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

VW Passat: New distance world record

VW Passat World distance Record When you as old as I am (or at least as old as I feel) you can’t help but be astonished at the feats of economy car makers seem able to wring from even quite serious, upmarket cars. Yesterday we reported on the Mercedes S250 CDI which manages to perform like a 1990s V8 S-Class whilst simultaneously doing nearly 50mpg. Which to an old git like me – who thought his 3.0 litre Capri in his teen years was doing well if it got 18mpg – is a bit hard to acccept.

Volvo XC90 (2015)

After three highly-regarded concept cars and a rather extended gestation period, the first of the new generation of Volvo cars, the XC90 SUV, has been unveiled. Designed – at least latterly – under the auspices of Thomas Ingenlath, who joined the sole remaining Swedish brand from VW as its design director in March 2012, the new Volvo XC90 is the first to sit on the company's new, modular SPA platform (Scalable Product Architecture, if you're interested). This allows more freedom in terms of proportions, with a particularly generous axle-to-dashboard distance.

Volkswagen Iroc concept

The Iroc is a show car preview of a production coupe to be launched next year that will fill a gap in the Volkswagen model line up left by the demise of the Corrado 11 years ago. Volkswagen describe the Iroc as "transferring the globally successful Scirocco idea into the future" - the Scirocco Mk1 by Giugiaro being produced from 1974-1982, the Mk2 from 1982-1992. Like the Scirocco, the Iroc is a front wheel drive coupe with four seats - as opposed to the 2+2 seating arrangement of the only other sports coupe from Volkswagen Group: the Audi TT.