2007 Volvo S40 S 40 Owners Manual Set #o154 on 2040-parts.com

Mazda RX-8 facelift (2008): first official pictures

By Ben Pulman First Official Pictures 13 January 2008 10:47 Mazda’s facelifted RX-8 arrived at the Detroit Motor Show, and it’s more of a mild nip and tuck than a drastic overhaul. Mazda hasn’t suddenly dropped in a V6 or anything like that – so far over 165,000 rotary-engined RX-8s have been sold and Mazda doesn’t want to mess with a recipe that works. That means it’s still a four-door, four seater with 'Freestyle' (suicide to you and me) doors, and a unchanged 1.3-litre turbine engine available in 189bhp and 228bhp states of tune.

Car makers to be forced to disclaim ‘Official’ economy figures

We’ve banged on for a long time about the futility of official economy figures, especially as car makers get better and better at ‘gaming’ the official economy tests to produce the results they want. Much of the impetus to create the best headline economy figure for a car is driven by taxation, with car makers well aware that the better the official economy results are, the lower their CO2 will be (CO2 isn’t tested for – it’s just extrapolated from the official mpg) and the more appealing the car will be to buyers, particularly fleet buyers. But a ruling by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) against Audi could at least see car makers having to admit in their adverts that the ‘official’ economy figure bears no relation to what owners can expect to achieve in the real world.

MINI GP II on its way

MINI GP II on its way (MINI GP pictured) MINI has revealed that they are planning a MINI GP II – the most powerful MINI ever – to be launched at Mini United 2012 in La Castellet in May. When the first BMW MINI was close to its sell by date, MINI churned out the most powerful MINI ever in the guise of the MINI GP. And now, with the second generation MINI nearing the end of its life, they’re about to pull the same trick with the MINI GP II.