2001 Pontiac Sunfire Interior Rear View Mirror 303942 on 2040-parts.com

Ford to host Octane Academy for action-sports junkies

Ford is making a push for younger customers with its sponsorship of extreme-sport and action-sport events. Now, the automaker wants to bring that experience to some select average Joes. Beginning in November, Ford will host an action-sports program called Octane Academy.

Mitsubishi i MiEV Electric car launches in Japan

Mitsubishi i MiEV electric car launched in Japan at around £20,000 Until now, electric cars have been very much an oddity. The laughable G-Whiz and the Tesla Roadster are interesting in their own way, but unless you want to look like Noddy’s best friend (G-Whiz) or are happy to have a second-rate Lotus Elise at three times the price (Tesla), there wasn’t much to appeal to the normal car buyer. But it’s changing.

BMW M5 F10M (2011) track test video

BMW M has released new video footage of the upcoming F10M M5 performance testing at the BMW Miramas test centre in southern France. Is this BMW M5 video worth risking a sneaky peek at the office? If you like the M5 or fast cars in general, yes. Compared to previous entries in the M5 teaser video campaign this one shows the BMW M engineers creating enough wheelspin and oversteer to make us think that they're auditioning to work in the motoring media. The video, at nearly four minutes long, shows M5 prototypes largely stripped of camouflage sheeting being put through their paces on the test circuit, as well as undertaking some low speed incline testing on a 32 degree gradient. What we can see conforms with the M5 Concept shown at the 2011 Shanghai motor show.Apart from the aforementioned tyre abuse, you also get clear shots of the new M5's instrument panel, showing the M-DCT transmission's shift mode selector and adaptive damping display.