But while nobody was looking, today's cars actually have begun doing things only a spy car can do. Here are eight cool tricks your next car might realistically do.

1. Ride Your Off-Roader Off This Vehicle While Still In Motion!

The small truck is barreling down the highway, careening around the switchbacks. Suddenly you hear that familiar vroooom of an engine revving and the off-roader bursts from the back of the truck into the air and lands on the road. Only this time it's not James Bond - it's you. Now there is a vehicle you can actually do this in - the Suzuki X-Head Concept Car...although for those people who have not gone through the official James Bond stunt driver training course, we recommend unloading that off-roader or motor bike the old fashioned way. Please.

 
 
 

2. Car Ejection Seats - Escape Accidents Through The Roof!

If action heroes can escape from routine fiery crashes and para-nuclear explosions at the press of a button, why should you deserve any less protection? I would demand this option on your next vehicle purchase, if I were you.

3. Have A Conversation With Your Car

IBM is working on advanced speech recognition systems that can facilitate a free-flowing conversation with your car. There are actually applications on the road today that operate using a limited range of preset comments, but IBM seems to be thinking more along the lines of a conversation or a chat. Admittedly, this is more like Knight Rider than James Bond, but imagine the practical applications of being able to chat with your car - you will never have to be lonely in your car again!

4. Eagle-wing Doors - Ooh-la-la, Very Sexy.

The Kia Kue Car won't save you from enemy spies, fiery crashes or intergalactic invaders, but it's pretty cool style. A door that opens like eagle wings toward the sky.

 

5. By 2010 - Change Your Car's Color With The Click Of A Button!

Now this is something James Bond could use in the midst of a cross country chase. With the touch of a button the car turns the color of the road and the helicopter above loses sight of it. He skids the car to a stop in front of the love interest's modest 18-bedroom cottage and pushes another couple buttons, one to pull the top down and the other to turn the car red. With new paramagnetic paint, you can have a different color car for every occasion. Conservative blue when parking in your office parking spot ... and racing stripes heading to the cottage on the weekend.

Before you know it, they'll be hawking custom paint styles on the street like ring tones. Coming in 2010? Read more about it

6. Never Sit In Traffic Again.

Imagine a car chase scene in Manhattan at rush hour. That's right, gridlock. Boring. These things inevitably end up with foot chases, which is such a bummer because it means ditching that priceless car full of spy gadgets. But check out all the fancy GPS gismos specially calibrated to help you avoid traffic snarls. This is a must-have this Christmas, because you do NOT want to spoil that adrenalin-pumping chase scene home from the office, do you?

7. Your Next Bulletproof Car.

Speaking of chase scenes, get yourself a bullet proof car. This video shows how Mercedes Benz tests its cars for so many important factors, and I for one feel so much safer knowing that if I buy a Mercedes Benz one day, my heart-pounding chases home from work will be that much safer!

8. Forget Keys! Enter And Start Your Car With Your Fingerprint.

Biotechnology is bringing a whole new meaning to the word "keyless entry". Soon your new car will be accessible only by you and designated family members whose fingerprints have been registered and approved for access. This will make burglary a bit more complicated, but most importantly, it will save you 5 minutes every morning looking for your keys! That's 30 hours of searching a year!   Read More About it

9. Drive Right Out of the Water - Coming 2009!

What could be more like James Bond than driving right out of the water at full speed? Many amphibious vehicles have been produced, but finally there is one - the Aquaba - that can break any speed limits on land and clock an impressive 48 kilometres an hour in water. Rumors have it that this car could be produced and sold in the US by 2009?  Read more about it

  

Bonus : James Bond Car on a Budget

If all these fancy gadgets get your heart pumping because of the price tag rather than because they seem way too cool to be true, you might prefer to make yourself a James Bond car at home. This step-by-step instruction video came with the James Bond Home Car Kit I recently purchased, complete with bulletproof tea tray and drain-pipe rocket launcher. Unfortunately, negotiations with my wife over my plans to assemble the kit have broken down at the "over my dead body" part.

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