Saying that TTAC readers have opinions about cars is like stating that water is wet. We'll therefore make the assumption that your friends, families and loved ones know what you think about cars. Assuming that, we will also bet that you get hit up for car advice more often than not. Us too. But do those who ask listen? A year ago my own sister was in the market for a new car; her '01 Sentra was just about dead. Her next car had to be good on gas and reliable while not looking dorktastic. I recommended the Mazda3, Subaru Impreza and MINI Cooper. She drove them all and reported back. They were "too sporty." She then bought a two-door Honda Civic. And loves it. On the other end of the spectrum, a friend of mine had a pair of Datsun 280Zs that were done playing parts car for each other. He wanted something reliable, fun to drive and cheap. I told him to try a Honda Fit. He not only bought it, he's decided to trade his current Fit for the 2009 model as soon as they hit our shores. That's 50/50, not too bad. Do I have to talk about my brother-in-law's RAV4? I do? Man… Anyhow, you?

What I wouldn't give to have £55,000 and be British. Holden's Mad Max boffins are giving British hoons the necessary weapon to head over to Germany and slay 'em some M5 and RS6. The big news is of course the big engine. Based on the 428-cubic-inch monster found stateside in the Z06, the W427 LS7 (built by Tom Walkinshaw Racing, hence the W) will put out at least 570 horsepower and 472 lb-ft of twist. We find the latter figure odd, as the Z06 comes standard with 475 lb-ft of the good stuff, but they did say, "at least." A 0-60 time of 4.5 seconds puts it in league with the AMG E63 and shaves a tenth of a second or so off an M5's sprint. Here comes the even better part — the VXR8 only comes with a 6-speed manual, in this case a Tremec TR6060. Screw flappy-paddles — we don't need 'em! Other mods include 20" wheels, an upgraded clutch, beefier limited slip-diff, monster six-piston brakes and a carbon fiber rear wing. And now to address the elephant in the living room. We have no idea if this might show up in America as the Pontiac G8 GXP. But mother of all that is holy do we hope so.

A bit of a philosophical one for you today. With the (not quite) shocking revelation that whoops London's congestion charge will in fact increase CO2 emissions, and that Mayor Ken Livingstone's administration buried the report, I've been thinking. Who the hell put the politicians in charge? As Woody Allen said, they're just one wrung above child molesters. And he would know. Another example of political grandstanding trumping logic is Bremen enacting a speed limit on a formerly derestriced prt of the Autobahn to (maybe) reduce CO2 emissions by fiver percent. In both examples, motorists' rights were thrown under the [slowly moving] bus for the sake of political expediency. And just to be my own Devil's advocate, during a recent conversation with my London cousin about "Red Ken's" congestion charge, he said he loved it. True, he decided to sell his dirty old Saab, but he says the streets are much calmer and that the city is better off because of the charge. So the question is: can any politician be trusted to get anything car-related right?

The Motor Authority reports that GreenRoad Technologies has developed a monitoring system that determines whether or not the person behind the wheel is "aggressive" or "safe." They claim that transforming one to the other equates to a "54% reduction in crashes and an 83% reduction in crash costs." To achieve these unbelievable results, GreenRoad's G-force meters measure roughly 120 different driver actions: acceleration, turning, breaking, middle finger saluting, etc. If the computer deems that a driver's too "aggressive," a red light flashes. Because that's safe. The box also builds a "user profile," which is (presumably) stored by GreenRoad Technologies and could be (theoretically) sent to the police, future employers and/or insurance agents. Using the same battle cry as the Simpsons' Mrs. Reverend Lovejoy, GreenRoad is hocking the system to parents who want to monitor their teens' driving habits. While my driving style would burn that red light out in seven minutes flat, in the 17 years I've had my license, I've caused zero accidents, injured zero people and died zero times. Unless you count "died and gone to heaven." Include me out.

Citing environmental concerns, state Environment Minister Rainer Loske has enacted a plan to limit Bremen's section of the Autobahn to 120 km/h (about 75 mph). Loske reckons that the speed limit will cut tailpipe emissions by five percent. In the future, the limit would [somehow] reduce emissions by 15 percent. I think Garfield (the cat, not the dead president) put it best: "Big fat hairy deal." As one of TTAC's most environmentally conscious contributors (i,e, "a perfect example of a hypocritical hyper-car loving tree hugger"), let me be the first to condemn this idiotic bullshit misguided mandate. Bremen could achieve the same greenhouse gas reductions by stipulating that drivers keep their tires properly inflated. Also, how much is this limit actually saving if it turns a two-hour trip into a three-hour journey? My guess? Not much. The good news: Bremen only has jurisdiction over 60 km of Autobahn. If you were traveling at 300 km/h, it would take just five minutes to surmount. Sigh… The limit goes into effect today, April 9, 2008. How do you say "slippery slope" in German?

I was chatting today with my teammate Murilee Martin about what we're going to do after our Black Metal V8olvo wins the $1,800 in nickels at the upcoming LeMons race. Man oh man, do we have some brilliant ideas. Brilliant in the same way mixing cocaine with heroin is brilliant. However, I can't talk about them as they are of course top secret. Well, except for one — imagine an El Camino'd first generation Infiniti Q45. Can I get a hell yeah? Then Murilee showed me this two ice cubes beyond cool wine rack made from a Jaguar V12 block and crank. That got me thinking. I drink wine, the local junkyards here in LA are (nearly) overflowing with dead XJ12s and I can lift heavy things (that crank alone has to weigh 150 pounds). Still, getting that oil leaking hunk of aluminum clean would require tremendous effort. And since it's a malaise era Jag, it would find a way to poison the wine while simultaneously going on strike. No, my dream project is a Se7en. Specifically one from AutoPro Motorsport. You supply the Miata (which accounts for 85 percent of the finished Se7en), they supply everything else. That said, I have the mechanical inclination of thumbless chimp and a budget to match. Still, one day. You?

As the 24 Hours of LeMons May 10 race date draws closer, my teammates in Northern California continue to clang, weld and bleed all over our Volvo 244 with a Ford V8 stuffed into the bay. Despite the audacity of our entry, we're quite fortunate to have two "veteran" hotrod builders on staff, Wayne and Dave. You know what they say, old guys rule. According to reports from the garage, these two can fabricate, fix or bend anything to their will. Amazingly, Wayne made the Volvo's throttle components work with our Holley carb. Awesome. Other progress notes of note include a completed fuel filler system Sawzalled right through the trunk lid using the factory Volvo cap, a hood scoop (adds several hundred horsepower, no doubt), the majority of the wiring plus the gauges and the brakes are (mostly) assembled. Now all that's left is a series of Herculean tasks that will keep their knuckles bloody red and their dreams filled with terror right up until race day. Pray for Black Metal.

Earlier I pointed out that Jack Baruth's GT-R prognosticating isn't exactly up to Nostradamian standards, at least as far as Britain goes. But then I remembered that I agree with Jack about most things (he still might be right about Skylines in the USA), so I thought I'd check and see what he and the boys at Speed:Sport:Life are up to. Turns out, they just bought a Porsche Cayenne with a six-speed manual. As Jack explains, "Normally, when a magazine talks about a 'long-term test,' they mean they've finagled a free press car from a manufacturer for somewhat longer than the normal one-week period, but this time we mean long-term. As in, we've managed to drop almost ninety-four 'stacks,' which is to say, $93,800, on a 2008 GTS of our very own." Our kinda dudes. But why on earth would they spend so much on a 4,900 pound, 4-seat SUV with 21" rims? To haul their Dodge Neon ACR race car, of course! True, for that much scratch they could've got the Turbo Porker, but as Mr. Baruth points out, "But which would you rather have: a bare-bones Turbo with cheap wheels and plastic grab handles, or a fully loaded GTS complete with wacky biplane rear spoiler and an Alcantara roof?" Seems obvious to us. Also, their Cayenne has bright red gauges. You just gotta have those. Put it this way, if the BMW X6 came with a row-your-own box, I'd force Farago to buy my LeMons team one. Ooh, wait a second — Jack's on my LeMon's team. Life just got much more interesting. And covered in Alcantara.

Last month I posted that noted hoon, auto journo and buddy of mine Jack Baruth predicted that the GT-R would be a non-starter. Guess who was wrong, at least in Old Blighty? Right, not you. Motor Authority is authoritatively reporting that UK dealers placed orders for 700 GT-Rs in a 48-hour period once Nissan gave them the OK to do so. And they need more. Since Godzilla's seemingly nuclear-powered mill is hand-assembled, the factory boys in Japan can only build so many– just 1,000 examples per month as it turns out. That's 1,000 engines per month for the entire world. Meaning that Tokyo drifters, Google janitors, extended Emirates families and sicko European Anime fetishists all get their Skylines from that same factory. And how can we forget teenage Russian billionaires? Exactly, we can't. As UK drivers seem to get bent over and reamed routinely these days, the worst part is that even with the massive pre-order, British Gran Turismo 5 Prologue fanatics won't be getting their 480 hp (at least) monsters until March of 2009. And by March we mean May. And if Red Ken has his way, London-based potential GT-R owners will be charged £25 an hour for daydreaming about their future rides. In semi-related news, a little birdie informed me that Universal Nissan — our nation's largest Nissan dealer across the street from Universal Studios — will be charging "only" $40K on top of MSRP. Maybe there's hope for Jack?

The reaction to my musings on BMW's X6 has been fast and spurious. TTAC readers do not want. Pulling out a random gripe from the comments gives us Pete_S4's take, "I still don't get this vehicle. It's absurdly heavy, very thirsty, and has little space for such a big vehicle. Like many recent German vehicles it's all justified by a pile of electronics. Briefly I can feel the seduction of such vehicles. But it only takes a weekend at the track to remind why we like to turn off all of these electronics." And while he's right, I would argue 99 percent of the time 90 percent of an SUV's utility is totally and utterly wasted. No one tows anything, the third row has a duffel bag on it and they (almost) universally suck eggs to drive. At least the X6 is honest in its dishonesty. Anyhow, gas prices have continued to increase, rising five cents in the last two weeks. So I ask you, are SUVs dead?

Loose lips may sink ships, but what do they do for brands? If you're John Roca, Lexus' Australian Chief, secure in the knowledge that the brand is going to move over a million cars  in a few years, you just don't care. Mr. Roca opened his yap to The Australian and had lots to say. Most interesting to our ears is the fact that the IS-F is not a one-off attempt to steal cash from M and AMG. Keep your eyes peeled and your wallet primed for a GS-F and maybe even a full-size LS-F Limo. Then of course there's the much-blogged-about LF-A supercar which should be ready for prime time on schedule in 2011. Anything else? Why yes. Coupled to Lexus' million+ dream is the fact that you have to sell cars to more than the very rich. For the just kinda/hoping to one day be rich will come a competitor to BMW's 1-Series and Audi's A3. Following that, expect an all new Lexus "Prius," a standalone vehicle that they hope will become synonymous with green luxury. But that's not all! Expect a (yawn) RX replacement next year. And finally, the news that's most interesting to me:  Roca claims that the IS range will be expanded to include a coupe and convertible. The latter plus the IS-F's mill will become legend. Surely an IS-F wagon isn't too far behind?

To understand the new X6, you must go back a few years to the 2001 X Coupe Concept. This was the first time the world got a look at BMW's vision of a jacked-up sports car that "deliberately questioned existing preconceptions." Nothing whatsoever made it from the concept to the production X6– save a bit of flame surfacing and the chutzpah necessary to give well-heeled motorheads what they didn't know they needed: a jacked-up five thousand pound, four-door, four-seat, all-wheel-drive sports car.

With its polarizing oddball looks, premium price tag and questionable need to exist, BMW's new "Sports Activity Coupe" (their PR speak, not ours) isn't for everybody. But with a choice of twin-turbo engines– a 306 hp 3.0-liter I-6 from the 335i or an all new 407 hp 4.4-liter V8– more electronic aids than Stephen Hawking and bigger rubber than a Z06 (315/20s at all four corners), the X6 is going to make some customers very, very happy. Here's the skinny on the Bavarian fat: both the Infiniti FX50 and the Porsche Cayenne Turbo have something to worry about. Despite the X6's bulk (more than 5k lbs of it), this X5-spin off can dance the dance. Grip is endless and there ain't no body roll either. Do I like it? Yeah. Is it perfect? Far from it. Get all the dirt, plus find out which engine's better, on Monday.

Car thieves take note: your Grail has arrived. Motor Authority reports somewhere out there exists a platinum and diamond Spirit of Ecstasy. Where you ask? Dunno. See, the new Rollers feature a retractable hood ornament so as to spoil your pilfering plans. Of course we would guess that with a little ingenuity (and a crowbar) an enterprising and upwardly mobile thief could determine if a particular Rolls contained said ornament. Commissioned by Manhattan Motorcars as a, "tribute to the car itself," the dictionary definition of gaudy costs a cool $200,000 — about half the price of a Phantom. One way to think of such an expenditure is as an investment — precious metals are only getting more and more valuable. Another way is as a testament to the power of the capitalist system, and the shocking fact that the poor haven't strung the rich up by their own guts. Yet.

There's an interesting discussion taking place below the 2011 Audi A3 post from earlier today. I mentioned that for the money (figure right near $40K), I'd take a Subaru STI as opposed to an up-kitted A3 even with the V6, the AWD and the DSG. One of the main reasons is that when you boil the small Audi down, you're left with a VW Golf. Er, Rabbit. However, many of you argue, "so what?" And, as there are no stupid questions, so what indeed? Who cares what underpins the car. The A3 is (somehow) more than a Golf with a nice interior. By that logic, what was wrong with the Cadillac Cimarron? I'm being serious. GM took their basic economy car (Chevy Cavalier), added some leather and slapped some gold badges on the back. Pretty much what Audi does when turning a Rabbit into an A3. Yet one works, and one doesn't. I wonder why? You?