Anode Force Outboard F707485 on 2040-parts.com

New options make Prius pricey

High-tech features and luxury options will push the redesigned Toyota Prius into new territory--namely, $30,000-plus. The 2010 Prius hybrid will offer options found on luxury cars: systems that automatically park the car in a parallel parking space and slow the vehicle when a crash is likely. But Toyota is aware of a new competitor--the 2010 Honda Insight, a hybrid that is a little smaller and expected to be less expensive than the Prius.

2014 Subaru XV – less choice, more refinement

The 2014 Subaru XV (pictured) gets a bit of a tweak The Subaru XV arrived in the UK in 2012, and it’s a perfectly able and reasonably-priced compact crossover from Subaru. But within a year of launching the XV Subaru decided to inject a bit more appeal in to the XV with a price cut of £2,300 across the range and now, not more than six months later, they’re fiddling with the XV range again. The 2.0 litre petrol XV gets new valve-train components to cut engine noise and revised suspension, with extra soundproofing improving NVH levels across the range, a revised power steering system for added stability and feel  and thicker and reshaped suspension lower arm and extra reinforcement around the base of the A-Pillar for better crash performance.

2013 Hyundai ix35 Facelift spied

An undisguised photo of what appears to be a facelift for the 2013 Hyundai ix35 has appeared on a  Korean site. It’s not yet three years since the Hyundai ix35 was revealed at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2009 (although it had been seen in Korea earlier), but it looks like the compact SUV from Hyundai is getting a facelift for 2013. The photo above shows an undisguised ix35 / Tucson snapped in Korea and shows a new, more confident nose, big statement grill and fog lights that looks like the might have been borrowed from the new i30.