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Winter warriors: An AW list of vehicles in which to tackle the snow

Now that cold weather has arrived in many parts of the country, the Corvette Stingrays and Plymouth Barracudas are being tucked back into their garages. With that in mind, AutoWeek offers this list of sure-footed rides for the winter. Some have higher sticker prices--we're looking at you, Range Rover--but most are fun, economical rides that will get you through the deepest doldrums of winter.

Tesla asks NHTSA to investigate fires

In response to concerns following a recent accident which appeared to result from road debris damaging the underside of a battery compartment of a Tesla Model S, causing a fire in the engine compartment, the company has announced that it has requested that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration conduct a full investigation into the fire incidents. In a blog post, Tesla CEO Elon Musk wrote the following about the investigation: "While we think it is highly unlikely, if something is discovered that would result in a material improvement in occupant fire safety, we will immediately apply that change to new cars and offer it as a free retrofit to all existing cars. Given that the incidence of fires in the Model S is far lower than combustion cars and that there have been no resulting injuries, this did not at first seem like a good use of NHTSA's time compared to the hundreds of gasoline fire deaths per year that warrant their attention." Tesla has also released a software update to the cars which will maintain their standard ride height at highway speeds, preventing the air suspension from lowering the car an extra inch at highway speeds for greater aerodynamic efficiency.

Goodwood Revival – with Mr Bean

Rowan Atkinson as Mr Bean will feature at this year's Goodwood Revival But one big petrolhead – who is a Goodwood regular – is Rowan Atkinson, and Goodwood has persuaded him to recreate the Mr Bean sketch – for it is Rowan who is Mr Bean – driving a Mini whilst seated on the roof ,utilising a variety of household articles to control the Mini from a comfy armchair. I can’t confess to being a Mr Bean fan (although I adore Black Adder), but Mr Bean has made Rowan a very rich man, so I’m sure it will prove a big draw. Apart from his daily sketch recreation, Rowan will be driving a 1965 Austin Mini Cooper S in the St Mary’s Trophy saloon car race, which this year is all-Mini and recreates a Mini race that took place at Goodwood in the early sixties.