Nissan March 2002 Door Lock Solenoids [1164550] on 2040-parts.com

The other side of the curtain: A look back at Lada, Volga and more

While Americans in the 1960s and '70s were enjoying the heyday of muscle-car madness, our friends over in the Soviet Union were treated to an entirely different kind of automobile. Fiat-based Ladas and Russian-born Volgas were the cars of the day, and our friends at Retronaut have gathered some press materials and advertisements for the compact sedans. Lada was named after a famous Czech manufacturer of sewing machines in the 1960s.

2012 Mercedes E63 AMG gets Twin-Turbo 5.5-Litre V8: New York 2011 Catch-up

2012 Mercedes E63 AMG with twin-turbo V8 It’s always the same; however hard we try there’s always something of proper interest that slips through the net when there’s a motor show on, and this time there’s likely to be more as New York and Shanghai are in full swing at the same time. Excuses out of the way, we thought we ought to take a look at the 2012 Mercedes E63 AMG, which has had a heart transplant to get Mercedes’ latest 5.5 litre twin-turbo V8. Out goes the naturally aspirated 6.2 litre V8 and in comes the forced-induction jobbie, promising more torque and much better economy.

New VW Golf BlueMotion: Paris 2012

Volkswagen has revealed the MK 7 version of the Golf Bluemotion in Paris, offering 88.3mpg and 85g/km emissions. Volkswagen are billing the Golf BlueMotion as a concept, but it’s heading for production and is expected to offer the same emissions and economy figures as the BlueMotion Concept – 88.3mpg and 85g/km. That makes it 15 per cent more efficient than the outgoing BlueMotion.