Lexus Lx 470 2006 Shift Knob on 2040-parts.com

VW Taigun: It’s an Up! SUV

Volkswagen has revealed the VW Taigun at the Sao Paulo Motor Show in Brazil, a very compact SUV based on the VW Up! The Taigun is 3859mm long and 1728mm wide, making it a chunk smaller than the next VW SUV up (the Tiguan) and smaller even than Nissan’s Juke, but it gets an extra 50mm in the wheelbase compared to the Up so interior room looks decent. Vw say the Taigun is purposely designed to look just like a mini-me Tiguan or Touareg (and sound like one too) with its very similar styling, high ride height, skid plates and roof rails with an interior that offers room for four and enough spce for 280 litre of stuff in the boot (a plentiful 987 litres with the back seats folded).

Toyota sets electric car record at Nurburgring with TMG EV P001

Toyota TMG EV P001 - new EV lap record at the Nurburgring Every car maker wants a lap record at the Nurburgring, and Toyota is no different. What is different this time is that Toyota has taken a non-production car with an electric motor – the Toyota TMG EV P001 – to crack the record for an EV. Nurburgring regular Jochen Krumbach took the Toyota Motorsport EV P001 round the 20.8km Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit in a blistering 7m 47.794s, annihilating the previous record of 9m 1.388s.

New Porsche 911 Carrera S quicker than a 997 GT3

New Porsche 911 - 13 seconds quicker round the Nurburgring than the old 911 Porsche had something of a spat recently with the Nissan GT-R, with both parties keen to show their car was the quickest. But Porsche has now got over that ‘I’ve got the biggest’ mentality, and are now keener to show how far their current crop of cars has come. Like the new 2012 Porsche 911 Carrera S.