1981 Yamaha Xj550 Maxim Points Plate/pulsar Coil/oem on 2040-parts.com

July 9: Keeping it topped off

As expected, when I walked back to my parking space at VSP parking across the street from Burbank Airport the i-MiEV was fully charged. No problem. It had more than 24 hours to get charged and it can't take more than 16 hours to do it, if you figure one hour per kWh at 120 volts.

2013 Ford Mondeo: Paris 2012

Ford has given the new Mondeo its first public outing at the 2012 Paris Motor Show, and it looks a good effort. But the new 2013 Ford Mondeo no longer has the advantage of being a default buy for families, so Ford are working hard to make the Mondeo stand out from the mainstream offerings in the C/D segment by making it appear to more ‘Premium’ than just a mere Ford. That means a new nose – a nose that looks like it belongs on an Aston Martin – and a clever range of technology and engines that actually offer more – and for less – than most of the premium car makers can manage.

Nissan GT-R Nismo confirmed as Nissan opens new Nismo HQ

Nissan has opened a new Nismo HQ in Yokohama and confirmed that there will be a Nissan GT-R Nismo flagship performance car built. So far, we’ve had the Nissan Juke Nismo arrive and the Nissan 370Z Nismo turned up recently too as a production model for the UK and Europe – and we’ve even had a concept of a LEAF Nismo – so we know Nissan are serious about offering Nismo versions even on their least sporty models. But the one car that really doesn’t need a Nismo version is the GT-R, yet to have a range of performance cars under the Nismo banner without having the mighty GT-R at the top of that range would seem odd.