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

Grab a ‘VAT Free’ Skoda Octavia

In yet another ‘Sign of the times’ Skoda has announced that they are now offering ‘VAT Free Octavias’ until the end of the year. No, this is not a tie-up between Alistair Darling and VW, it’s just Skoda’s way of offering a headline price decrease of a bit over 13% (less expensive to Skoda than last week for the same headline, to be fair, and there is a new model due in January!). Grab a VAT free Skoda Octavia I’m pretty sure that there will be a raft of these ‘VAT Free’ offers floating around on everything from cars to washing machines, capitalising on the fact the VAT is in the headlines.

Rinspeed XchangE concept previews cabin of self-driving cars

Ever wondered what you'll be doing in your car once cars become driverless? We'd probably just sit in the back seat and read the financial section of the paper (on some kind of transparent tablet computer, of course) to see how our Tesla shares are doing and make small talk about the weather with our imaginary chauffeur named James in a faux British accent, asking him to pass the Grey Poupon from time to time. But unlike us, coachbuilder Rinspeed is actually taking the yet-to-materialize issue seriously, and at the upcoming Geneva Auto Show it will debut its XchangE concept.

Bentley Mulsanne Birkin celebrates legendary ‘Tiger Tim’

The 2014 Detroit Motor Show might make it seem like the Americans are getting all the exciting toys right now, but this new limited edition Bentley Mulsanne does its bit for those of us on the other side of the Atlantic pond. Called the Bentley Mulsanne Birkin Limited Edition, and based on Bentley’s range-topping model, it will only be sold in Europe, and is only available in extremely limited numbers. So summon the butler, by Jove.