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

Volkswagen Passat Alltrack: The VW Allroad arrives

The VW Passat Alltrack - debuts in Tokyo Volkswagen has jumped on to the Allroad bandwagon with its own take on Audi’s faux off-roader, with the reveal of the 2012 VW Passat Alltrack. As you would expect, the Passat Alltrack is a butched-up Passat Estate with a raised ride height, extra bits of plastic round the bumpers, skid plates, flared side sills and 4WD – VW’s 4MOTION – for more traction in boot sale car parks. But when you don’t need the 4WD, around 90 poer cent of the drive is through the front wheels – saving fuel – with the rear wheel drive only coming in to play when you start to slip and slide.

Range Rover Hybrid and Range Rover Sport Hybrid (2013) at Frankfurt motor show

Land Rover is entering a new hybrid era with two new part-electric models: the Range Rover Hybrid and Range Rover Sport Hybrid. Both cars use an identical diesel-electric drivetrain, post identical economy and CO2 claims, and should offer comparable performance to their V8 sisters. Too good to be true?

One Lap of the Web: Living with an electric motorcycle, Land Rover's Unimog and Reattas in Finland

We spend a lot of time on the Internet -- pretty much whenever we're not driving, writing about or working on cars. Since there's more out there than we'd ever be able to cover, here's our daily digest of car stuff on the Web you may not otherwise have heard about. -- The route for the 2014 Hemmings Motor news Great Race, and this year, the race is heading east.