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

Lexus, Subaru, Mazda score highest Consumer Reports' rankings

Japanese brands, led by Lexus, Subaru and Mazda, continue to dominate Consumer Reports' rankings of the best light vehicles on the market, claiming "top pick" honors in seven out of 10 product segments and capturing the top seven spots for overall brand reliability and performance. The brands that scored best on the magazine's report cards for 2013 were Lexus, with a score of 79 out of 100, followed by Subaru and Mazda, which both scored a 76. Toyota, Acura, Honda and Scion rounded out the top seven.

New car sales hit ten year high – Toyota Yaris breaks in to top 10

The Toyota Yaris accounted for over 20% of hybrid sales in March 2014 We’ve got used to new car sales (well, new car registrations) hitting new highs month after month, but March 2014 managed to top even the recent levels with the highest monthly registrations in a decade. March is normally the year’s highest new car month with the ‘year’ plate change coming in, with almost 20 per cent of cars registered in that month alone (it used to be August when  there was just one plate change a year) and 2014 saw a jump of nearly 18 per cent over 2013, and the highest total since March 2014. Still sitting atop the list is the Ford Fiesta (25,753) with more than 50 per cent more sales than the second place Ford Focus (16,860), with the usual suspects taking up the rest of the top ten (full top ten sales for March 2014 below).

Mercedes C-class facelift (2011) first pictures

Mercedes has facelifted the C-class - and the new one arrives in UK dealers in March 2011. It's a classic mild Merc facelift, with a cosmetic polish-up and a raft of more detailed engineering changes. It looks like a subtle upgrade, but Merc says more than 2000 new components are fitted.