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

Electric cars must get noisier, ICE cars must get quieter

Electric cars will have to make a noise to protect pedestrians It’s four years since the Lotus solution for making electric cars noisy raised its head, since when the US has had a go at the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act in 2010 to do the same thing, the Japanese are playing too, and Toyota revealed the Prius Vehicle Notification System, and now the EU has decided its time to act to make EVs emit ‘noise’. Despite the most appealing part of an EV being that it makes our cities quieter, legislators worry about the blind, partially sighted and distracted pedestrian (think earphones and a Smartphone) being mowed down by a stalking electric car and feel the need to act. So the European Parliament has decided that by 2019 new models of electric vehicle will have to make a noise in cities, and that by 2021 all new hybrids and electrics must be noisy too.

Citroen C4 Cactus (2014) first official pictures

By Ollie Kew First Official Pictures 05 February 2014 19:00 Well done to Citroen: its arch-funky Cactus crossover concept has makes it into production unscathed, ‘Airbumps’ and all. The production version’s called the Citroen C4 Cactus as it’s based on the C4 hatch, but it’s had the funk turned up to 11. If you’re arriving this late to the compact crossover party, you need to make a splash – good job the new C4 Cactus is head-turning enough to cause the Nissan Juke and Ford EcoSport nightmares.

SsangYong Korando gets a makeover for 2014

The 2014 SsangYong Korando (pictured) gets a facelift SsangYong have been on a bit of a mission to place the Korando as a perfect budget offering in the burgeoning Compact SUV market since it arrived in 2011. We’ve had the Korando SX arrive last year to tempt more buyers in, and a £1 million advertising campaign (focused on ‘economically challenged’ areas of the UK) to raise awareness, and now we get a facelift for 2014 to make the Korando more appealing. The facelift means a new grill, new headlights with LED driving lights, bigger air intake at the front, new lights at the back, new colours – Sunrise red, Cosmic blue and Carbonic grey - and some new wheels designs.