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

Land Rover's green blitz

By Phil McNamara Motoring Issues 30 July 2006 11:25 Land Rover is slapping a green tax on sales of its 4x4s, which will build up millions to be invested in global ecological schemes like wind farms and Indian cooking stoves that use renewable fuels. Customers will pay between £85 and £165 on top of their 4x4's list price. The tax is optional, but Land Rover vows most punters will happily pay up to become carbon neutral.

Porsche BlueSport back on – but we knew that

It looks like the baby Boxster - the Porsche BlueSport - is in the planning. Last year it was a case of ‘Spot the BlueSport’ as rumours ran wild over which parts of the VW Group (what happened to re-naming it Auto Union – another of last year’s rumours?) would run with the ‘Baby Roadster’ platform VW had developed. Well it finally looks as if the rumours are starting to become substance.

Electric car range drops by nearly 60% in cold weather

Electric cars like the Nissan LEAF (pictured) can lose 60% of their range when it’s cold We already know that the range of electric cars reduces as the car ages, with Nissan conforming that the LEAF’s range will drop by up to 28 per cent over five years. And now we have confirmation that the ambient temperature can have a big impact on range too, thanks to the AAA, America’s equivalent of the AA. The AAA took three standard EVs on sale in the US - Nissan LEAF, Ford Focus EV and Mitsubishi i-MiEV – and subjected them to test in different ambient temperatures.