Chelsea Pto Model #440xubqx-w3xd (brand New) on 2040-parts.com

Maintenance 'favours' end up costing more

GETTING help from family, neighbours or friends for basic car maintenance tasks costs the UK public an estimate £300million a year, according to a new survey. Over 2,000 people were surveyed on behalf of Halfords Autocentres and one in six said they regretted asking for help in the first place. 45% who subsequently had to pay a professional to rectify mistakes were left with a bill in excess of £100.

New Kia Picanto 3-door (2011) arrives

The new sport Kia Picanto 3-Door The Kia Picanto of old was a dreary little thing, best thought of as disposable motoring flotsam; so cheap you could throw it away when you’d finished with it. But the new Kia Picanto – revealed at Geneva this year - is a different kettle of fish altogether, and now we’re to get treated to a ‘Sporty’ version too – the 3-door Kia Picanto. Already in a different league in the looks department, the 3-door Picanto raises the bar again and is starting to look almost as good as stuff like the Fiat 500 – but from only £7,795.

Porsche 911 cabriolet: First official photographs

Porsche has developed an innovative fabric and composite-plastic folding roof for the 911 cabriolet as part of a push to give it a cleaner appearance, improved aerodynamic efficiency and greater levels of refinement than its strong-selling predecessor. Pictured here officially for the first time ahead of its world premiere in January at the Detroit auto show, the new open-top 911 is planned to go on sale in North America in 2012 in Carrera cabriolet and Carrera S models. Eschewing the traditional multilayered fabric structure of the 997 series 911 cabriolet, the next model (991 series) adopts a specially developed lightweight roof that uses two fabric-skinned composite plastic panels for the upper and rear part of the structure, giving it a more uniform shape together with a tauter fit that is claimed to make it more resistant than before to buffeting at high speeds.