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

2014 European Car of the Year finalists revealed. Could the Mercedes S-Class win?

Could the 2014 Mercedes S-Class (pictured) win the Car of the Year? We’re at the end of 2013, so the time has arrived to take a look at the finalists for the 2014 European Car of the Year award. In the last few years, despite Europe producing some of the most impressive luxury and performance cars on the planet, the Car of the Year Award has gone to much more prosaic machinery.

One Lap of the Web: Turning second-hand clothes into Ferraris, drumming on the highway and 'Fast & Furious 6'

We spend a lot of time on the Internet -- pretty much whenever we're not driving, writing about or working on cars. Since there's more out there than we'd ever be able to cover, here's our daily digest of car stuff on the Web you may not otherwise have heard about. -- The next time you run out of gas, just pull out a drum kit until help arrives.

'Smartest' UK drivers revealed

DRIVERS aged 50-65 from the Midlands have been judged to be Britain’s 'smartest' – displaying the most fuel efficient and safe driving behaviours – while people aged 18-30 from Wales and the South West are more like driving dunces, new research claims. Youngsters in the north of England are the nation’s smartest young drivers, but overall older drivers reign supreme on the road. The Shell FuelSave Smarter Driving research ranked young (aged 18-30) and older motorists (aged 50-65) on their ‘smart’ and ‘not-smart’ driving behaviours towards fuel efficiency and safety – everything from smooth driving to wearing appropriate footwear behind the wheel.