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

The fall and rise of the budget car

Twenty years ago, the classic bargain brands like Lada seemed to be going the same way as the Soviet empire that spawned them. Woefully dated and badly made, only a weirdo would have bought a new Lada rather than a second-hand model from Ford, Vauxhall or VW. However, one of the big trends in the car industry today is the re-emergence of bargain cars.

New Peugeot 308 (2014) revealed ahead of debut at 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show

The new Peugeot 308 - revealed this morning ahead of a debut at Frankfurt in September and an on sale date in the UK of January 2014 – moves the 308 further towards the sector leaders with a new car – built on PSA’s new EMP2 platform – that’s a bit shorter and a bit lower than the old 308, and looks a lot slicker. The nose of the new 308 is lower than before and it sports Peugeot’s new, more refined, grill with slime LED headlights and manages to look like a convincing big brother to the new 208, with elements borrowed from the Onyx Concept too with the back end sporting LEDs that create three ‘Lion Claws’ in their graphic (like the Jaguar XJ). Inside, Peugeot have created what they call an ‘i-cockpit’ layout with a big centre console featuring a 9.7″ touchscreen that takes the place of most of the buttons you used to get, allowing Peugeot to create a dash with a sleek and uncluttered feel and heads-up instruments.

Volvo V60 Polestar costs £49,775 – just 175 coming to the UK

Just 175 Volvo V60 Polestars (pictured) coming to the UK We did expect, when the Volvo V60 Polestar was made official in November last year, that it would be a regular production model. But instead it’s going to be a limited edition special. That probably makes sense with Volvo busy updating their entire range, but it does mean there will be just 750 cars built, of which 175 are earmarked for the UK – the biggest allocation of any market.