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

Kia Venga mini MPV at 2009 Frankfurt motor show

By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 17 August 2009 11:00 Kia has stayed remarkably faithful to its No.3 concept car for its new mini-MPV, the Venga. Forget the name's reference to Arsenal's football manager or annoying Ibiza soundtracks, the Venga is all about sensible family transport.  It's the more practical Soul – with the space of a C-segment, Focus-style car in the footprint of a supermini, claims Kia. Eh?

Jaguar XJ & XF get 4WD

Jaguar has announced that four wheel drive versions of the Jaguar XJ and Jaguar XF will be available – but not in the UK. Jaguar has long bemoaned the lack of a 4WD platform for their cars, and even blamed such a lack of flexibility for the delay in launching the XF Sportbrake. We’ve been expecting Jaguar to reveal a 4WD version of the XJ for a while (especially as the new Range Rover utilises the same platform) but we didn’t expect a 4WD XF until the next generation XF launches in a couple of years.

Four new electric speed records for the UK

Lord Paul Drayson has set a new World Electric Land Speed record for sub-999kg electric vehicles with an average speed of 205.139mph over the flying mile. This represents a modest 1mph increase over the previous record – which Drayson set last year in the same Drayson Racing Technologies all-electric prototype. But the ‘Lord of Speed’ (as we’ve just dubbed him) also broke four other records in the process.