Vauxhall DROPS Lifetime Warranty – quietly during the Paris Motor Show news rush

Vauxhall DROPS Lifetime Warranty Vauxhall trumpeted the arrival of a Lifetime Warranty for all their new cars 4 years ago, a move that was designed to show confidence in their cars and tackle the substantial warranties on new cars offered by companies like Hyundai and Kia. But now, in a lesson doubtless learned from ‘bad news’ burying in politics, Vauxhall has revealed they’re dropping the Lifetime Warranty from 2015, no doubt hoping it won’t make headlines in the middle of the news rush from the Paris Motor Show. So now, instead of a lifetime warranty (which was really only for 100,000 miles) buyers of new Vauxhalls will get a fairly bog-standard 60,000 mile/3 year warranty.

Dusting off chavs in a 1963 Jaguar Mark II 3.8

The guy in the baseball cap with the gold sticker still on the peak glanced across and registered nothing. The empty sound of 1.6 litres of Citroen’s finest fell impotently out through an exhaust pipe larger than a drain. Content in the thought that he did not need to worry about the old-fashioned chrome laden crock next to him, the lights turned to amber and he drew his elbow in through the window as the glow of blue LEDs emanating from under the sills launched down the road, followed by the un-silenced sound of French chipped distress.

Volkswagen Polo R WRC (2013) hot hatch pictures and specs

This is the Volkswagen Polo R WRC, a rally car-inspired hot hatch that shoehorns Golf GTI power into a Polo bodyshell. Deliveries of the strictly limited 2500-unit production run will commence in September 2013, but the bad news is that invitation doesn't extend to mainstream UK buyers. That said, VW hints that it could bring in a handful to the UK if there's enough demand.