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

Driven: a week with a Chevrolet Volt

In Fall 2010, before the Volt went on sale in North America, we sampled an early build model and came away so impressed, we declared it the car for the digital age. Since then the car has received harsh criticism from the press and been outsold by the Nissan Leaf in the North American market. Given the unique powertrain, we felt longer exposure to the Volt was therefore in order, so on a recent trip to Michigan, we lived with one for five days.

Frankfurt 2011 - Best in Show

Given the array of new cars at motor shows, it's often difficult to pick one as the overall star of the show. While, in theory, there appears to have been a glut of new concept and production cars to choose from in Frankfurt, in reality there were less than a handful of marked standout designs. Here are our picks.

Mitsubishi PX-MiEV Concept at Tokyo

The Mitsubishi PX-MiEV Concept - a hybrid crossover The ‘PX’ bit of the name is Mitsubishi’s code for Plug-in Hybrid Crossover (saves a bit of room on the boot lid), so the PX-MiEV gets a 1.6 litre 4-pot to drive the front wheels together with an electric motor. An additional electric motor is used to power the rear wheels when circumstances dictate. The PX-MiEV can also run for up to 30 miles in EV mode, after which it turns in to a hybrid to drive and recharge the batteries.