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

Lifeboat resuces two swamped cars

A LIFEBOAT CREW rescued two cars which were swamped by the sea within 90 minutes of each other as the highest tides of the year caught drivers out. At least one of the vehicles which were wrecked by the submerging North Sea had been used to try to pull a boat out of the water, the RNLI said. A crew from Redcar, near Middlesbrough, responded to the first call-out at 3.20pm on Wednesday after coastguards received a number of 999 calls saying two people were on the roof of a vehicle on the town's beach as the waters came in.

Audi A3 Sportback e-tron price and specs – costs £34,950

Audi A3 Sportback e-tron (pictured) costs £34,950 If governments are going to base car taxation on Co2 emissions, then car makers are going to build cars that ‘game’ the official tests. A perfect example of which is the new Audi A3 Sportback e-tron plug-in hybrid. It’s expensive at £34,950 (although the government bribe for plug-ins does drop the price you pay to £29,950), but thanks to its ‘up to 31 miles’ range on battery power only it comes complete with official economy of 176.6 mpg and emissions of 37g/km.

GM makes select OnStar services free

General Motors said on Wednesday that it will make unlocking doors, activating horn and lights, and remote start on equipped vehicles standard with its OnStar RemoteLink Mobile App for 2014 vehicles, even if owners decline to pay for other OnStar services. More than 36 Buicks, Cadillacs, GMC and Chevy models are compatible with the app. GM says it gets more than 60,000 requests from forgetful drivers each month, asking for door-unlock assistance, “so it makes sense for us to offer RemoteLink key-fob services to enable customers to lock, unlock or start their vehicle from anywhere they have a wireless or cellular connection,” said Mary Chan, president GM global connected-consumer business unit.