Mercury Sportjet 240 Efi M2 Jet Drive Housing Cover Plate on 2040-parts.com

Land Rover Defender XTech: Take 2 for 2012

Apparently, we herald the arrival of the Land Rover Defender XTech special edition today – just 18 months after the last Defender XTech Special Edition. Don’t misunderstand, we love the Land Rover Defender. But it’s just 18 months since the last Land Rover Defender XTech arrived as an ‘Urban Warrior’ Defender with Black or Silver paintwork and 16″ Saw Tooth Alloys.

Toyota eyes turbos, direct injection

Toyota Motor Corp. plans to introduce 11 new or redesigned hybrid vehicles by 2012, but the carmaker is hardly neglecting the humble internal combustion engine. Takeshi Uchiyamada, executive vice president in charge of r&d, also wants to increase the fleet's fuel efficiency by putting turbochargers and direct fuel injection in smaller vehicles.

Lexus IS 300h promises unrivalled ownership costs

The new Lexus IS - launched at Detroit in January and costing from £26,495 for the IS 250 in the UK – actually offers ownership costs that eclipse diesel offerings from the likes of Jaguar, BMW, Audi and Mercedes, say Lexus. Despite the logical assumption that the complex hybrid powerplant in the IS 300h would cost more to maintain, Lexus say the opposite is true. Because it has no clutch and the starter motor and alternator are integrated they require no servicing or replacement and Lexus has fitted a timing chain instead of a timing belt, so it won’t need regular replacement either.