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

Americans lag in basic maintenance of their vehicles, survey finds

Think you're a good car owner? Think again. A recent survey shows that 90 percent of Americans think they do everything they can to keep their cars in top-notch shape, but far fewer actually take some of the basics steps of proactive maintenance.

2014 Volkswagen Polo now on sale – price from £11,100 to £19,715

The facelifted 2014 VW Polo (pictured) is now on sale The 2014 facelift for the VW Polo was revealed back in January and, although the cosmetic tweaks were the usual facelift fodder – tweaked bumpers and grill, new lights, new alloys and interior updates – the big changes came under the bonnet. New 3-cylinder engines arrive for the Polo with two new 1.0 litre petrols with 60PS or 75 PS, two 1.2 litre petrols with 90 or 110PS and and extra 10-PS for the 1.4 litre, which also gets cylinder deactivation. The diesel BlueMotion also gets dropped in favour of a petrol BlueMotion offering 68.9mpg from its 1.0 litre 3-pot and there’s a pair of 1.4 litre diesels with 75 or 90PS replacing the old 1.2 and 1.6 litre diesels.

VW halts merger talk with Porsche

Volkswagen on Sunday slammed the brakes on merger talks with Porsche, just before the first meeting to discuss ways to bring all of the automakers' brands together under one entity. VW said that it made the move because it believes that Porsche doesn't have a solid plan for the merger. VW and Porsche announced the plan to hold merger talks on May 6.