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

Jaguar XJ Diesel – The Swansong plaudit

The Jaguar XJ 2.7 Diesel has won the 'Greenest Luxury Car' Award And although one of the strengths of Jaguar has been its heritage it has, to a degree, also become its Achilles Heel. The first Jaguar XJs were a triumph when they were launched in 1968, and put Jaguar leaps and bounds ahead of the German competition, in the same way Jaguar had taken the world by storm with the E-Type a few years before. But things started to fall apart for Jaguar in the ’70s with the fiasco that was British Leyland, and by trying to emulate Porsche by making each iteration of the XJ an evolution of the original all they managed to do was cement in the public mindset the failings of the XJ.

Mercedes-Benz B-Class aerodynamics tested [w/video]

Mercedes-Benz has produced a video testing the aerodynamics of its new B-Class – which it claims is the most aerodynamically efficient car in the world – using a wind tunnel and fluorescent paint. The W245-generation B-Class has the lowest aerodynamic drag in its segment with a Cd of just 0.26, thanks to features such as serrated front wheel arch spoilers, optimized cooling airflow and a Pagoda roof to help airflow over its profile. The car's aero properties were put to the test at the MIRA vehicle test facility in the UK using fluorescent paint in 60mph winds to highlight its flow dynamics, only visible under UV lights.

Ram introduces CNG-powered pickup

Aside from the Honda Civic Natural Gas, compressed-natural-gas-powered vehicles have usually been converted after the fact, generally for fleet use. Chrysler is hoping to carve out a niche in the corporate-pickup segment by selling a factory-built CNG Ram 2500 that can seamlessly switch over to gasoline operation when the natural-gas tanks run dry. The twin 4.6-cubic-foot CNG tanks (which store the equivalent of 18.2 gallons of gas) take up a section of the bed, while an eight-gallon gasoline tank provides fuel during start-up and then reserve capacity when the compressed tanks are tapped out, allowing the bruiser a measure of operational flexibility.