Dor-929-110 on 2040-parts.com

Ireland preparing to ban smoking in cars

Ireland prepare to ban smoking in cars Maybe the erosion of individual liberties should be secondary to safety (although we would argue the contrary), but surely banning smoking in cars – as Ireland appear close to doing – is a very silly route to go? Of course, since anything that can be remotely construed as a company car is already somewhere you’re not allowed to smoke, banning smoking in private cars is, perhaps, a logical step. The argument is that smoking in cars is detrimental to the health of children who are passengers.

Try a prestige car from Europcar before you buy. Or you could just go to a dealer.

You can hire a BMW 5-Series (pictured) from Europcar before you buy It’s always good to have a promotion to get punters through the door, but the latest PR promo from Hertz does seem to have a very visible flaw in its logic. According to Europcar – the leading car hire company in Europe, don’t you know – the best route for trying out a new prestige car before you buy is to give them a call and book a day or three in the cars of your choice. Europcar say you can have anything from a 4×4 to a luxury saloon and performance cars, with the suggestion you can pit a Mercedes SLK against an Audi TTS or check out the differences between a new E-Class or new 5-Series.

918 a match for Ferrari and McLaren in corners, says Porsche

Had you forgotten about the third contender in the hybrid supercar wars, given the furious competition betwen Ferrari and McLaren? Porsche’s hybrid 918 Spyder is that third competitor, which mates a 4.6-litre normally aspirated V8 to an 84bhp front-drive electric motor and a 127bhp EV motor helping drive the rear tyres. It costs £768,026, and though Porsche won’t quite admit as much, you can still buy one of the 918 being produced - unlike the sold-out LaFerrari.