Polaris Rh Mirror 1996 Slt 750 780 Starboard Mirror on 2040-parts.com

Future Audis may time traffic lights for you

Here's a trick efficiency-chasing hypermilers have been using for years: spotting the cycles of stoplights from 100 to 200 yards out and letting the car coast up to the light just before it turns green, then carrying on without ever letting the car come to a complete stop. These hypermilers, along with professional truck drivers, do this because they know that accelerating from a standstill burns the greatest amount of fuel, and because letting a car coast up to the light with the automatic transmission downshifting by itself is easier on the transmission than stomping on the brakes right beneath the stoplight. Oh, and it's easier on the brake pads as well.

Whos Where: Pierre Castinel is Head of Design at Tata

Indian automaker Tata has been front page news often in recent times, first because of the impressive one-lakh Nano, which changes the automotive industry playing field, and most recently because of its acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford's Premiere Automotive Group for the tidy sum of $2.3 billion - less than half what Ford paid for both companies in 1989.  At the helm of Tata's design efforts is Pierre Castinel, Head of Design. Though only officially announced in March this year, Castinel has been active at Tata since he left Renault in summer 2007, a company he worked at for 20 years. Castinel started as a modeler for Peugeot and worked there for three years.

It's 510 Again!

Any sports or sporty car driver worth their gear oil will remember the mighty Datsun 510 - the front-engine, rear-drive coupe, sedan and wagon that gave racers on a budget something that was just as fun to pilot as BMWs and Alfas of the day. From 1968 to 1973 you could have as much fun as any of those guys with fancy European rides. While a little more boxy than its competitors, the 510 was nonetheless nimble and extraordinarily fun to drive.