Tokyo Auto Salon 2011

Tokyo Auto Salon 2011 - Car park wisdom will pontificate that big exhausts, lowered aftermarket suspension, a ruddy great air filter and Big Speakers will make your Vauxhall Cavalier exactly 10 seconds faster than a BMW M3 around the Nurburgring.

What it won't tell you, is that such modifications usually repel the very subjects said modifications are intended to attract.

Bear this in mind as you peruse this gallery. The 2011 Tokyo Auto Salon has just closed its foil-encrusted doors, and is, in essence, a mighty version of the SEMA show in Las Vegas. Full of modders and modded cars.

Remember, the cure for insecurity isn't found buried in the pages of a tuning magazine..

New BMW 6-Series convertible

New BMW 6-Series convertible - Launched in convertible format initially, the new 6-Series is certainly less controversial in the styling stakes: less of a bustled rump and a smoother, sharper profile. Certainly in the pictures I saw before coming out, and on the stand at the Paris show, I was keen.

But I've mellowed towards it after driving it today. In real life, it's more of the same: there's nothing here that actively offends, but you can't help thinking that the car is lacking a certain something. On the road it looks nice enough, but nothing very striking. There's just not that much to get excited about.

Still, a 407bhp, 442lb ft 650i V8 should sort that, right? Well, again, not quite. The 650 weighs over two tonnes, so despite having plenty of get-up-n-go from the motor, the Six never really feels quite as fast as the figures suggest - five seconds to 60mph is respectable, but the car feels like a cruiser from the off.

It's also a tad firm on anything other than smooth roads - very German - and the active steering is about as tactile as remote surgery. I've got an eight-hour odyssey of driving tomorrow, so there's more to come, but first impressions are that there are no surprises here.

Mercedes Benz cars

Mercedes Benz cars - Fuel cell-powered cars provide the efficiency and driveability of an electric vehicle while also offering the unlimited range of a traditional gasoline powered car -- assuming you can find a place to top off those hydrogen tanks. Right now that's a bit of a problem, but Mercedes Benz is out to show that it's not nearly as big of a hindrance as everyone makes it out to be. It'll be driving the B-Class F-Cell model around the world, starting in Stuttgart and motoring down to Lisbon, flying over to the US and driving across that, then across Australia before hopping a boat to Shanghai and driving all the way across Asia, ultimately arriving back to Stuttgart facing in the same direction they left. The B-Class F-Cell can cover 400km on a tank and can be refilled in about three minutes. At this point we have no reason to believe that either Ewan McGregor nor Charlie Boorman will be along for the ride, but given how well things went in Log Way Round perhaps that's for the best.

Ford C-Max

Ford C-Max - Workers hoist a vertical display of the C-Max, Ford's first plug-in hybrid minivan, which will have a range of over 500 miles, according to Consumer Reports.

Porsche 918 RSR Concept

Porsche 918 RSR Concept - Porsche unveiled the 918 RSR at the Detroit Auto Show today, a 767 horsepower hybrid race car. Porsche's concept hybrid gets an extra boost from braking, which triggers the motors to act as generators when the front wheels brake, according to PC Magazine.

Bentley Mulsanne cars

Bentley Mulsanne cars - is inspired by the company founder W.O. Bentley's crowning achievement, the 8-liter auto first shown at the 1930 London Motor Show. A 6 3/4-liter, V8 engine gets 505bhp; inside, exotic woods, leather hides and solid stainless-steel brightware are hand-crafted for maximum luxury.

Gallardo cars LP550-2 Valentino Balboni

Gallardo cars LP550-2 Valentino Balboni - Our quarterly newsletter on the Raging Bull, a magazine for all Lamborghini owners and enthusiasts. Our latest issue walks us into the limited edition Gallardo LP550-2, but also takes a look at the Le Mans Series race at Spa and shows the amazing looking Murciélago Strada

2012 Lexus LFA Sports Car

2012 Lexus LFA is an awe-worthy piece of Japanese sports car. Only 500 of these mid-engines cars are to be hand-assembled by accomplished automotive craftsmen in Japan.

The engine output from the 4.8 liter 10-cylinder power plant is home to 562 total horses.