Put your feet up for a wild ride

It's the ultimate buy for a couch potato - a motorised sofa with a top speed of 126km/h being auctioned on Trade Me.

On the listing the owner, who lives in Whangarei, said the couch cruised at 50km/h with three people on board, or 75km/h with a downhill start.

"I've also been clocked at 126km/h down a hill but once was scary enough," he said.

The couch was built for cruising the Kumeu Hot Rod show last January. It is powered by a 125cc scooter engine and has indicators, front and rear brake lights, headlights and a horn.

The seller admitted he had been pulled over by police and had received $200 fines for driving an unregistered and unwarranted vehicle.

A video posted online shows the couch being driven on rural roads, overtaking a cyclist and making handbrake turns.

Northland road policing manager Inspector Clifford Paxton said because the couch had three wheels it could be classified as a moped, and would not need to have a warrant of fitness.

But to be legally driven on the roads, it had to be registered and of warrant of fitness standard. It must go no faster than 50km/h and passengers would need to wear helmets.

"If we saw it on the road then we'd be taking some interest in the vehicle," Paxton said.

Hot Rod show organiser Ken Galvin said the couch could have been one of several cruising the event.

"We've got guys with V8 bar stools, there's a guy in the South Island who's got a motorised barbecue, and he rides around with the umbrella up."

The auction ends on Wednesday and bidding is up to $450.