Groco Bv1250 Full-flow Flanged Ball Type Seacock / Flanged Full on 2040-parts.com

This Mercedes turns up the heat -- in your house

Mercedes-Benz brought some interesting and unusual examples of in-car connectivity tech to Las Vegas, partnering with some trendsetters in the electronics game -- namely, Nest Labs, Pebble, and Google. The connectivity and app technology will eventually make its way into the C-, the E- and the S-slass. Get it?

Pick-ups do poorly in latest Euro NCAP tests

By Mark Nichol Motor Industry 26 February 2008 11:54 Euro NCAP released its latest crash test results today, and it’s bad news for pick-up drivers. Only three picks-ups were tested, but they achieved some appalling results, with the Nissan Navara registering just one star for adult crash protection. Pick-up registrations increased by 7.2 percent in Europe last year and are increasingly being used as family transport.

Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid: Production to double to cope with demand

It’s particularly appealing if you like a car with a decent turn of speed – the V60 will do 0-62mph in 6.1 seconds – like the reassurance and practicality of 4WD – the V60′s electric motor drives the back wheels – drive in to London on a regular basis – the 48g/km emissions are congestion charge free – and get taxed as BIK from your company. If all those apply – and you already appreciate the Volvo V60 is a very good car to start with – then the V60 plug-in hybrid is a bit of a no-brainer, even with a headline price of nearly £50k (which gets within £6k of an equivalent non plug-in after the taxpayer has chipped in). It seems that many buyers agree, and Volvo is being inundated with orders.