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

‘Fire up the Quattro!’ – Gene Hunt’s Audi for sale

IT WAS the only thing that could rival tough-talking DCI Gene Hunt for on-screen presence – and now the famous red Audi Quattro is up for sale. The hit TV show Ashes to Ashes saw Philip Glennister reprise his role as Hunt opposite Keeley Hawes as Alex Drake, but for many it was the iconic 1981 Audi that stole the show. This particular example was bought by a prop supply company for the second and third series of Ashes to Ashes, and featured in all sixteen episodes before meeting a spectacular end by being riddled with bullet holes.

Mini Vision concept: what does it say about the brand's future?

The sight of Mini design head Anders Warming presenting a holographic, 3D projection of the Mini Vision concept as if appearing in his own cartoon was certainly a new one on us, but it captured the quirky, slightly left-field image the subsidiary of BMW Group has cultivated since its relaunch 13 years ago. As the 'Vision' tag suggests, this is billed as a marker of intent for the brand's future design direction rather than a pre-production teaser of the new Mini hatchback (Cooper in most markets) we'll see later this year. However if the third-generation 'new' Mini doesn't look remarkably similar we'd be amazed, such is the level of productionized detailing on this purely digital model.

Volvo S90, V90 and V90 Cross Country on the way

The Volvo V70 (pictured) will become the new Volvo V90 All the talk for Volvo lately has been the new 2015 Volvo XC90, an impressive offering that really does look like it will take the fight in the ‘Premium’ SUV market to the Germans (and even to Land Rover). But the new XC90 is just the start of Volvo’s new model line-up, and the next couple of years will see more new models arriving with Volvo’s new Scalable Product Architecture (SPA) and the new range of 4-cylinder, 2.0 litre engines. What we now also know, thanks to Volvo’s Dennis Nobelius, is that the replacements for the S80, V70 and XC70 won’t use the current nomenclature but will be given new names to better reflect their upmarket aspirations (and their place in Volvo’s new line-up).