4.3l Marine Gm Complete on 2040-parts.com

Mini Countryman JCW at 2012 Geneva motor show

This is the Mini Countryman John Cooper Works, set to be unveiled at the 2012 Geneva motor show. It’s the most powerful Mini so far, with 215bhp, and the first JCW product to boast four-wheel drive. Timed to coincide with much vaunted success in the World Rally Championship… Oh.

2013 Nissan LEAF updated

Nissan has updated the LEAF EV in Japan for 2013 with better range, less weight and a new LEAF S entry-level model. Revealed in Japan – but likely to come to the UK from 2013 when the LEAF starts rolling out of Nissan’s Sunderland factory – there are significant upgrades to the powertrain which result in both less weight and better range. Nissan has had a play with the electric powertrain and made it both smaller and lighter with a new motor that uses 40 per cent less dysprosium (a rare earth metal) than before, and comes in 30 per cent smaller and 10 per cent lighter, and a new streamline battery case and a few other tweaks drops the LEAF’s weight by 80kg.

Watch the Audi Sport Quattro tear up the back roads

Audi revealed its 700-hp Sport Quattro concept at the Frankfurt motor show in September; the car pays homage to the classic rallying Sport Quattro from the 1980s. On Monday, the automaker uploaded a video of the upcoming vehicle to celebrate 100,000 Facebook likes on its German social-networking page. The video shows the Quattro whipping and gripping through a forest/mountain stage.