Empi 16-2237 Vw Bug Hi-performance Swing Axle 23-1/2" Chromoly 4340 on 2040-parts.com

Vauxhall Astra VXR Extreme gets 300bhp

The Vauxhall Astra VXR Extreme (pictured) gets 300bhp When the Vauxhall Astra Extreme popped its head above the parapet at the end of January as a potential range-topping Astra, we did wonder if it was going to get more power as well as suspension and cosmetic tweaks. It is. Vauxhall still aren’t saying just how powerful the Extreme is, but they do say it will have ‘more than 300 pS if (and probably, when) it goes in to production.

Used car market pressure eases

AN INCREASE in the number of used cars coming into the market has “taken the edge off prices” and calmed some corners of the industry, according to used car pricing experts CAP. A greater influx of part-exchange cars arriving at dealers is partly responsible, and with many franchised dealers focusing for the time being on selling those vehicles, competition to acquire stock on the open market has decreased. CAP reports that the pressure has been lifted on some dealers who had become frustrated at how expensive it was becoming to source cars at fair prices.

Limited-production Audi A1 quattro has monster power to all four wheels

Audi is poised to take the supercompact class by storm with a wild 252-hp, all-wheel-drive version of the A1. To be produced in a limited run of just 333 cars, the A1 quattro harks back to Audi's rallying heyday of the 1980s. It has aggressive, competition-based styling, a turbocharged engine and the latest in all-wheel-drive technology, together with a heavily reworked interior boasting all of the sporting accoutrements to back up its impressive mechanical specification.