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

Volvo C30: now starts under £15k

Volvo C30 ES 2.0 - now starts at £14,995 It’s been all change at Volvo in the last year, with the Swedish car maker going from being the last vestige of Ford’s ill-fated Premier Auto Group to the first high-profile car maker to fall to the Chinese resurgence as an economic force. Volvo also has a new boss in former VW man Stefan Jacoby, who has made it clear he doesn’t see Volvo as a ‘Premier’ marque. Not that he’s downplaying what Volvo has to offer, he’d just prefer us to think of Volvo as unique and Swedish rather than in competition with the likes of Mercedes and BMW.

Alfa Romeo 4C Concept video – lest we forget

Alfa Romeo release an Alfa 4C Video One of the most appealing cars at this year’s Geneva Motor Show was the Alfa Romeo 4C, a good-looking, mid-engined, 2-seater coupe. Better still, Alfa let it be known that this 4C Concept wasn’t just for fun, it was on the way to a showroom near you. In fact we believed the Alfa 4C was the car that would be the halo model for Alfa Romeo’s return to the American market, at that time expected to be in 2012 but, as we reported recently, that plan is going a bit awry.

Sky takes Mazda powertrains to the next level

Mazda's next-generation of powertrains, called Sky, will feature a variety of new technologies that company engineers say improve fuel efficiency by 20 percent. The Sky engines--Sky-G for the gasoline version, Sky-D for diesel--coupled with a Sky-Drive automatic transmission or a six-speed manual, were offered for test drives during a technology day in Berlin. The Sky-G engine we drove was a 2.0-liter inline-four that made 160 hp and 155 lb-ft of torque.