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

Volkswagen Beetle Dune 'could be built'

IF YOU like your Beetles with a little more ‘dune buggy’ about them, Volkswagen’s latest concept is right up your street. And what’s more, it really could be right up your street if public reaction to the so-called Beetle Dune is strong enough. With a body raised by 50mm, 19-inch wheels and a special rear-mounted luggage rack reminiscent of early Beetles, the Dune plays on its dual heritage strands of its earliest predecessor and the fully off-road biased dune buggies built on Beetle chassis.

Audi A3 gets more powerful 2.0 litre TDI & LED lights

The Audi A3 (pictured) gets a new 181bhp TDI and LED headlights It still seems astonishing that car makers can match really quite powerful performance with almost parsimonious fuel consumption, but modern turbo diesels and high pressure fuel injection are delivering seemingly silly combinations of performance and economy. Like the 2.0 litre diesel Audi are now offering in the new A3. The new 2.0 litre diesel, which is now available on the new A3 and Sportback (with the A3 saloon to follow) – gets a very decent 181bhp and 280lb/ft of torque, which is enough to hit 62mph in just 7.3 seconds.

Mercedes E Class Cabriolet – Detroit catch-up

The Mercedes E-Class Cabriolet was launched at the Detroit Motor Show this week It’s easy to forget that a car has not officially launched when we’ve already reported on most of the detail. Such is the case with the new Mercedes E Class Cabriolet. Mercedes released lots of information on the E Class Cabrio back in December, but this week at the Detroit Motor Show was the first public reveal, so we thought we ought to report it.