New Mercury Outboard Piston Ring Set 39-817096a6 on 2040-parts.com

Women’s World Car of the Year 2011: Citroen DS3 & BMW 5-Series

Women's World Car of the Year (WWCOTY) 2011 - DS3 & 5 Series tie We’ll decline to question too much what the response would be if a panel of male motoring writers voted for a ‘Man’s World Car of the Year Award’. Although we’d speculate that most women would consider that every other car awards is exactly that. But just as we did in 2009, we find the 2011 Women’s World Car of the Year Award winners to be in accord with what any panel of knowledgeable car bods would vote for, with the wonderful Citroen DS3 and the exceptional BMW 5-Series tying as winners.

Lotus CEO Dany Bahar on the crisis at Lotus Cars

Lotus chief executive Dany Bahar has laid bare the business position at Lotus Cars since the takeover of parent company Proton by Malaysia's DRB-Hicom. Norfolk's sports car maker has been buffeted by rumours of financial crisis and looming collapse since development was frozen by the new owners (click here for our coverage of the crisis at Lotus. CAR scored an interview with Bahar at the Hethel headquarters yesterday afternoon. He was abroad at the time of last week's media maelstrom, when rumours and slurs flew around about the state of Lotus's finances.

Honda Vezel crossover arrives at the Tokyo motor show

For the record, Vezel rhymes with "bezel," and it's the name of Honda's long suspected Fit-based crossover. Honda showed off the new Vezel hybrid model at the Tokyo motor show, though the production model set to launch in Japan in December will also be available with a straight-gasoline 1.5-liter direct-injected engine also. Other details are still slim, but the company did claim a "Sport Hybrid i-DCD" powertrain will get a stronger engine and most likely a dual-clutch transmission with integrated electric motor.