Mercruiser 5.7 on 2040-parts.com

Mercury gets a small car in 2011

Ford Motor Co. executives confirmed that Mercury will get a new car on the same platform as the Ford Focus. Ford executives told dealers Sunday at the National Automobile Dealers Association convention in Orlando, Fla., that the small Mercury is coming in 2011, the same year the Focus arrives.

Pirelli World Challenge star Andy Pilgrim makes teens, parents better drivers

Here's another addend in the complex driver-training equation: Many parents influence their kids to become both a greater danger when driving and more susceptible to the actions of other poor drivers. This influence begins long before kids are licensed to drive. Consider: -- “More than 75 percent of new drivers exhibit the same distracted driving behavior as their parents.” -- “Most parents are unaware they are teaching their kids things that will make them more dangerous to others and more vulnerable to others.” -- “Most parents want to protect their children and will make changes once they understand the realities of behavior transfer.” These are the words of Andy Pilgrim, the same championship-winning sports-car driver who helped road-test editor Jonathan Wong thrash Porsche's 911 GT3 and Chevrolet's Camaro Z/28.

How safe are new minicars?

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) recently tested a total of 11 minicars in its relatively new small-overlap crash test, and the Chevrolet Spark was the only one to earn an Acceptable rating. The small-overlap crash test was instituted in 2012 with the goal of better replicating real-life car crashes, most of which don't follow the pattern of traditional government crash tests. Instead of a car hitting a stationary object with 100 percent of its front making contact, the small-overlap test examines how a car behaves in a frontal impact at 40 mph where only a quarter of the car's front hits an object.