New 2 1/2 Inch Catalytic Converter on 2040-parts.com

Cars, Culture and the City

When you think of American cities associated with the car it is Los Angeles of course that leaps first to mind, thanks mostly to Hollywood, and Detroit second. But New York turns out to have been vital in the history of car design, as I found researching an exhibition Cars, Culture and the City at the Museum of the City of New York as guest curator over the last few months, working with the museums curator architecture and design, Donald Albrecht. The show has just opened, on March 25.

Spy photos: BMW i8 hits Swedish test track

Spy photographers caught the new BMW i8 testing on a secret track wearing the company’s familiar psychedelic camouflage. The test car pictured is a preproduction model rather than a concept BMW i8, similar to what should appear in 2013. As reported earlier, we’re expecting BMW’s 2014 i8 hybrid coupe to get a 1.5-liter, three-cylinder direct-injection gasoline engine--essentially the same unit earmarked to head into the next-generation Mini and the front-wheel-drive BMW 1-series due out in 2014.

BMW 1 Series

BMW has just revealed the all-new 1 Series. The German automaker's second generation B-segment contender has grown 83mm longer, 14mm wider and has had its wheelbase stretched 30mm over its predecessor. Though the 1 Series is the smallest vehicle in the range, the new car retains proportions typical of BMW, with a long hood and wheelbase and a set-back cabin.