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

Brian Wilson on the Beach Boys' car songs

Brian Wilson, the musical giant behind so much of the Beach Boys great music, sang at the Petersen gala in Los Angeles last week, and there were plenty of songs about cars and drag racing in the mix. "We're going to do a series of car songs because this place has a lot of cars," Wilson announced before leading his 10-piece band into "Little Deuce Coupe," "409," "All Summer Long" and "Shut Down." The band played to a packed house at the museum's annual fundraiser. Wilson's set was surely the most entertaining in the Petersen's 15 years of fundraising galas.

Mercedes A 180 CDI ECO SE & B 180 CDI ECO SE launched

Mercedes A 180 CDI ECO SE & B 180 CDI ECO SE launched The key to the wallets of many car buyers – especially those who have to pay BIK on their company provided cars – is frugal official economy, which means low CO2 emissions and lower tax bills. So Mercedes has decided to drop the current A 180 CDI SE and the B 180 CDI SE and replace them with new versions offering better economy credentials- the A 180 CDI ECO SE & B 180 CDI ECO SE. Available from January 2014, both the new eco A and B Class have been subjected to weight saving measures and tweaks to the aerodynamics and powertrain to yield emissions of 92g/km for the A Class and 98g/km for the B Class.

Hyundai/Kia – the Hydrogen push.

Hyundai and Kia are making huge strides in to the mainstream car buyer’s conscientiousness. They’ve managed – in just a short time – to move from being an almost laughably cheap option for buyers with no money and even less taste to cars that offer serious and credible alternatives the best from Europe and Japan. So we now think of Hyundai and Kia as a formidable threat to established car makers, but not exactly innovators and pioneers.