive for a transmission that’s sold as part of a refined and smooth luxury car where most drivers aren’t spending a lot of time mashing the pedals.

The other intelligent computer is the one making decisions about your slide angles, brake applications and throttle openings. Traction control used to be a silly safety net that noticeably reduced the amount of driver control, something you’d have to switch off if you wanted to drive fast. No longer — SRT set out to design a system that focuses on the smoothest possible application of power while maintaining a high level of driver control. That means you can go flat out through race track turns while the computer helps you maintain a slight drift without cutting power. A little more throttle and that slide starts to go sideways, with you navigating through the side window as the rear tires disappear in a cloud of smoke. But the car doesn’t spin out of control. The traction control system works unobtrusively in the background, constantly monitoring your lines, braking points and slide angles, making subtle corrections to your inputs when necessary. Basically, it makes you look and feel like a hero.

As impressive as it is, all that performance stays hidden. Chrysler didn’t set out to make the 300 SRT8 a focused go-fast machine. Off the track, it’s a civilized, well-appointed luxury car — just one that can also throw down decent lap times. To do that, Chrysler gave the SRT8 an interior free of cheap plastic crap. The stereo and nav system are controlled through a touchscreen, while a few simple buttons and knobs run auxiliary controls. I was able to master the whole cockpit during a short drive from L.A out and over Angeles Crest.

The seats grip your butt surprisingly well as lateral Gs approach the magic 1.0 figure. But they’re also all-day comfortable. One thing I found was that the driver’s seat is a nice place to sit and do your best impression of the Maxell “Blown Away Guy” while the stereo system does its thing.

That Chrysler spec’d a stereo beefy enough to crack your enamel tells you something about what makes this car special. It’s nice to drive at 100 percent on the track, but it’s equally nice to drive down Sunset Boulevard in rush hour traffic with the A/C cranked and the stereo blasting distortion-free tracks through its 19 speakers.

Most new cars have a stereo that only sounds good on paper; turn the the volume beyond 75 percent and the bass drops out, the highs distort and the mids become overpowering. But SRT actually delivers. And I’m an audiophile — at home, I enjoy music through exotic custom speakers and a vintage amp I gutted and rebuilt myself. If I owned this car, I’d take it out for drives just to get my Daft Punk or Miles Davis fix at max volume.

This new 300 is part of a long legacy of Chrysler muscle cars dating back more than half a century. The original 1955 C-300 was built so Chrysler could go NASCAR racing. The 300 denoted its horsepower, which went up to 355 in 1956. By the time 1960’s 300F came around, the horsepower had climbed to 375 and the car had gained a tuned cross-ram intake system.

The variable-length intakes on the 2012 model echo the function of that cross-ram system. Even more interesting, and perhaps coincidentally, the 4,365-pound curb weight of the 2012 model is shockingly close to that of the original 4,300-pound C-300.

And, just like that 1955 original, this new 300 proves that power and luxury are not mutually exclusive.

WIRED Incredibly fast — and incredibly easy to drive at faster speeds, thanks to an advanced traction control system. Factory stereo will please even the snobbiest audio geek. Attractive luxury package will cosset you and your passengers.

TIRED Over two tons of fun. Tires commit suicide if you turn traction control off. Styling is almost too subtle, it looks too much like the soon-to-be-commonplace base model. 48 grand is a hard pill to swallow when it wears a Chrysler badge and comes on an ancient Mercedes platform.

Photo courtesy Chrysler

Solving Apple’s product deficiencies can be a lucrative business. Indeed, the frequently puzzling restrictions and shortcomings inherent to some Cupertino-designed gear has given rise to some truly fantastic pieces of software and hardware over the years.

In the case of Awind’s McTiVia, it’s not particularly hard to figure out what piece of hardware is being singled out. This tiny Wi-Fi-enabled device promises to shuffle both the audio and video on your Mac (or PC) straight to your HDTV, with zero limitations on content or services. Take that, Apple TV!

Or don’t. While the idea behind McTiVia certainly has merit, the execution and the numerous headaches associated with setting it up mean that few people will find it useful.

The actual mirroring device, which supports 802.11b/g/n and resembles a miniaturized cable box, can be set up in various configurations. As Awind points out, the best way to proceed is to use Ethernet to connect the McTiVia box to your computer. This will produce the zippiest data speeds and throughput. Of course you can also connect your McTiVia to an Ethernet router and then access it wirelessly from your computer. And if you abhor wires, each device can simply use Wi-Fi to speak to each other.

While streaming boxes like the Apple TV and Roku 2 at least have some level of straightforwardness to them, the McTiVia required over an hour of tinkering on my part to get it to work properly. After hooking up the box directly to the TV with an HDMI cable, I had to install what turned out to be some very buggy software. Then it was off to download a patch as well as a new version of said software from Awind’s site.

Unfortunately, this was only the beginning. I also had to muck around with audio, video and wireless settings for another 45 minutes just to get my laptop screen to display properly on the TV. Out of curiosity, I tried both the wired and wireless setups and found the latter to be virtually unusable and the former only adequate — not good for a device whose main selling point hinges on wireless connectivity. The MirrorOp software you install has an annoying habit of reformatting your computer screen’s resolution each time you connect to your TV. If you don’t like that default resolution (I didn’t) you’ll have to change it on both your TV and computer. I finally settled on 1024×768, which seemed like the best compromise for my plasma.

Once things were up and running, there was little pay off for all that effort. While the McTiVia supports 720p video (same as the Apple TV) and 44.1kHz audio, everything I played, from Netflix streams to native movies, looked like DVD-quality at best. Add to that the fact that many of my iTunes-purchased movies and TV shows wouldn’t display, and I was pretty much ready to throw in the towel after 90 minutes.

Here’s the thing: Almost every aspect of the McTiVia feels rushed and/or unrefined. Whether it’s the somewhat comical grammatical errors on the FAQ page and quick installation guide or the temperamental software setup, the McTiVia just isn’t as polished as other streaming options. This left me wondering not only how it managed to win the Best in Show award at Macworld 2011, but also why the device exists in the first place.

After all, TVs — typically “lean back devices” — aren’t that exciting as computer monitors anyway, which is really the main thing a McTiVia does at this point. Yes, you can use a wireless keyboard and mouse to control things, but the UI experience on a PC doesn’t really translate to bigger screens. And while it’s certainly nice to occasionally beam your desktop to a bigger screen, building an entire product around this one feature and then charging twice as much for it as other streaming boxes is perhaps not the way to go.

Not to mention the fact that for far less money, you can simply buy an adaptor (Mini DisplayPort to HDMI) for your MacBook or Mac Mini and just physically hook them up to your TV. Voila! You can still control everything wirelessly and you’ll get infinitely better video and audio results since you’re not dealing with any latency.

Don’t get me wrong, not everything in life needs to work seamlessly or install in one minute. I’m all for putting in a little extra elbow grease to squeeze some extra usefulness out of something. But in this case, all that effort produced was and an uncontrollable urge to switch back to another streaming device.

WIRED A decent option for heavy online video watchers or those who want to play PC games on a bigger screen. Comes with a USB port for hooking up a mouse or keyboard. Doubles as a wireless access point for your home network.

TIRED Grossly overpriced for what it does. HDMI cable not included. Complicated set-up (basically trial and error) and lackluster results. No extended display options. Audio limited to two channels. Wouldn’t stream iTunes-purchased movies or TV shows after OS X Lion update.