Peugeot 106 & Citroen Saxo Timing Belt Cover on 2040-parts.com

One Lap of the Web: Mini challenges Porsche; kit cars; and brand loyalty

We spend a lot of time on the Internet -- pretty much whenever we're not driving, writing about or working on cars. Since there's more out there than we'd ever be able to cover, here's our daily digest of car stuff on the Web you may not otherwise have heard about. Mini wished the Porsche 911 a happy 50th anniversary.

Survey: Toyota, Honda, Ford are top brands for consumers

Toyota, Honda and Ford rank as the best brands in consumers' minds, an annual Consumer Reports survey found. Toyota finished first for the third consecutive year of the study, which involved randomly questioning more than 1,700 U.S. adults in early December.

Top Gear: Jenson Interceptor, Lotus T125, Demolition with Tanks & Bob Geldof

The boys enjoy a bit of house demolition - with Tanks Remarkably, we’re already almost at the end of the current series of Top Gear with this one – episode 5, series 17 – the penultimate episode. And it’s not been a bad series, whether you’re a viewer from Minnesota or the 12 year-old Miss Clarkson. This week’s higlight rather depends on your point of view – do you consider Top Gear an entertaining car show or an entertaining show with cars?