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

Volkswagen's Golf grabs Car of the Year award

THE VOLKSWAGEN GOLF has been crowned the Scottish Car of the Year, the first time VW has lifted the title north of the border. Awarded by the Association of Scottish Motoring Writers, the Golf won the title thanks to its choice of body styles, frugal engines, quality and excellent driving manners. It beat off strong competition from the likes of the Range Rover Sport, Jaguar F-type and Renault Clio, which won their respective categories.

SAE approves new fast-charging standard for EVs, plug-ins

SAE International said it has approved a new technical standard that will dramatically reduce charging times for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and electric vehicles. The global engineering group said the new charging standard, developed with the cooperation of more than 190 automakers, utilities and equipment builders, will allow charging times to be reduced from as long as eight hours to as short as 20 minutes. Automakers want DC direct charging to take less than 10 minutes, or roughly the time it takes to fill a tank with gasoline.The goal is to accommodate currents as high as 500 volts distributed from public charging stations.

Alfa Romeo MiTo Quadrifoglio Verde at Frankfurt

Alfa will be bringing the 170bhp Alfa Romeo MiTo Quadrifoglio Verde to Frankfurt Alfa Romeo has revealed that they’ll be bringing the  MiTo Quadrifoglio Verde (MiTo four leaf clover) to the Frankfurt Motor Show next week, featuring a 170bhp Multiair engine as we reported back in June (goodness, we’re ahead of the game sometimes!). The ‘Quadrifoglio’ bit refers back to Alfa’s racing history, and was the emblem used on those cars and was most recently seen on special editions of the Alf GT and 147. But the biggest news, apart from the extras and the paint job, is the clever Multiair system that Alfa is busy introducing.