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

Oh, puh-leeze: Lighten up, people

Rarely do I come to the defense of a competitive member of the fourth estate, but the people at Car and Driver are getting the hooey knocked out of them by everyone from "professional media representatives" to the NASCAR faithful. What was CD's egregious sin? Its editors concocted an April Fool's joke with them good ol' boys Chrysler and General Motors as its punchline.

Mercedes R-class facelift (2010) first official pictures

This is the facelifted Mercedes R-class, unveiled today at the 2010 New York auto show.  It lives, and in the UK the new model will only be available as an entry level, rear-drive R300 CDI and a top-spec, long-wheelbase R350 CDI. The R300 CDI BlueEFFICIENCY 2WD (to give this big beast its full name) is 7% more efficient than before but still offers the same power and performance. The more snappily titled R350 CDI 4MATIC is also more economical (its 33.2mpg bettering its predecessor by 2.8mpg) but also more powerful, with outputs of 261bhp and 457ft up from 218bhp and 376lb ft.

CCTV 'Spy cars' to be banned

CCTV "SPY CARS" used to catch people who park illegally is to be banned, the Government announced, marking a victory for drivers and shoppers. The move will rein in "greedy councils" who use the method of fining as a "cash cow", and bring to an end the "plague" of tickets being issued by post. Parking wardens will instead have to fix tickets directly to windscreens, making it illegal for councils to issue penalties to drivers using just the CCTV spy cars currently used for on-street parking enforcement.