980pcs 4mm Black Car Rhinestone Artificial Diamond Crystal Sticker Nail Art on 2040-parts.com

First Sight: BMW 1 Series

This is the first BMW to compete in the premium lower medium European car class defined by cars such as the Audi A3 and Alfa Romeo 147, although spiritually it follows the significantly smaller BMW 2002 Touring produced from 1968 to 1976. A little more compact that the 3 Series (which will grow in size with next year's new model) the 1 Series effectively replaces the 3 Series-based Compact and extends the brand downward to just above the Mini. The 1 Series was previewed by the CS1 two door convertible concept shown two years ago at Geneva, with which it shares much of its exterior proportions and form, and some interior design themes.

Range Rover Sport desert-bashing exploits now on video

The new Range Rover Sport demolished the Empty Quarter Last month we reported on an adventure for the Range Rover Sport (to add to its recent Pikes Peak jaunt), with Land Rover taking the new Sport off to the Empty Quarter Desert in Saudi Arabia (which also runs through  Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen) to see if they could cross it in a day. The Empty Quarter – the largest sand desert in the world – has endless miles (well, 500 miles) of hostile sand and dunes and temperatures as high as 50C – so it was quite a task. Land Rover enlisted Dakar Rally man Moi Torrallardona to take the driver’s seat and he managed to take the RRS through the Empty quarter in just 10 hours 22 minutes at an average speed of 51.7 mph.

Aston Martin launches Centenary Editions of DB9, Vantage, Vanquish & Rapide

Aston Martin celebrates its centenary with Centenary Edition versions of their entire range featuring special paint finish and bespoke interiors. One hundred years ago today, Aston Martin arrived as Bamford & Martin as Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford formed the company which would, just a year later, become Aston Martin, and to celebrate the centenary Aston Martin is creating 100 Centenary Editions of each of its model range (although not, it seems, the Cygnet). All the centenary Edition cars (V8 Vantage, DB9, Rapide and Vanquish) will feature a unique graduated paint finish and get adorned with solid sterling silver wing badges (don’t park your Centenary Edition Aston Martin in a public car park with the current price of silver) with tailored ‘Trans Flux’ enamel inlay.