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

New Mercedes A45 AMG has 105 years of 4WD on its side

With the new Mercedes A45 AMG on the horizon – complete with 4WD – Mercedes chart the history of all wheel drive on their vehicles. We tend to think of 4WD road cars as a modern innovation, and certainly very few 4WD road cars hit the road in a mainstream way much before the 1980s (the Jensen FF was hardly mainstream before someone points out that was in the 1960s). But the history of 4WD goes back, certainly in the case of Mercedes, a surprising 105 years when Daimler built the Dernburg-Wagen, a 4WD vehicle that not only got all-wheel drive but all wheel steering too.

RCA Future Car Challenge 2021

London's Royal Automobile Club (RAC) is hosting an exhibition of artwork created by students enrolled in the RCA's Vehicle Design program. The artwork is intended to complement the RAC's Future Car Challenge, which will take place tomorrow, Saturday November 5, the day before the historical London to Brighton Veteran Car Run. The challenge requires entrants to drive a 60-mile route from Brighton to London using the least amount of energy and will see a wide range of energy-efficient vehicles participate.

Peugeot 208 Hybrid FE (2013) at Frankfurt motor show

Here’s Peugeot’s salvo in the fight to make cars more economical: the 208 Hybrid FE. The supermini concept can achieve a claimed average of 112mpg (and a maximum of 141mpg), and emits only 49g/km of CO2. Peugeot is especially keen to point out it’s a conventionally shaped supermini with five seats, unlike VW’s own super-frugal XL1, which looks decidedly sci-fi in comparison, but has a smaller boot than a Ferrari 458… The 208 FE is 25% slipperier and 20% lighter than a regular 208, but that’s only part of the reason it allegedly achieves such eye-opening numbers at the pumps.