Mopar Cast Iron Small Block 4 Speed Bell Housing on 2040-parts.com

Last-of-the-line Rover Mini Cooper for sale on eBay

The second-generation ‘new’ MINI Cooper may have just gone out of production, but you can still pick up a new one for £14,900. Alternatively you could wait for the third-gen MINI coming later this year, with prices starting from £15,300. But without wishing to sound too much like Chris Tarrant, we don’t want to give you either of those.

'Bin the booster', says car seat maker

A CAR CHILD seat manufacturer is urging parents to bin booster seats amid claims of ‘dangers’ involved in using them for older kids. Britax, which manufactures child seats for youngsters up to 135cm tall, or about 12 years old, claims that its own research suggests 49% of seating setups for 4-12-year-olds could be unsafe. Some form of child seat is legally required until a child reaches 135cm in height, to ensure that the seat belt crosses their chest at the correct and safe height, but Britax claims to have found many belts to have been fitted incorrectly.

Most hybrid owners don't buy another hybrid, Polk study says

Almost two-thirds of U.S. hybrid buyers returning to the market in 2011 chose something besides another hybrid. Excluding owners of the best-selling Toyota Prius, the repurchase rate among other hybrid buyers dropped to 22 percent, according to a Polk study released today.