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First Sight: BMW 3 Series

With the 7 Series of 2001, Z4 of 2002, X3, 5 and 6 Series of 2003, and 1 Series earlier this year, the current E46 3 Series is the last (X5 excepted) 'old school' BMW in production. These first official pictures show BMW's fifth generation E90 3 Series which replaces this car and completes the new design strategy for the main series BMW range under Design Director Chris Bangle. Now with a smaller sibling in the range, the 3 Series is no longer BMW's entry level car although it shares much of its platform with the 1 Series and it is expected to continue to account for about half of BMW's total sales.

Mille Miglia 2009 real-time live blog by Jonny Smith

By Jonny Smith (photography by David Barzilay and Jonny Smith's cameraphone) Motor Shows 18 May 2009 10:03 CAR has been invited along to take part in the historic Mille Miglia road race along 1000 miles of Italian roads. It’s CAR contributor and Fifth Gear TV presenter Jonny Smith’s first Mille Miglia and here he charts his experiences at the wheel of a Jaguar C-type with live hour-by-hour blogs. NB Start at the bottom and work your way up the page (all times local Italy time)!SATURDAY 16 MAY 2009: DAY 3, MILLE MIGLIA The missing hours: what happened at the endOkay, so my phone battery died, but I made copious notes to cover the last few hours of the 2009 Mille Miglia.

Next-gen Passat to offer hybrid and twin-turbo power

VOLKSWAGEN is going even more upmarket with the all-new version of the Passat, which is due to hit showrooms later this year. Soon buyers will be able to include a plug-in hybrid and an all-new 2.0-litre twin-turbo diesel among their forecourt options, as VW goes chasing after its sister company Audi. Weight-saving measures have chopped up to 85kg from the new kid on a like-for-like basis, which helps achieve VW's stated efficiency boosts of 20% versus equivalent outgoing Passats.