Happiness is a Jaguar XJ6 Coupé, says Michael J. Scott

My first Jaguar experience was with the purchase of an XJ6 Coupe which I bought because I thought it was very elegant.  The 4.2 straight six never failed to impress in the way the car just disappeared over the horizon in plush silence (apart from some wind noise from the door seals) and I loved the drama of opening two petrol caps and pumping in fuel from both sides of the car. After long fast drives to southern Germany I always arrived as fresh as when I started out. The car attracted admiring interest from everyone including little old ladies!

Local Motors 'Design Our Car' competition opens

Local Motors has opened its first-ever ‘Design Our Car' competition, which encourages collaboration within the manufacturing community. The open-source automaker is providing two of its Rally Fighter cars, one of which will be built at the company's micro-factory in Arizona while the other will be built live in the Emerging Technology Center at September's International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) in Chicago. Ideas from the design and engineering community are being sought to help design and select a skin for the Rally Fighter that will be built by the Local Motors team this spring.

Kia Carens (2012) first offical pictures

Another Paris motor show attendee has been confirmed today: the lower, sleeker, altogether less mumsy 2012 Kia Carens. Ex-Audi design guru Peter Schreyer looks to have treated the Carens to the now-trademark Kia grille and more European-style design, but all we've got to go on so far are these rather 'negative' teaser images from Kia. Kia's 2012 Carens: the details Judging by these Photoshopped teaser photos, the new Kia Carens is a world apart from the more squared-off, minivan MPVs that have gone before.