MINI John Cooper Works Range gets a new engine

MINI JCW range gets new engines MINI has had a play and a tweak with the 1.6 litre turbo engine in the MINI John Cooper Works Range to make it more appealing. The Geneva Motor Show this year saw the debut of the latest MINI JCW – the MINI Countryman John Cooper Works – and with it output figures we though might be arriving across the MINI JCW range. Those figures saw the output of the 1.6 litre lump in the JCW rise to 215bhp and, surprisingly, managed to come in with economy figures for the JCW Countryman that were much the same as the rest of the JCW range.

German tuner Eisenmann repackages Audi R8

German exhaust tuner Eisenmann has developed a package of changes for the Audi R8 sports car, covering the exhaust system as well as several exterior additions made from carbon fiber, to create what it calls the Spark Eight by Eisenmann. Eisenmann says its aero package is more than just pretty looks and claims that it improves the car's driving dynamics and weight distribution. The changes include: -- Front fascia with grille and fins.

Toyota conducted fix of Prius brakes but didn't notify drivers

Toyota Motor Corp., under fire from fresh quality complaints about its popular Prius hybrid, says it conducted a software fix to address reports of slipping brakes. But the world's biggest carmaker didn't notify customers at the time of the change. And it says it is still uncertain how to handle the thousands of Prius vehicles that were sold before the fix.