Dorman C92558 Parking Brake Cable on 2040-parts.com

2012 BMW 3 Series: The Videos

2012 BMW 3 Series Video Friday was all about the reveal of the new 2012 BMW 3 Series. And we managed to get a big new 3 Series photo gallery up (the most popular page this month already on Cars UK – which tells you how popular the 3 Series is) and full UK prices too, so we thought we ought to update that lot with some video of the new 3 Series to make sure we’d covered all the bases. There are quite a few 3 Series videos coming out of BMW, some better than others.

Toyota begins testing wireless recharging for electric cars

Toyota has announced that it will begin actual verification testing of its new wireless battery charging system for electric vehicles, one which charges the battery of a plug-in hybrid or a pure-electric car by having the car park over it. Toyota's charging system uses magnetic-resonance technology, which operates by transmitting electricity by using the magnetic resonance resulting from changes in magnentic field intensity between a coil positioned under the car, and a receiving coil built into the underside of the vehicle. This system eliminates the need for physically plugging in an electric car or a hybrid to an actual plug, and also has the potential to solve the problem of multiple types of actual plugs.

Alfa Romeo 4C Spider revealed: Geneva Motor Show

The Alfa Romeo 4C Spider (pictured) revealed in Geneva The Alfa Romeo 4C is the epitome of a modern ‘supercar’, with ultra light weight (for a production car) allowing the 4C to produce very good performance from its modest 17500cc engine. So producing an Spider convertible immediately raises the weight issue in a more dramatic way when the car’s abilities are so dependent on it low weight, but it seems the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider – previewed as a production car with a concept at Geneva today – has managed to keep the wight penalties of the convertible 4C down to a minimum. Thanks to a canvas roof and carbon fibre rollover bars, the weight penalty for the Spider is only about 60kg (around a 7 per cent gain) which shouldn’t hurt performance too much.