The good oil: Batmobile to go on display in Auckland

A Volvo XC90 parked in St Heliers. Photo / Supplied

And we thought Volvo owners were a law-abiding lot. Parking spaces at kids' soccer in St Heliers last week weren't as thin on the ground as this photo might suggest. We assume this Volvo XC90 must have broken down - that's the only logical reason why it is parked roughly facing south on an east-west road, over a kerb, across yellow lines, and on a corner, where it partially blocks the view of oncoming traffic.

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The jet-powered Batmobile used in the 1989 movie Batman and the 1992 sequel Batman Returns will be on display at next month's Speedshow event in Auckland. Show organiser Keith Sharp has borrowed it from Warner Bros. Movie World theme park in Queensland. Some Batmobile facts from website www.chickslovethecar.com: It is 6.1m long and 2.1m wide. It is armed with machine guns, grenades, grappling hooks, Batdisc thrower and a hydraulic lift. It can jettison its side and tail sections and become Batmissile. It is covered with 70 coats of black pearl acrylic lacquer.

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The new Porsche Panamera is under lock and key in Mt Eden - not at the jail but in a building where potential buyers can get a private looksee at the carmaker's first sedan. The V8-powered four-door starts in price at $260,000. The top-drawer turbocharged version is $350,000, the same as the two-door 911 Turbo coupe, due here in January.

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Writes Brian: "On a recent trip to Turner's car auction, I spotted a number of ex-Manukau City Council fleet cars on offer to the public. All were Japanese with moderate mileage and some were barely 3 years old. On the same day, I had to visit the council for building-related matters and there in the council's fleet car park were new, top-of-the-range Aussie sixes and fancy SUVs. It's good to know that the rates income is going to a good choice of vehicles. What's wrong with smaller Hyundai i30 and Honda Civics? The carbon footprint these bigger vehicles leave behind must be sizeable. But there will be no one to blame when we're part of Super City in October 2011.

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Number of responses to the item last week about Wellington telling police in South Auckland to back off a traffic blitz, where unroadworthy cars were confiscated. To jog memories: Employers in South Auckland complained that workers phoned in saying: "I can't get to work today - police have taken my car." The fellow who knows these things used to spend a lot of time in Wellington. He was told of the complaints and the order to back off a few days after the blitz. We asked an ex-cop: "Were you ever told for whatever reason to take it easy on traffic fines in this or that part of Auckland?" His reply: "Not personally, but it's part of the quota system balance. They'll say they leave it up to the cops in the cars, but the cops know they can't keep hitting South Auckland all the time, even though that's where most of the unlicensed drivers and unroadworthy cars are. You get to know the unlicensed drivers after a while. You might pull them up once a year and give them a ticket."

alastair.sloane@nzherald.co.nz