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Honda Civic Type-R MUGEN (2009) first official pictures

By Ben Pulman First Official Pictures 22 June 2009 18:00 Honda's Mugen Motorsports performance tuning arm has released the first official pictures of the company's stripped-out Civic Type-R hot hatch. Details are still sketchy, but let's start with the visual changes. There's a deeper and wider front spoiler (sans fog lights), a new grille, a vented bonnet, plus vents just behind the front wheels.  At the back the Civic's triangular exhausts have been replaced by two huge bazooka tailpipes, which fit beneath a more angular rear bumper, and there's also a double-decker wing to make rear visibilty even worse.

Driving the Chevy Volt isn't special, and that's good

We've had our first taste of the drive system under development for General Motors' pioneering Chevrolet Volt, piloting a test mule based on the Chevrolet Cruze at the company's Warren (Mich.) Technical Center, and it left us hungering for more. Yes, it's an electric car, but mostly, it's a car--one you could imagine driving every day without feeling as if you were engaged in a lab experiment. Frank Weber, vehicle line executive for the Volt, gets his nose out of joint if you call the drive system a hybrid.

Drivers' 'huge petrol tax burden'

BRITISH DRIVERS are still facing a huge petrol and diesel tax burden despite three years of fuel duty freezes, according to the RAC Foundation. The UK has the highest rate of diesel tax in Europe while only Sweden imposes a higher petrol tax duty than the UK, the foundation said. Its figures showed that tax accounts for 59% of the price of diesel in the UK, with Sweden (56%) second and Italy (55%) third.