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

Jaguar XJ Diesel – The Swansong plaudit

The Jaguar XJ 2.7 Diesel has won the 'Greenest Luxury Car' Award And although one of the strengths of Jaguar has been its heritage it has, to a degree, also become its Achilles Heel. The first Jaguar XJs were a triumph when they were launched in 1968, and put Jaguar leaps and bounds ahead of the German competition, in the same way Jaguar had taken the world by storm with the E-Type a few years before. But things started to fall apart for Jaguar in the ’70s with the fiasco that was British Leyland, and by trying to emulate Porsche by making each iteration of the XJ an evolution of the original all they managed to do was cement in the public mindset the failings of the XJ.

Diesel hybrid cars avoid BIK penalty. Peugeot, Citroen & Volvo rejoice.

Peugeot 3008 HYbrid4 is the first car to benefit from BIK rates on diesel hybrids As a company car driver the Inland Revenue gets its cut no matter what. With BIK rates set based on CO2 emissions and list price, it’s hard to find a way to beat the system. Even opting for a diesel car doesn’t help because, despite much better economy on the whole from diesels than petrol engined cars, HMRC adds an extra 3% to your BIK rate because diesels emit more of the stuff that matters – particulates and NOx – than a petrol-engined car.

Focus RS plus – the Loder1899

The Focus RS by Loder1899 We finally got round to doing a review of the Focus RS last week and came away deeply impressed. The thought of 300bhp through the front wheels seemed like a barking mad idea, but Ford had managed to pull off the seemingly impossible with the adoption of their clever RevoKnuckle system, which tames the torque steer if not completely eradicating it. We did note that it seemed as if the system was good enough to take even more horses than the RS produces, which you can now find out for yourself if you opt for the tuned Focus RS revealed by German tuner Loder1899 (catchy little name).