Come alive with this super five


Car shows are all about dreams. They corral that new sports sedan you've been hankering for or perhaps the beauty you might never own because it's too big for the garage, too small for the brood or just too darn expensive.

But what if you could have any vehicle in the show and do what ever you wanted with it?

That's what my editor, Keith Morgan, laid on when he sent a list of the 100 vehicles on display at the 2011 Vancouver International Auto Show and asked me to pick five and dream the dream of what I'd do with them.

There were plenty of rigs to choose from and hey, since I've spent the last 32 years thinking up things to do with vehicles, this was one dream assignment.

#1: CHEVROLET VOLT

Give this clever electric vehicle a good run in the real world. With its ingenious extended range feature, this is one EV that keeps going when the battery runs down thanks to a gasoline-powered on-board generator that vaporizes dreaded 'range anxiety.' So drive a Volt from Vancouver to as far north as possible in Canada. That would be Inuvik, or in the winter another 200 kilometres on the Mackenzie River ice road to Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories. Owners of this electric car, the most innovative new car on the market, can hit the Alaska Highway and beyond without renting or owning a second vehicle.

#2: VW GOLF WAGON TDI CLEAN DIESEL

Drive from the most westerly point of Ireland to Vladivostok, in Russia's eastern Siberia. I've driven around the world a couple of times, from the bottom to the top of both hemispheres and much more, but Trans-Europe/Siberia is the big drive that has eluded me. The Golf TDI wagon is the car for this mission. It's tough, fun to drive and fuel friendly with a range up to 1,200 kilometres between fill-ups. And if those Ruskie hotels turn out to be too few and far between, just fold down the seats and stretch out for a good night's sleep.

#3: LAMBORGHINI GALLARDO LP 570-4 SPYDER PERFORMANTE

I've never driven an exotic so why not take this dazzling super car from New York to Los Angeles without touching a four-lane highway? No chain hotels or restaurants, keep the top down the whole way and take my time. Checking out the back roads in this beast and meeting plenty of slack-jawed folks will be a no-brainer. It's a bratmobile, no question, but isn't that what cars like this are all about? Along the way, roads like Nevada's U.S. Route 50, proclaimed the Loneliest Road in America, will offer opportunity to stretch the legs on the 570-horsepower all-wheeldrive rocket.

#4: SUBARU OUTBACK

With superior all-road all-weather capability, this electric car jack-of-all-trades will live up to its namesake in the Australian Outback. Retrace the route that Ken Langley and I drove on our 1980 around-the-world drive and see if the Nullarbor Plain still seems endless, the Kalgoorlie brothel remains intact and the bull dust still gets into absolutely everything. But I'll take the side road to Ayers Rock this time and manage to keep the 'roos out of the grill.

#5: FIAT 500

Drive this reborn cute, beloved Italian on a road trip to a series of iconic Italian attractions. Besides the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Rome's Colosseum, the gondolas of Venice and La Scala Opera House, I should track down the David, too. But the best part would be to visit all the relatives I gained but have never met since marrying an Italian, Lisa Calvi. With a car the size of the Fiat 500, it would only fit a couple of in-laws at a time, so they wouldn't all be talking at once.

So there they are. But the best dream for me is to get all this done before the 2012 Vancouver Auto show, then tell the tale. Better get at 'er though. Daylight is burning.