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

'Make electric cars loud and safer'

ELECTRIC AND HYBRID cars should be made louder to protect people with eyesight problems, an MP and charities have urged. Mary Glindon (North Tyneside) said the Government should first ensure the vehicles are safe for all road users after pledging millions of pounds in subsidies for the ultra-low emissions market. She believes sound generators should be fitted to the vehicles to ensure visually-impaired (VI) pedestrians are aware of them.

2014 Vauxhall Meriva facelift gets new diesel engine

2014 Vauxhall Meriva facelift (pictured) gets new diesel engine It’s more than three years since the Vauxhall Meriva arrived – at Geneva in 2010 – as Vauxhall’s compact people carrier, so it’s time for a bit of a titivate and a few updates. The cosmetic makeover for the 2014 MY Meriva isn’t huge, but Vauxhall has thrown in a new grill and new headlights to fulfil the ‘new nose’ requirements of a facelift, there’s new alloys and new alloy options and daytime running lights. But the biggest change comes under the skin, with the old 1.7 litre turbo diesel being supplanted by the new 1.6 litre from the Zafira which offers 134bhp and 236lb/ft of torque.

One Lap of the Web: KERS, Klass and autonomous cars

We spend a lot of time on the Internet -- pretty much whenever we're not driving, writing about or working on cars. Since there's more out there than we'd ever be able to cover, here's our daily digest of car stuff on the Web you may not otherwise have heard about. -- KERS, the kinetic-energy-recovery system, was first seen in Formula One a few years back.