New Subaru Flag Banner Man Cave Shed on 2040-parts.com

BMW 3-series convertible (2006): first official pictures

By Phil McNamara First Official Pictures 24 October 2006 10:03 BMW 3-series convertible: the lowdown Here's the car BMW said it wouldn't develop: a 3-series convertible with a folding hard-top. Although condemned by the R&D team for being too heavy, raising the centre of gravity and sapping dynamic ability, BMW has been forced to listen to the market and introduce a glass and steel-roofed cabrio. With a large boot and easy access for luggage, the 3-series convertible promises to be practical, and the extra glass compared with a fabric cabrio should make it airy too.

Fans get chance to drive with Top Gear's The Stig

FANS OF BBC hit Top Gear will be able to experience the white-knuckle thrill of spinning round the programme's test track driven by The Stig, as well as driving laps themselves. The corporation's commercial arm BBC Worldwide is allowing viewers to be in the driving - or passenger - seat by launching a series of high-speed attractions at Dunsfold Park in Surrey, at which the programme is filmed. They can follow in the tyre tracks of celebrities such as Tom Cruise or Benedict Cumberbatch by trying out the "star in a reasonably priced car" course in a Kia Cee'd, just like those used on the BBC2 programme under the eye of a professional driver.

Leno lines up electric Ford Focus for celebs to turn fast laps

Car collector Jay Leno's new prime-time TV show launches a new segment on Friday night, challenging visiting celebrities to set a fast lap time on a track outside the entertainer's studio. The car that Leno hands to his guests is an electric-powered Ford Focus--a harbinger of a battery-powered Focus that Ford plans to put on sale in 2011. Leno's electric Focus uses the more-modern European Focus as its base, not the well-aged U.S.