1982-1992 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am Dash Pad on 2040-parts.com

Autos to overtake manuals

By Jack Carfrae Motor Industry 28 February 2007 07:39 Automatic transmissions will finally overtake manuals as the top-selling gearbox choice in 2007. Autos have been long established as the more popular option Stateside and in Japan, but it seems that Europe has now finally caught the two-pedal bug. With the ever-increasing popularity of semi-automatic gearboxes (Tiptronic, DSG, CVT and a whole flood of other acronyms), it isn’t hard to see why.

Mazda 3 saloon (2009): first photos

By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 09 October 2008 12:20 Mazda is replacing its 3 family of hatchbacks and saloons and we'll see this US-market sedan at next month's Los Angeles motor show. It's a four-door for the notchback-obsessed Americans, but we'll see the five-door Euro-style Mazda 3 hatch a few weeks later at the 2008 Bologna motor show. The new Mazda 3 is believed to be based on the engineering skeleton of a Ford Focus, so expect a front-wheel drive layout and a wide spread of diesel and petrol engines.

Toyota's production iQ

By Guy Bird Motor Shows 06 March 2008 15:41 What’s new on Toyota’s Geneva Motor Show stand? The brand’s biggest news by far was the production iQ city car. The road-going iQ keeps almost all of the 2007 Frankfurt concept’s great packaging – half a metre shorter than a Fiat 500 at 2985mm – but still housing four seats, three for adults and one behind the driver for a child or luggage (there’s no conventional boot space).