Recmar Shu1901 Shur-lok Paddle - Boating & Fishing on 2040-parts.com

BMW M Car sales keep growing

Now here’s a conundrum. Why do sales of BMW M Cars keep growing, when every other car maker (bar a couple of exceptions like Audi) are seeing sales decimated? Is it because the cars are so good?

New Skoda Octavia vRS hatch & estate revealed

The 2013 Skoda Octavia vRS has been revealed (vRS hatch pictured) The Skoda Octavia vRS – the latest version of Skoda’s quick and appealing take on the VW Golf GTI – has been unveiled ahead of its debut at the Goodwood FoS in July, and it looks a cracker. Available as either a hatchback or estate – and as a diesel or a petrol – the Octavia vRS manages to repackage the Golf GTI and Golf GTD in to one Skoda, offering good performance (the vRS is a bit slower than the GTI to 62mph at 6.8 seconds but has a 2mph higher top speed), good looks and the promise of prices starting not much above £20k. The petrol vRS gets the Golf GTI’s 217bhp 2.0 litre TSI and the diesel vRS the 181bhp 2.0 litre TFI from the Golf GTD, both with a 6-speed manual gearbox as standard and a six-speed DSG as option, sports suspension, XDS differential, quicker steering and multi-link rear suspension.

Opel Ampera Full Reveal

GM are desperate to grab the headlines with the Ampera in Europe, and they’ve done a full reveal – pictures, video, the works, this afternoon, instead of waiting until tomorrow as was expected. Due to go on sale when is anybody’s guess. The Ampera offers a 50km range from electric charge only, and up to 500 km range when used in conjunction with the engine.