American comedian and Tonight Show host Jay Leno is one of the entertainment world's most notorious petrolheads. As an occasional contributor to Times Online he has had the opportunity to test some of the most expensive and (sometimes) luxurious vehicles on the market. He went on to buy most of them. Are they worth the money? Lets see what Jay thinks:

Ariel Atom: A modest $47,900 (£24,000), or a gala wedding reception

"Nothing gives you a sense of speed like the Atom. Gambling is too expensive, I don’t drink and I don’t want to cheat on my wife, so speed is my only release. In the short time I have had the Atom I have tried to break it — but can’t. And even if it did break, fixing it would not be too bad. Another of the great things about the Atom is its value for money, unlike so many supercars"

Corvette C6: $103,550 (£51,850), or a nice holiday flat in Morocco

"The new Corvette C6 is kind of like Las Vegas. Years ago Las Vegas used to be steak, chicken and potatoes. It was as American as you could possibly get. As they open up the world markets, it's still the most American place there is, but you can get proper Italian food, proper French food, all kinds of different cuisines. It's the same thing with the Corvette; it's still American but it has more of a European flavour"

Cadillac XLR: $139,800 (£70,000), or an NHS consultant's salary

"It has all the modern features you’d expect, such as keyless entry, but I’m always suspicious of things like that because they make me think of Sherlock Holmes TV shows set during the war, where Holmes investigates someone who has cut an electrical wire to an alarm. I recall him saying in a cut-glass accent: “Ah, electricity, the high priestess of false security.” It’s the same for me. All this electronic stuff is wonderful until your battery goes dead. I like the simple mechanical-ness of pulling a switch.Despite which, I like the XLR, and the way its roof goes up and down is an engineering marvel, although you don’t get much boot space. I guess you might just be able to get a nine-iron in there"

Bentley Continental GT: $200,000 (£100,000), or a small flat in Salford

"If you drive it at normal speeds it’s just fine, but if you get up to really high speeds when you’re going into corners you’ll find yourself shouting out 'whooaagh'. It’s a little like square dancing with a great big fat woman. But the fact that it does it at all is remarkable in itself; you think, 'Oh my God, this is amazing stuff for such a big, heavy car.'"

Rolls Royce 100EX: $500,000 (£250,000), or an Oceanis 473 yacht

"This car is fine round Beverly Hills but really it’s the sort of car you have to drive from one locked location to another locked location. Driving up the California coast in it would be wonderful but you can’t just leave it by the side of the street. This car has a bling factor that’s enormous. I can see Hollywood falling for it and rap stars in particular. It is not so over the top you can’t appreciate it. It is not outrageous. The detailing is fine, though. Your eye can rest on any number of features and they are quite delicate, like the chrome air-conditioning and audio controls"

Read more about Jay's love affair with internal combusion engines here.