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

Budget 2011: Fuel duty CUT & tuppence for potholes

Motorists Budget 2011 No once expected huge give-aways in George Osborne’s second budget – especially as we now have cruise missiles to pay for in Libya – but the hope was that the Chancellor would at least address the inexcorable rise in the cost of fuel. Which he has – sort of. Fuel was due to increase by around 5p a litre next week if he’d left Labour’s fuel duty escalator in place.

2014 BMW X3: pictures and full details

This is the facelifted 2014 BMW X3, which will make its global debut at the Geneva Motor Show ext month. BMW’s flagship SUV, the X5, was recently overhauled, and now it’s the turn of the mid-size BMW X3 off-roader to undergo the German firm’s latest corporate makeover. The updated X3 goes on sale in June 2014, and gets even more equipment as standard and an updated range of more efficient engines.

Worth a read: Wired's 'Why Getting It Wrong Is the Future of Design'

Wired has just published a series of short articles entitled 13 Lessons for Design's New Golden Age. While there are some interesting examples cited in the piece, the concluding article, ‘Why Getting It Wrong Is the Future of Design' by the former creative director of Wired magazine, Scott Dadich, feels like it has particular resonance for car design. Dadich's Wrong Theory uses disruptive examples from the world of art, plus his own experience of working at Wired, to explain how design goes through phases: establishing a direction, creating a set of rules that define that direction and finally someone who dares to break from that direction.