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

Finalists announced in Fiat UK's 'Smiles per Hour' design competition

Fiat UK has picked five finalists in the ‘Smiles per Hour Design Competition', a design contest we first told you about back in July. The aim of the competition was to find a budding designer in Britain who would develop a clever and amusing new way to travel. Following an initial judging process, the selection for best designs comprised of Simon Tarrant's 'Street Rower'; Nick Rawcliffe's 'Snowbone'; Natalie Daghestani's 'Hylo female commuter shoe'; Steven Spong's ‘Longbow'; and Harley Zblewski's 'Suitcase Car' -  a design we first saw at Coventry University's annual Degree Show in June.

Daimler-Renault alliance to delay new Smart and Twingo models, report says

Renault SA and Daimler AG, who are sharing technology to build the new Smart ForTwo and Renault Twingo cars, will delay the introduction of the models by a year, according to a French newspaper. The cars will now come to market in 2014 instead of 2013, La Tribune said, citing industry sources. The next ForTwo and the third-generation Twingo will be built on Renault's A platform, with ForTwo production continuing at Smart's plant in Hambach, France, and Twingo output at Renault's Novo Mesto factory in Slovenia.

Honda Civic Tourer 1.6 i-DTEC wins MPG Marathon

The winners of the MPG Marathon in the Honda Civic Tourer 1.6 i-DTEC Last year Honda took the CR-V 1.6i-DTEC out MPG Marathon playing, and managed to return an impressive 78mpg in a car the official figures say should do 63mpg, disproving (to a point) that cars just can’t achieve official economy figures in the real world. This time it’s the turn of the new Honda Civic Tourer with the latest 1.6 i-DTEC ‘Earth Dreams’ engine to go out and eke every possible inch of tarmac from every single drop of petrol. In the hands of Honda R&D engineers Fergal McGrath, James Warren, Tony Shiggins and Julian Warren, the Civic Tourer drove a total of 330 miles and managed to do 97.2mpg – an impressive 31.8 per cent more than the official average.