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

London 'most costly' for car cover

MOTORISTS living in London faces paying almost four times the amount that a driver in the Isle of Man would spend on their car insurance, a study has revealed. AA Insurance, which compiles an index of the typical cost of car insurance for someone who shops around, named London as the most expensive place in Britain to insure a car, followed by the postcode area of IG, which includes Ilford, Chigwell, Woodford Green, Buckhurst Hill, Loughton and Barking, with Greater Manchester in third place. The IM (Isle of Man) postcode was found to be the cheapest place to insure a car, with the average quote for someone there who shops around standing at £231.

Mercedes to build CLS Shooting Brake

Mercedes has announced that the CLS Shooting Brake, which was shown as a concept at the Beijing motor show in April 2010, will go into production in 2012.  Well, if you want a car that will turn heads around town – and find the E-class estate has a little too much room – then this is the car for you. Mercedes flatly refuses to admit that the CLS Shooting Brake is an estate, preferring to call it a ‘sporty four-door coupe with a sloping tail end based on the CLS’. In essence, this car is a hatchback version of the CLS, and despite a slightly raised roof, it still sits a full 10cm lower than its E-class sibling.

After much hype (and one van), Mazda rethinks design plan

After four years of hyping its curvy, fluid Nagare styling philosophy--but developing only one production vehicle with the look--Mazda has changed design course. Now the Japanese carmaker wants to go with a simpler, more upscale style. So the design language seen in the Shinari concept car being unveiled at the Los Angeles auto show this week represents Mazda's future.