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

Classic car prices on the up: Jaguar D-type sells for £3 million

Classic car prices seem to be ever-rising, with historic models becoming an investment to rival buying property or gambling on the stock market. The inaugural RM Auctions Paris sale this week was a case in point, and resulted in nearly £15 million’s worth of the world’s rarest and most exotic cars going under the hammer. Four cars alone went for in excess of £1 million, and a Jaguar D-type sold for three times that amount.

One Lap of the Web: We invented the Miata!

-- Sochi or bust! Is there anything more Russian than driving a Lada Niva to the Winter Olympics? (Flagrant corruption, perhaps.) Documentary producer Vlad Ketkovich calls the venerable Niva "the closest thing to an automotive version of the Russian soul," and we'd wager that the Niva belongs in quintessential Russian-ness next to the Bolshoi Ballet and the movie "Russian Ark." (Or "Ninth Company," if your attention span has been blown to bits.) -- A gorgeous Alfa Romeo ventures into the woods by itself.

Hyundai ix35 Facelift goes further in Korea – and looks better for it

Last year we had spy shots of the Hyundai ix35 facelift floating round Korea – Hyundai’s home market – which showed a much more convincing nose than the, then, ix35 in Europe, but they eventually turned out to be photos of the ix35 FCEV which Hyundai had given a nose much more like the new Santa Fe and which we thought pointed at the 2013 facelift for the ix35. But when the Hyundai ix35 did turn up at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show with a bit of a titivate, it was exactly that – some very minor tweaking which kept the 2013 ix35 looking very similar to the 2012 model. But that’s not happening in Korea.