Four Seasons 74803 Heater Control Valve-hvac Heater Control Valve on 2040-parts.com

Car makers to be forced to disclaim ‘Official’ economy figures

We’ve banged on for a long time about the futility of official economy figures, especially as car makers get better and better at ‘gaming’ the official economy tests to produce the results they want. Much of the impetus to create the best headline economy figure for a car is driven by taxation, with car makers well aware that the better the official economy results are, the lower their CO2 will be (CO2 isn’t tested for – it’s just extrapolated from the official mpg) and the more appealing the car will be to buyers, particularly fleet buyers. But a ruling by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) against Audi could at least see car makers having to admit in their adverts that the ‘official’ economy figure bears no relation to what owners can expect to achieve in the real world.

How celebrities stay safe in their cars with 007-style gadgets

You’re rich, famous and important enough to think you need a little more protection from your car than the standard anti-intruder alarm. What do you do? Buy a heavily armoured mobile fortress from US car modifiers ‘Texas Armoring Corporation’, of course.

Mercedes 'Aesthetics S' sculpture (2012) previews S-class

Mercedes is previewing its next 2013 S-class flagship, but not with a concept car or series of shadowy teaser shots. No, Merc has instead opted to create a sculpture showing the profile of the next S-class. It's titled 'Aesthetics S', and together with its 'exciting projection display', it'll be shown at the 2012 Paris motor show later this month.