Monroe 911274 Shock Absorber on 2040-parts.com

Londoners 'most likely to fail' driving test

LEARNERS gearing up to take their first driving test are twice as likely to pass in Scotland as those in London, according to analysis of driving test results by a car insurance company. Its analysis reveals that London has the test centres with the four lowest pass rates in the country for first time test-takers. Only 31% of learner drivers in Belvedere passing the first time, while Wanstead (32%), Barking (32%) and Wood Green (33%) were the other lowest scoring centres in the capital, all with first time pass rates significantly below the national average (48%), the study by Privilege Car Insurance found.

Mark Adams on the Past, Present and Future of Opel Design

Back in 1938, GM showed the world's first concept car: Harley Earl's Buick Y-Job. Twenty-six years later, GM's Opel division became the first mainstream carmaker to design and build a concept in Europe. That car was the Opel Experimental GT, designed in 1964 and launched at the Frankfurt motor show in 1965.

Future Audis may time traffic lights for you

Here's a trick efficiency-chasing hypermilers have been using for years: spotting the cycles of stoplights from 100 to 200 yards out and letting the car coast up to the light just before it turns green, then carrying on without ever letting the car come to a complete stop. These hypermilers, along with professional truck drivers, do this because they know that accelerating from a standstill burns the greatest amount of fuel, and because letting a car coast up to the light with the automatic transmission downshifting by itself is easier on the transmission than stomping on the brakes right beneath the stoplight. Oh, and it's easier on the brake pads as well.