00 Durango Engine Ecm 176761 on 2040-parts.com

One Lap of the Web: We invented the Miata!

-- Sochi or bust! Is there anything more Russian than driving a Lada Niva to the Winter Olympics? (Flagrant corruption, perhaps.) Documentary producer Vlad Ketkovich calls the venerable Niva "the closest thing to an automotive version of the Russian soul," and we'd wager that the Niva belongs in quintessential Russian-ness next to the Bolshoi Ballet and the movie "Russian Ark." (Or "Ninth Company," if your attention span has been blown to bits.) -- A gorgeous Alfa Romeo ventures into the woods by itself.

Ford's forgotten T-Drive program

Digital boss Andy Stoy recently passed along this little piece of nearly forgotten Ford history from the early 1990s. We know that our girl Murilee Martin dug this up way back in 2010, but the wonder of the Ford T-Drive system is worth revisiting. According to Drivingenthusiast.com, “T-drive is a system consisting of a transversally located inline engine, a transmission and associated packaging.” The transmission is mounted to the side of the engine, or the back, depending on how you look at things.

BMW X6 (2015): first photos of the X6 Mk2

By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 05 June 2014 23:00 BMW has shown its new 2014 X6 crossover - the second-generation of the SUV that puts style over space. The low-slung BMW X6 again uses X5 mechanicals, but wrapped in a squashed, coupe-influenced silhouette. The X6 is a niche product in the UK, selling some 1700 in 2013, around a third of X5 volumes in a good year.