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

Vauxhall Astra VXR Extreme (2014) first official pictures

By Ollie Kew First Official Pictures 30 January 2014 12:50 Meet the Vauxhall Astra VXR Extreme – the most hard-core hot hatch ever to wear the Astra badge. Inspired by the Astra Cup racing car, it’s essentially an Astra with ‘Speciale’ or ‘GT3’ treatment applied to it, in the vein of Ferrari and Porsche’s fire-breathing specials. Expect less weight, less refinement – and a lot more on-track performance.

Peugeot RCZ Hybrid looks certain

Peugeot seems certain to put the RCZ Hybrid in to production And that ‘Yeah, right’ has now turned in to a ‘Who are you kidding?’ after Peugeot released information today on the RCZ Hybrid4 that frankly wouldn’t warrant doing unless they were already set on a production model. Not more information than we had a couple of weeks ago, but why bother with a new press release on the Hybrid RCZ when you’d already covered it? Unless you want more coverage because you’re going to make it, that is.

Cost of garage labour falling

THE AVERAGE labour rate at both franchised and non-franchised garages has fallen compared to 2012, according to new figures. An annual survey of 12,000 cases conducted on behalf of Warranty Direct has concluded that the average labour rate in 2013 is £74.70, a fall of 9.84% from £82.86 in 2012. Less encouraging is the overall trend of rising labour rates, with the average having increased by 33% over the last ten years.