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

The next presidential limousine might look like this

A few days ago, the United States Secret Service posted the bid requirements for a new presidential limousine, which is set to debut during the 2017 inauguration of our nation's 45th chief executive. It's hard to believe that the General Motors-built Cadillac dubbed "The Beast" is already due for replacement, but the fleet of presidential limousines is cycled every four or eight years, with bids accepted from any American automaker. We'll spoil the show for you: the odds of a company other than General Motors winning the bid is pretty slim.

New Skoda Octavia vRS hatch & estate revealed

The 2013 Skoda Octavia vRS has been revealed (vRS hatch pictured) The Skoda Octavia vRS – the latest version of Skoda’s quick and appealing take on the VW Golf GTI – has been unveiled ahead of its debut at the Goodwood FoS in July, and it looks a cracker. Available as either a hatchback or estate – and as a diesel or a petrol – the Octavia vRS manages to repackage the Golf GTI and Golf GTD in to one Skoda, offering good performance (the vRS is a bit slower than the GTI to 62mph at 6.8 seconds but has a 2mph higher top speed), good looks and the promise of prices starting not much above £20k. The petrol vRS gets the Golf GTI’s 217bhp 2.0 litre TSI and the diesel vRS the 181bhp 2.0 litre TFI from the Golf GTD, both with a 6-speed manual gearbox as standard and a six-speed DSG as option, sports suspension, XDS differential, quicker steering and multi-link rear suspension.

Rare foreign cars head to Carlisle this weekend

Every spring, Carlisle, Pa., (otherwise known as the Woodstock of the classic-car hobby, a title it now fully shares with Hershey) hosts a weekend event just for foreign cars. Last year, over 1,000 cars gathered in central Pennsylvania, with rare foreign machinery making its way from all over the lower 50 and parts of Canada. The longest-traveled cars we spotted last year wore British Columbia plates, which should give you a clue as to the event's following, though we're still unsure which cars we spent the longest time gawking at.