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

Lotus Evora Facelift heading for Frankfurt

Lotus Evora Facelift expected at Frankfurt based on the Mansory Evora (above) It’s a ‘back to reality’ story from Lotus, for a change, with the news that, possibly, they are going to take a facelift Lotus Evora to the Frankfurt Motor Show. Of course, we’ve been here before. Earlier in the year we reported that Lotus were taking an Evora with a facelift off to Geneva, but that turned out to be a Mansory version of the Evora, seemingly with the blessing of Lotus as it appeared on their stand.

New Mercedes A45 AMG has 105 years of 4WD on its side

With the new Mercedes A45 AMG on the horizon – complete with 4WD – Mercedes chart the history of all wheel drive on their vehicles. We tend to think of 4WD road cars as a modern innovation, and certainly very few 4WD road cars hit the road in a mainstream way much before the 1980s (the Jensen FF was hardly mainstream before someone points out that was in the 1960s). But the history of 4WD goes back, certainly in the case of Mercedes, a surprising 105 years when Daimler built the Dernburg-Wagen, a 4WD vehicle that not only got all-wheel drive but all wheel steering too.

Dacia won’t build a car smaller than the Sandero

The Dacia Sandero (pictured) will remain Dacia’s smallest model In austere times, budget buys sell. Which is why Dacia is having so much success with its compact Sandero and Duster SUV. With prices on the Sandero starting at just £5,995 and Duster SUV prices as little as £8,995 (although you’ll have to pay £10,995 for a 4WD version), car buyers are buying Dacias as quickly as Renault can build them, with sales in a European market that shrank by 7 per cent last year up by 18 per cent to 90,000 cars for Dacia.