Arias Pistons 12.5:1 Compression 82mm Bore Honda B-series on 2040-parts.com

Ellesmere Port's bid to build Ampera hits snags

By Rob Golding Motor Industry 09 October 2009 15:02 Prime minister Gordon Brown’s personal crusade to get Vauxhall's version of the Chevrolet Volt petrol-electric plug-in hybrid – the Ampera – built in Britain's Ellesmere Port factory in 2012 is a dream delayed, CAR can disclose today.News that the UK Astra plant is the best in Europe, that the Astra's Delta platform will underpin the Ampera, and that Volt will be on US sale from 2010 had been taken to mean that Vauxhall would be churning out the cars in the north west within three years.But the prospect of an electric car industry growing up around the run-down Merseyside manufacturing site is not imminent, CAR has learned.'No Ampera to be built in Europe before 2015'Vauxhall insiders have made it clear that the car to be known as the Vauxhall/Opel Ampera in Europe will be an import from the US for at least five years. One senior planner told us: 'The US will be the sole source of Amperas until at least 2015.'Bob Lutz, GM's former product supremo who recently came out of retirement as a PR, said that the low value of the dollar made the US an ideal site for the manufacturing of export cars. And with forecast sticker prices of the range-extender electric car standing at a scary £35,000+, every price saving is vital to its marketability.The European market also needs time to get its electricity recharge infrastructure in place before it is worth making cars onshore in volume, GM high-ups point out.

BMW X3 xDrive20d SE (2011) Review & Road Test

BMW X3 Review & Road Test If you’re going to pontificate on a subject – in this case, pen a BMW X3 Review – it’s probably best to declare any prejudices and preconceptions up-front. So before starting to deliberate on BMW’s new X3 – in this case the entry-level BMW X3 xDrive20d SE – I need to declare that firstly, unlike many who review cars for a living, I ‘get’ the whole softroader thing. And secondly, I thought the original BMW X3 was truly awful.

Audi Q3: new entry-level 1.4 TFSI & new S Line Plus trim option

The new Audi Q3 1.4 TFSI (pictured) offers a sensible petrol alternative Although we all now seem as obsessed in the UK by frugal diesel engines as Europe has been for many years, there’s a lot to be said for a petrol engine. So the launch of the Audi Q3 1.4 TFSI petrol as the new entry point for the Q3 range should make private buyers – and those who don’t do mega miles – sit up and take notice. The Q3 1.4 TFSI only comes with front wheel drive, but it does offer a sensible alternative to the 2.0 litre TDI 140 for many buyers, with 148bhp, a 0-62mph of 9.2 seconds (8.9s with the optional S tronic ‘box), official economy of 47.9mpg and emissions of 137g/km.