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

Crash avoidance technology 'can cut crashes by a third'

GROUND-BREAKING rear-end crash avoidance technology can cut the likelihood of these accidents by up to a third, according to the latest crash test results by European safety body Euro NCAP. The Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) systems were trialled by Euro NCAP, which independently tests the crash safety standards of new cars in Europe. It tested the cars by driving them towards a dummy car made of an airbag to see which would stop before a collision occurred.

Jaguar hybrid cars due in 2013-14

Jaguar will launch its own hybrid vehicles soon after Land Rover, CAR can confirm. Parent company Jaguar Land Rover is developing battery-assisted hybrid versions for both brands but its strategy puts part-electric Land Rovers first on the launchpad in 2013.Hybrid Jaguars – set to include the XJ and XF, but eventually every model – are therefore likely to be on the market by 2013-2014, using a similar eight-speed ZF hybrid transmission to petrol-electric BMWs.The staggered roll-out of battery Jags and Land Rovers makes sense: heavy 4x4s have come in the firing line from green protestors who label them Chelsea Tractors. Hybrid Land Rovers will trim emissions and – in plug-in hybrid mode – enable even big bulky Range Rovers to drive in zero-emissions mode into central urban areas emitting nothing more unsaintly than an electric whir.So which Jaguars will go hybrid first?It's likely that the largest models such as the XJ will receive the hybrid power packs first; large cars reap the greater benefit and can more easily swallow the additional cost, put at around £10,000 in today's money.JLR's Midlands engineering bases in Whitley and Gaydon now employ 100 engineers in the expanding hybrid powertrain business unit launched 18 months ago.

Mastretta MXT: Orders UP thanks to Top Gear

Mastretta MXT - orders UP since Top Gear 'Insult' You might reasonably have thougt that Top Gear’s recent Mexican stand-off would have had the butt of its joke – the Mastretta MXT – suffering a severe downturn in sales. After all, according to Mexican Ambassador to London -Eduardo Medina-Mora Icaza – the Top Gear insults aimed at his country – and at Mastretta – were ‘Bigoted and Ignorant’. Which, if the comments had been anything other than a feeble attempt at a joke on national stereotypes, may have been an appropriate response.