Flowmaster 2040004 Direct Fit Catalytic Converter on 2040-parts.com

Mazda RX-8 – a tidy before the Mazda RX-9?

Mazda is updating the RX-8 for the European market, before the launch of the RX-9 in 2012 So what exactly is the new, updated Mazda RX-8 going to get? In all honesty, probably not much beyond a minor tweak or two. It will still use the 228bhp Wankel engine that sets it apart from the crowd, and should still be a bundle of fun to drive.

2012 BMW X1 Facelift at New York Show

2012 BMW X1 Facelift The still quite new BMW X1 is getting a minor facelift for 2012 and will debut at the New York Auto Show. It’s really only a couple of years since the debut of the BMW X1, but BMW are already giving it a tweak and a titivate in a 2012 facelift designed, it would seem, to make the compact SUV seem a bit more upmarket; more in line with the rest of the BMW range. Revealed ahead of a debut at the New York Auto Show this month – after which it goes on sale in the US from $31.5k – the latest version of the X1 gets a new front bumper and grill with silver bars, deeper recessed fogs and silver detailing in the lower bumper to give the nose of the X1 more identity and make it a but more urban-warrior trendy.

Pick up a twelver for the tired cat, wouldya?

The timeworn solution to quelling the finicky (read “expensive to repair”) Jaguar V12 has been to swap the British unit with that eight-pot testament to midcentury American ingenuity, the Chevrolet small block. We've seen an '80s-era L98 in a Lamborghini Espada. We've borne witness '90's-era LT1s in all manner of things.