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

Kia Track’ster is a bonkers 4wd 250bhp concept

The barking mad Kia Tracks'ter The Kia Trackster Concept has been revealed as a three-door, 250bhp, 4WD track version of the Soul. The Kia Soul may not be thye first car you’d think of turning in to a hot hatch, but that hasn’t stopped the Kia Track’ster arriving as a concept at the Chicago Motor Show today. Based on the Soul, the Tracks’ter (those Kia apostrophes again) gets 4WD, loses its back seats to what Kia call an “Integrated Equipment Tray” instead, gets a 2.0 litre turbo with 250bhp mated to a six-speed ‘box and a set of 19″ alloys.

Lexus IS 300h promises unrivalled ownership costs

The new Lexus IS - launched at Detroit in January and costing from £26,495 for the IS 250 in the UK – actually offers ownership costs that eclipse diesel offerings from the likes of Jaguar, BMW, Audi and Mercedes, say Lexus. Despite the logical assumption that the complex hybrid powerplant in the IS 300h would cost more to maintain, Lexus say the opposite is true. Because it has no clutch and the starter motor and alternator are integrated they require no servicing or replacement and Lexus has fitted a timing chain instead of a timing belt, so it won’t need regular replacement either.

Citroen's Survolt charges into life at Le Mans Classic

French cars, Belgian drivers and a French track sounds like a recipe for Gallic flair (well, almost). And so it proved at the weekend when Vanina Ickx, daughter of six-time winner at Le Mans, lapped the track in the new Citroen Survolt concept car. Also lapping the French track at the 2010 Le Mans Classic was the GTbyCITROEN concept car, alongside a brace of DS3s.