The good oil: Nissan GT-R - fastest four seater production car

That the Nissan GT-R lapped the Nurburgring circuit in Germany a month or two ago in a blistering time of 7 minutes, 26.7 seconds is well known. What isn't is the zero to 100km/h acceleration time of 3.5 seconds it set during the lap. For the record, the GT-R is officially "the fastest four-seater production car in the world in terms of acceleration". The Guinness Book of World Records says so.

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Tailgaters are Britain's most irritating road users, according to an Automobile Association poll. More than 36 per cent of 14,500 respondents said it was the worst habit, followed by 23 per cent for cellphone use at the wheel. Driving too slowly annoyed 5 per cent of those polled. The British AA said: "Data reveals that leaving pure human error aside, tailgaters fall just behind 'loss of control' as the major cause of crashes. However, the dangers of tailgating have been lost in the war on speed, which has seen a much greater emphasis placed on catching speeding drivers than teaching better, safer driving techniques."

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British student Thomas Slater figured the best way to honour his musical hero Michael Jackson was with a personalised number plate. "I was absolutely distraught when I heard the news about Michael dying," Slater, 17, said. "I've been an avid fan since I was 6, and like all true fans I just wanted to pay tribute to the King of Pop." So Slater searched the British data base and found that the plate MJ09KOP was available for around $1000. "Being able to have his initials, the year of his death and the letters KOP for King of Pop as a registration for my car will always be with me even though I won't be able to afford a car suitable for it for some time."

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The Dutch call it a "bierfiets" - we would call it a "beer bike". It's a bar on wheels, where up to 14 drinkers can sit and pedal their way around Amsterdam. Such a contraption was probably inevitable, given that the Dutch log more kilometres on bikes each year than cars. But two accidents involving beer bikes - one that caused an injury - have the city's transportation councillor Hans Gersen thinking sober thoughts. Karsten, a company that rents the beer bikes to tourists, stresses that any rental must include at least one non-drinking pedaller/driver.

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In 2006, research outfit AutoPacific found that 44 per cent of new car buyers in the US planned to hold on to their vehicle for at least four years. One recession later and the figure has risen to 59 per cent, perhaps because buyers are shopping smarter. The company says buyers may be "putting a higher priority on vehicles with a reputation for quality and durability that meets not only their short-term needs, but also their long-term expected needs."

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London Transport has been trialling a "black box" in its fleet of Toyota Prius hybrids. The digital unit uses GPS data to track the car's progress, including matching its speed with posted limits. If, for example, the Prius driver is doing 58km/h in a 50km/h zone, the system can over-ride the throttle - and pull speed back to within the limit.

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Cops in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, were hot on their tail, so Kendrick Pitts and his brother Marquise abandoned their stolen car and fled into a small office building, where they hid in the women's toilet. The cops knocked on each cubicle. Kendrick, 20, and Marquise, 19, summoned their best falsetto voices and insisted that they were young women going about their business. The ruse didn't work. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel says the brothers are now sharing toilet facilities in jail.

alastair.sloane@nzherald.co.nz