After all this stuff about saving the planet, it would do us all good to have a breath of fresh air in the form of something totally irresponsible. A Lamborghini, for instance - they’re always good for a fantasy or two.

Or are they? According to Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson, the company’s take-over by Audi has tamed the wild excesses of the Italian original. He seems somewhat disappointed in the Murcielago LP 640, apart from its power and speed, and I detect a certain nostalgia for the fins, scoops and protuberances usually associated with a Lambo. But I think it’s successful, in the looks department, at least. That dose of German seriousness has taken the edge off the usual Italian flair maybe, but it still looks like a Lamborghini.

So you have to drive it carefully? Isn’t that true of all supercars?

In an earlier post I mentioned that, sooner or later, we are going to have to get serious about electric cars. Fossil fuels will not last forever and will have to be replaced by an alternative, most likely hydrogen or electricity. GM’s Hy-Wire is an elegant combination of both that may well show the route to the future, but Tesla have the best answer yet from the electricity side of the debate - their roadster is completely electric and powered by their own design of battery.

The electric motor has obvious advantages in that it is clean, light and quiet; but it also presents us with great problems. Power similar to that provided by the internal combustion engine is necessary before we will consider it as a valid alternative; a big problem in the past has been that any practical electric vehicle will have to have a similar range to gasoline-driven cars before we will be persuaded to swap; and the origin of the power that recharges the batteries remains a stumbling block as long as we continue to get most of our electricity from power stations burning fossil fuels.

Tesla have solved the first two of these problems - their roadster accelerates to 60 mph in 4 seconds, surely enough power for anyone, and has a range of 250 miles, which is very close to the average for a standard production car. As for the power stations, I guess that will have to wait until we face the fact that nuclear power is the only viable answer.

If you want to learn more of the technical ingenuity behind the Tesla, visit the engineering page on their website. And, if you want one of next year’s model, get your order in now - the 2007 batch sold out in four months.

Update:

Here is a link to a video of the Tesla being driven. It also has more detail on features of the car but listen to it when in motion - that is the sound of tomorrow!

And another video just for the Brits…

There is something about Italian cars that makes them endlessly desirable. The names help of course - consider how the words Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati force your mouth around unfamiliar sounds so that already you are speaking of something different, exotic and romantic. And there is the Italian body design, so much braver and adventurous than anyone else’s. The sound of the engine, the impracticality, the exhibitionism, everything makes an Italian car the stuff of dreams.

But the really strange thing about them is that everyone’s favorite is the Alfa Romeo. They may not make supercars like Ferrari and Lamborghini, they may have a reputation for falling apart at the slightest opportunity and there may be far better cars in the same class - but the Alfa has soul. We are prepared to put up with the failings because … it’s an Alfa.

You don’t believe me? I remember a Top Gear program in which they put up the Alfa 147 GTA against a Ford Focus RS and a Volkswagen Golf R32. Predictably, the Alfa lost out in all departments except acceleration. But, when it came for the presenters to choose which car they’d rather have, they all chose…

this one.

A while back I wrote about the Cadillac CTS-V and tried to explain why I like its looks. It’s a beefy thing and lives in that narrow world between ugliness and brilliance - in my opinion, erring on the side of brilliance.

But how does it perform? Knowing that it is raced in the States, I was very interested to find that Top Gear had tried it and you can see the result by clicking on this link. Be warned, however, Jeremy Clarkson is at his most obnoxious when talking of American cars!