This isn't a good time for New Zealand's Government to replace its fleet of 7 Series BMWs with new ones. The country is crawling out of a recession and the public has had to tighten its collective belt.

This government says it has a contract to renew. It didn't and won't pay the full whack - insider gossip suggests nearer half than full price and it's possible it won't make a loss on selling. But even at half price a 7 Series BMW is a pricey car.

Flippancy apart, ministers shouldn't have to take a train or drive a Corolla. Governments worldwide do use cars a step above the mainstream to get around. But surely John Key's government could at least hold off for another year, as so many MPs' constituents have had to?

Just returned a Porsche 911 Carrera GTS, which claims to save you money when you buy. Yep, you save over 40 grand if you buy the $257,000 GTS.

How so? The standard C2S coupe costs $245,000. Spec it up to match this car and you’d fork out $53,660 more – while a GTS adds just 12 grand to the price tag.

But Porsche buyers don’t buy the standard car, so my test car also got an $8000 PDK auto transmission, an Alcantara-covered gear lever ($1390) and $2010 of leather on the centre console – plus the $2890 Sport Chrono Plus.

See? Money saved.

My partner hated the car – our rural road rattled his innards in ‘normal’ mode so he wouldn’t allow ‘sport’ or ‘sport plus’ to boost power and harden the suspension.   

I loved it. With 420Nm of tail-happy performance and a zero to 100 time of 4.2 seconds the driver’s far too busy keeping the thing on the road to notice how unforgiving the suspension is on an average Kiwi back road. 

It’s not every day you get to drag race a commercial van, but I’ve just done it three times – down the main straight at Phillip Island, near Melbourne, in a series of Mercedes Vito load-carriers.

Yup, you read that right. Merc inserted a bit of competition to underline just how rapidly and smoothly these transmissions shift, and better demonstrate the difference between the engines on offer.

Naturally it also became a contest to see who had the quickest reaction time and could punt a van the fastest down the track; the guys tell me I won three from three only because I was the lightest driver there.

For the record, my 2.1-litre 70kW/250Nm 110 diesel tripped the finish line at 112.78km/h; the 120kW/360Nm 113 hit 121.58km/h; and the mighty 165kW/440Nm 1220 diesel V6 managed 133.43km/h, which feels damn quick in a single-box van, even one that handles as well as this.

And my quickest reaction time? 0.477 – perilously close to red-lighting, according to my opponent.

Just spent the weekend in a Maui motorhome, a 7.2-metre long, 3.3-metre high house on wheels driven by a VW Crafter with a grunty diesel motor.

We were impressed at how quickly it got along on the flat, but hills soon slowed us down – not to mention crockery-rattling bumps.

As a driver often frustrated by snail-pace motorhomes I kept alert for following traffic and pulled over when I could. And naturally, I expected to ruin the view for those crossing the Rimutakas behind me.

So imagine my surprise as I drew away from a small car on the uphill climb, which dropped back even further on the downill, and created an extensive tailback before disappearing from our rear view mirrors as we increased the gap despite our conservative rate of descent.

The sedate drive was worth it once we reach Woodville Motocross. Trackside parking promised a grandstand view while sheltering from the wind, though we didn’t need the planned coffee brew-up thanks to the Honda tent’s continually-replenished supply.