2013 SEAT Ibiza Cupra arrives

The recently facelifted SEAT Ibiza now gets its hot hatch credentials back in order with the arrival of the 2013 SEAT Ibiza Cupra. The changes amounted to the new SEAT nose with a new grill and headlights and a crease up the bonnet, a set of bigger air intakes, a new bumper and lights at the back and a very small titivate for the interior. Now those modest updates have been applied to the 2013 SEAT Ibiza Cupra – as previewed by the Ibiza Cupra Concept at this year’s Beijing Motor Show – as well as a set of LED running lights, a set of butch bumpers and a big hexagonal exhaust tip at the back.

BMW M5 manual mess-up

By Chris chilton Motor Industry 27 January 2007 01:34 North American customers were delighted when BMW bowed to their demands for a full three-pedal manual version of the current V10 M5 super saloon, but aren’t quiet so enamoured with the finished product. The issue is not with the gearbox itself – BMW successfully replaced the European model’s seven-speed SMG box with the old-shape M5’s six-speed manual – but with the compromises that were needed to get there. Without the benefit of computer control for the opening and closing of the clutch plates, M division’s engineers couldn’t eliminate axle tramp under hard take-offs.

The new Mercedes-Benz CLA Super Bowl spot

It takes a certain kind of chutzpah for a German company that supplied the Nazi war machine to use a track that features the line, “I rode a tank / Held a general's rank / When the Blitzkrieg raged / And the bodies stank.” Apparently, Mercedes-Benz has exactly that sort of chutzpah. The premise, of course, is that you don't have to sell your soul to afford the company's stylish new CLA. That for under 30 grand, you too can dance with Usher, be pulled into red-carpet photographs with Kate Upton, and compete in Formula 1 races.