Sealed Power Piston Forged Flat 4.030 In. Bore Ford Lincoln Mercury 302 Each on 2040-parts.com

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.

Jaguar Land Rover reports record sales and profits for 2012/2013

Jaguar Land Rover – record sales, revenue and profits Tata must be thanking their lucky stars they took a punt on Jaguar Land Rover 5 years ago when the rest of the car world thought they were a bit of a lost dog, because it’s now JLR that are the shining star in the Tata group, with Tata motor sales languishing in troubled waters. JLR has reported record figures for the 2012/2013 year, with vehicle sales hitting 374,636 (up 22 per cent), revenue up at £15.8 billion (up 17 per cent) and pre-tax profits at £1.675 billion (up 11 per cent) on the back of continuing success for all models – and especially the Evoque – and the launch of more new models to offer great promise for even better figures in 2013/2014. This models have included the new Range Rover, the Jaguar XF Sportbrake, new 4WD versions of the XJ and XF (although not for the UK) and new engine options too.

Aston Martin SP10: V8 Vantage S Special Edition – not for UK

Aston Martin has revealed a new Special Edition V8 Vantage S – the Vantage SP10 – inspired by the GT4 Race Series. Not available in the UK. But in recent years automatic gearboxes have got very clever, and the modern auto ‘box can work the cogs better than Michael Schumacher on a good day.