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

Warning to car owners ahead of peak MOT time

DRIVERS OF cars three years old and over are being warned of potential MOT pitfalls in the month of September. Due to the registration plate change in September and March each year these months also see a peak in the number of MOT tests, confirmed by statistics provided by the Vehicle Operator Services Agency (VOSA). Data has also revealed that a key area for MOT failures is vehicle lighting, which can be looked at ahead of the test.

Driven: Ford Focus

The previous two generations of the Ford Focus have consistently been near the top of the European best sellers list over their combined 13-year life spans, but this new car has even greater responsibility. This is the first Focus designed – from the outset – for European, American and Asian markets combined. The biggest, most pertinent question is whether the global 'One Ford' strategy this car has been designed under can work in practice.

New Mercedes A45 AMG has 105 years of 4WD on its side

With the new Mercedes A45 AMG on the horizon – complete with 4WD – Mercedes chart the history of all wheel drive on their vehicles. We tend to think of 4WD road cars as a modern innovation, and certainly very few 4WD road cars hit the road in a mainstream way much before the 1980s (the Jensen FF was hardly mainstream before someone points out that was in the 1960s). But the history of 4WD goes back, certainly in the case of Mercedes, a surprising 105 years when Daimler built the Dernburg-Wagen, a 4WD vehicle that not only got all-wheel drive but all wheel steering too.