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

Sacramento, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles top road frustration study

Weather, crashes, traffic and attitude--these are the things that make our commutes unbearable. Now, the RoadIntel.com Web site has ranked cities based on its "road frustration index." The index is based on how weather affects the roads, the amount of traffic, the number of crashes and driver sentiment, which is calculated by searching for keywords such as "traffic jam" and "stuck" on Twitter. On the site, you can look at cities ranked day by day and even hour by hour.

Jaguar hybrid cars due in 2013-14

Jaguar will launch its own hybrid vehicles soon after Land Rover, CAR can confirm. Parent company Jaguar Land Rover is developing battery-assisted hybrid versions for both brands but its strategy puts part-electric Land Rovers first on the launchpad in 2013.Hybrid Jaguars – set to include the XJ and XF, but eventually every model – are therefore likely to be on the market by 2013-2014, using a similar eight-speed ZF hybrid transmission to petrol-electric BMWs.The staggered roll-out of battery Jags and Land Rovers makes sense: heavy 4x4s have come in the firing line from green protestors who label them Chelsea Tractors. Hybrid Land Rovers will trim emissions and – in plug-in hybrid mode – enable even big bulky Range Rovers to drive in zero-emissions mode into central urban areas emitting nothing more unsaintly than an electric whir.So which Jaguars will go hybrid first?It's likely that the largest models such as the XJ will receive the hybrid power packs first; large cars reap the greater benefit and can more easily swallow the additional cost, put at around £10,000 in today's money.JLR's Midlands engineering bases in Whitley and Gaydon now employ 100 engineers in the expanding hybrid powertrain business unit launched 18 months ago.

New high-performance VW Golf R Evo and Polo R under consideration

It has not been two minutes since the Volkswagen Golf R was unveiled, but that hasn’t stopped an even more hardcore Golf R Evo concept being mooted – the more focused prototype could make its debut at the 2014 Beijing Motor Show in April. It’s not the only go-faster Volkswagen that’s under consideration, either. Linking in with its assault on the World Rally Championship, VW is also analysing a potential 250hp, four-wheel-drive Polo R variant.