Gm Performance Valve Cover Decal 12366995 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.

Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Convertible (2013) first official pictures

You wait ages for a new Corvette, and then six weeks after the new Stingray bows in at the 2013 Detroit atuo show, its soft-top sister is revealed at the Geneva motor show. The latest C7-generation Corvette drop-top uses the same mechanical package (big V8 up front, power sent to the rear wheels) as its fixed-head sister but adds an electrically-folding soft-top roof that you can lower remotely via pushing a button on the key fob. You can also drop the roof while on the move, at speed of up to 31mph.

‘Selfie’ drivers risking their lives

ONE IN 14 drivers admits taking a ‘selfie’ photo on their mobile phone while driving, despite official figures showing that one in ten (9%) of drivers have had an accident while using the phone at the wheel. Young drivers are the most likely to use their mobile phone to take a selfie, which is a picture of the phone user taken by themselves. A further one on 20 drivers also owns up to using a social media app on their smartphone while driving to send photos they have just taken friends.