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

VW Beetle Final Edition (2010) at LA

The 2010 VW Final Edition revealed at the LA Amotor Show There is really only one place that holds a torch for the Volkswagen Beetle, and that’s the USA. So it’s entirely appropriate the VW chose the LA Motor Show to launch what will be the last version of the Beetle before an all new Beetle arrives in 2012. The Final Edition Beetle marks eleven years of almost unchanged production for a less than convincing recreation of a motoring icon.

First look: 2014 BMW M3 and M4

The BMW M3 is back, faster and more powerful than ever before -- but only as a four-door sedan. For its iconic 3-series-based performance model, BMW will dispense with a 26-year tradition of high-revving naturally aspirated engines in lieu of turbocharged six-cylinder power. Revealed here in production-car guise for the first time, the new 425-hp M3 sedan will be joined at the outset by its sister model, the M4 -- a mechanically identical but stylistically sleeker two-door coupe previewed in lightly veiled concept-car form at the Pebble Beach concours in California last August.

E85 makes inroads on cost and availability

Three years ago, we embarked on a Midwest road trip in search of what was then the Holy Grail of fuel: E85. Our findings weren't too positive--there were far more E85-compatible vehicles on the road in 2006 (5 million) than there were E85 pumps to fuel them (about 700 out of some 200,000 fuel stations nationwide). In addition, those burning the mix of 15 percent gasoline and 85 percent ethanol were paying a pretty penny for their earth-friendly ways, losing about 15 percent in fuel economy while often paying the same price as regular unleaded.