63 Plymouth Belvedere Savoy Fury Stone Shield Nos on 2040-parts.com

Crash driver ran up £95k hire bill

A TRAIN GUARD ran up car hire bills of more than £95,000 after his £8,000 Mercedes was written off in an accident, a court has heard Sameer Umerji, from Bolton, Greater Manchester, entered into a credit hire agreement with a car rental firm which ran for around 18 months, judges were told. Detail has emerged in a written ruling by the Court of Appeal - after Mr Umerji and insurers became embroiled in litigation. One appeal judge, Lord Justice Underhill, said the car hire sum was "remarkable" given the value of the Mercedes.

Audi S3 Saloon goes on sale in the UK – price from £33,240

The Audi S3 Saloon (pictured) is now on sale in the UK If you want a relatively compact pocket rocket, Audi has you covered with the S3. So far, we’ve had the regular S3 and S3 Sportback (and the S3 Cabriolet is on the way), but if you prefer your S3 in a standard four-door saloon guise, you’re in luck – the Audi S3 Saloon has arrived in the UK. With the same 296bhp 2.0 litre TFSI engine as its S3 siblings, the S3 saloon offers strong performance – 0-62mph in 4.9 seconds – and an official combined economy of 40.9mpg (which means emissions of 159g/km (if you opt for the S Tronic gearbox).

Aston Martin V8 Vantage (2012) the Vantage S-inspired upgrade

This is Aston Martin’s new V8 Vantage, with a new gearbox, styling tweaks and chassis upgrades. You might think it looks little different than before – and that’s no bad thing – but Aston Martin claims the updates amount to ‘most comprehensive programme of enhancements’ since the 4.7-litre version of the V8 Vantage was launched in 2008. The new Aston Martin V8 Vantage will be unveiled at the Geneva motor show in March 2012, just in time to distract potential customers away from the new Porsche 911.  So what’s new about the new Aston Martin V8 Vantage?