Magnum Ms18018 Maxdry Intake Manifold Gasket Set on 2040-parts.com

Grab a ‘VAT Free’ Skoda Octavia

In yet another ‘Sign of the times’ Skoda has announced that they are now offering ‘VAT Free Octavias’ until the end of the year. No, this is not a tie-up between Alistair Darling and VW, it’s just Skoda’s way of offering a headline price decrease of a bit over 13% (less expensive to Skoda than last week for the same headline, to be fair, and there is a new model due in January!). Grab a VAT free Skoda Octavia I’m pretty sure that there will be a raft of these ‘VAT Free’ offers floating around on everything from cars to washing machines, capitalising on the fact the VAT is in the headlines.

New options make Prius pricey

High-tech features and luxury options will push the redesigned Toyota Prius into new territory--namely, $30,000-plus. The 2010 Prius hybrid will offer options found on luxury cars: systems that automatically park the car in a parallel parking space and slow the vehicle when a crash is likely. But Toyota is aware of a new competitor--the 2010 Honda Insight, a hybrid that is a little smaller and expected to be less expensive than the Prius.

Rinspeed BamBoo concept (2011) at 2011 Geneva motor show

There’s no doubt the folk at Rinspeed like to think outside the box when it comes to concept cars – and the new BamBoo will evoke plenty of admiration when it makes its debut at the Geneva motor show in March 2011. Not for Swiss car visionary Frank Rinderknecht it isn't. He says every name has a meaning and in this case it's because many of the interior features are made from actual bamboo fibres.