2009 BMW Z4 announced

BMW has officially released details of the next BMW Z4, due to be shown at Detroit and in UK showrooms in the spring. The new Z4 looks like a big improvement on the outgoing model. The old Z4 had Marmite looks – you loved it or hated it – but the new BMW Z4 has much more voluptuous lines.

Mechanics qualifications gained using Haynes manuals

MOST MEN enjoy a good Haynes car manual, whether they really understand it or not, but a group of youngsters has used the workshop guides to achieve their first qualifications in car mechanics. The first wave of the Haynes Mechanix scheme has seen a mixed gender youth club group, aged 15-25 and from Islington in London, use Haynes manuals along with guidance from experienced mentors to fix real problems on a real car. The donor Volkswagen, known as Percy the Polo, was a theoretical MOT fail and needed replacement spark plugs, a brake fluid replacement and much more, to give the aspiring tinkerers a broad spectrum of challenges.

Synthetic diesel fuel powers 1,000 miles of Audi

Audi began a 1,000-mile eco drive on Oct. 18 in a demonstration named "Eureka! Diesel Drives the Future." Two Audi A3 TDI test cars left Eureka, Calif., and headed south, filled with RenDiesel, a synthetic fuel from Rentech.