[stovt001]

Man I almost started crying when I first watched that. I was really worried when I saw the speculation it signaled the end of Top Gear. I was more than a bit relieved to see those rumors squashed, but the segment still depressed the crap out of me.

I think they key here is to move performance cars out of the mainstream eye. As long as the masses are driving inefficient vehicles, government busy-bodies will view all "non-green" cars under the same dark lens and will punish anyone who uses them for any purpose. On the other hand, if the masses move towards "green" vehicles and performance cars are used by enthusiasts for select pleasure drives on back roads or races on tracks on the weekends, they might fall off the government's radar. Oddly, I think the best outcome for us is for the high-performance car to go the way of the horse - not an appliance for every day commuting, but a tool for the weekend hobby. And in that case, we might even get a little purity back in the cars, and forego this 20-way power seat, 50 cupholder, 900 airbag, blind-spot warning, speed-limited nonsense. Leave that stuff for the weekday eco-commuting cars.