Interior Door Handle on 2040-parts.com

Concept Car of the Week: Oldsmobile Aerotech (1987)

In late 1984, Oldsmobile management had so much confidence in the potential of its new inline four-cylinder engine Quad 4, that a small team was assigned to the creation of the Aerotech, a research vehicle designed to demonstrate the engine's performance by setting a new world speed record. Ed Welburn, then assistant chief designer, was mostly working on the 1988 Cutlass Supreme but his passion for race cars made him the ideal candidate to be handed the assignment by Oldsmobile 2 studio's chief David North. Inspired by Le Mans racers such as the Porsche 917LH and Jim Hall's Chaparrals, he designed a long, flowing car that immediately seduced design director Chuck Jordan and GM management.

New Mazda2 Colour Edition and Sport Colour Edition Limited Editions launch

New Mazda2 Sport Colour Edition (pictured) now on sale Another day, another special edition, this time from Mazda with a pair of Mazda2 limited edition – the New Mazda2 Colour Edition and Sport Colour Edition. Based on the Mazda2 SE AirCon 1.3 litre 75PS, the Colour Edition sports 11 additional bits of kit including Privacy glass, a pair of black door mirrors, 15″ dark grey alloys and a rear spoiler, with the interior getting treated to red piping for the black seat trim, leather steering wheel with gloss dark grey inserts, Bluetooth and body colour for the door trim and air vents. The Sport Colour Edition gets the more powerful 85PS version of the 1.3 litre and comes with 16″ dark grey alloys, Fogs, Sports headlamps, Sports styling kit with interior extras including a 6.1″ screen with SatNav and Bluetooth, trip computer, extra speakers, extra airbags, electric rear windows and a speed alarm.

Driven: Honda FRV

The Honda FRV is a misunderstood car. It's a European market orientated compact MPV that unusually has two rows of three seats, a configuration shared only with the earlier Fiat Multipla design. But unlike the bulbous, short, tall and deep-windowed Italian, the Honda shares almost identical dimensions to the five seat Renault Scenic that is the compact MPV market leader (the longer wheel base Scenic and other compact MPVs with three rows of seats to seat seven people is about a foot longer).