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

Video: Yasushi Nakamuta on Mazda 3's 'unique' design process

It may be leaden with PR-talk but this short presentation by Yasushi Nakamuta, Mazda's director of advanced design studio at the press unveiling of the new Mazda 3 in Melbourne is still worth a couple of minutes of your time. But while the 3 is undeniably attractive we can't help but feel that the 'unique' design process Nakamuta describes (which appears wholly conventional to us) has resulted in little more than a thoroughly normal product. Take a look for yourself at the video to your left.

2012 Mercedes SL Spied

2012 Mercedes SL caught testing When the fifth generation Mercedes SL hit the headlines back in 2002 it was a revelation, offering as it did the best of a coupe and a convertible and a completely bonkers performance version in the SL55. But eight years is a long time in the life of a car – even with a cosmetic facelift in 2008 – and the SL has lost its way as the flagship of the Mercedes range. More powerful cars like the SLS have put the SL in to the shadows, and even its little brother – the Mercedes SLK – is probably more desirable.

2014 Jeep Cherokees finally en route to dealerships

Car haulers loaded with 2014 Jeep Cherokee stick out on the flat farmland like elephants on the savannah -- lumbering behemoths easy to spot, even from miles away. In ones and twos they rumble the 15 miles west from Chrysler Group's massive Toledo, Ohio, assembly complex toward a former supplier-owned automotive testing center. The Cherokees were due in dealerships almost two months ago but have been held while Chrysler developed and installed new software to smooth out the way the engine, nine-speed transmission and innovative disconnecting drivetrain interact.