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

Tax-return car deals

Automakers are offering cut-rate financing, cash back and lease deals just as our income-tax-refund checks are coming in the mail. These timely tax-return car deals are paired with the necessity for automakers to make room on dealer lots for all-new models. (See the Cadillac CTS deals.) Here, we break down some of the incentives being offered this month.

Iconic Ford Mondeo Super Touring racing car on sale

As far as the Ford Mondeo is concerned, few cars can be more evocative than the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) race cars from the late 1990s. For legions of racing fans, the Mondeo was part of the golden era of BTCC - a time when factory-backed “Super Touring” cars did battle on the race tracks of Great Britain. So when one of a trio of Ford Team Mondeo cars to compete in the final Super Touring season comes up for auction, we take notice.

Video: Chris Bangle delivers “Empowerment: Design without Designers” talk at Creative Mornings/London

Chris Bangle – the undisputed front man of car design – needs little introduction, so the prospect of the former BMW Design Director and now founder of Chris Bangle Associates giving a talk in our home town of London was too good to pass up. His presentation (which you can watch in full in the video to the left) touched on his time at BMW, but was more focused on the idea of empowering others to create: "design without you in the middle", as Bangle says. From the story of the co-creation of the staircase in his Italian studio to the idea of encouraging people to think about their culture when designing, his philosophies transcend disciplines.