November 14, 2008 | 9:23:27 PM
In addition to generally kicking ass, James Bond is famous for his refined taste, his penchant for seduction and, of course, his bad-ass cars. The tradition continues in the lastest Bond flick, but for the first time in 46 years, our hero goes -- dare we say it? -- green.
Our favorite spy spends a fair amount of time in Quantum of Solace behind the wheel of a sexy Aston Martin DBS -- which, as the photo shows, takes a beating -- that produces 510 horsepower, tops out at 191 mph and gets 13 mpg. It continues a fine tradition for Astons that began with the awesome DB5 inGoldfinger and continued through some of the best Bond films, including Casino Royale.
But Bond tempers his gas-guzzling ways by getting behind the wheel of a hydrogen fuel cell Ford Edge, and FoMoCo's fuel-sipping Ka makes a cameo as well. Neither one of them can turn into a submarine or sprout wings and fly, so they won't make our list of the 10 coolest Bond cars ever. But it's great to see eco-friendly cars getting screen time in a blockbuster film.
Bond makes a getaway in an Edge that belongs to villain Dominic Greene, an environmentalist -- Greene. Get it? -- who leads a criminal gang called Quantum. Greene has a fleet of them, and they're all powered by hydrogen fuel cells. Hydrogen being much harder to get in the real world than the fictional one, the Fords in the flick don't actually run on the stuff, but we'll overlook that.
You probably don't know what a Ka is unless you live in Europe because Ford -- for reasons that elude us -- doesn't sell it in the U.S. It's a sweet little compact that gets upwards of 38 mpg and is exactly the kind of car Ford, indeed all of the Big Three, should be cranking out in big numbers here in the states. Its cameo on the silver screen makes us more hopeful that there's some truth to reports it may soon be available in America.
The Edge and the Ka aren't going to win any beauty contests, especially against the DBS, but it's definitely time for a new generation of Bond cars. We know 007 has a license to kill, but does he have a license to pollute? Besides, green tech is cool. If Q can develop a car that flies -- not to mention figure out how to squeeze surface-to-air missiles and six cup holders into a BMW Z8 -- he sure as hell can figure out how to make an electric car get decent range or create a plug-in hybrid that isn't crazy expensive. Heck - he might even be able to find an efficient enough way to generate the hydrogen needed to keep the Mazda RX-8 Hydrogen RE going. And it's not as if Britain's Secret Intelligence Service can't afford a few Mercedes S 400 hybrids or Tesla Roadsters at $100,000 apiece
It's time for Bond to realize that in a world where climate change and dwindling resources are existential threats as grave as terrorism, the cars he drives are as important as the villains he fights. Use the Reddit widget below to let us know what kind of car you'd like to see Bond drive.
See Also:
- Quantum of Solace: Bad Title, Cool Bond
- Gallery: The 10 Coolest James Bond Cars Ever.
- Gallery: Bond-Villain Lairs Revealed.
Main photo by Susie Allnut for Columbia Pictures. Used with permission. Other photos by Ford Motor Co.Olga Kurylenko, who plays Bonds' ally Camille Montes in Quantum of Solace, behind the wheel of the Ford Ka specificially designed for the film:
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