Eddie Motorsports Aluminum Battery Hold-down Ms374-75sca on 2040-parts.com

Mazda Minagi Concept – Mazda CX-5 – leaks ahead of Geneva

The Mazda Minagi Concept - will become the Mazda CX-5 The Mazda Minagi Concept is a compact SUV concept Mazda are planning on taking to Geneva in March. Fortunately, the name won’t stick when the Minagi goes in to production. Instead, this will be the Mazda CX-5. With a front end that pays homage to the Mazda Shinari Concept (the concept that points the way to the Mazda RX-9) and a back end that seems to find inspiration in the Hyundai ix35, the Minagi is Mazda’s answer to the compact SUVs from Ford, Hyundai, Audi and VW.

Do Winter Tyres REALLY work? Oh, yes, say Volvo (+ video)

Volvo prove how effective Winter Tyres are in the Snowdome For some reason, the debate on fitting winter tyres in the UK continues to be a debate, even when those who’ve actually used a car fitted with winter tyres swear by them (an argument not helped by previous government advice). So Volvo – safety conscious as ever – decided to prove the point by taking the very good Volvo V40 off to the Snowdome indoor ski slope in Tamworth to see exactly what difference a set of winter tyres makes to the grip available in a regular, FWD, family Volvo. And the results should make every car owner go out and fit winter tyres.

Nissan Qashqai: UK 2011 changes

The Nissan Qashqai n-tec 2011 with its posh new alloys We reported last week on the changes revealed for the 2011 Nissan Qashqai in Japan (the Nissan Dualis), and speculated that some of these, and perhaps others, would spill over to the Nissan Qashqai in the UK and Europe. So it was no huge surprise to get an email from Nissan this morning detailing changes to the Qashqai for 2011 in the UK. Stop/Start turns up as an option for the first time on the 1.6 litre petrol Qashqais (for £200) which, if you can get in to the habit of sticking the car in neutral and foot off the clutch every time you grind to a halt in traffic, can yield decent fuel savings.