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Readers chat it up live with AW associate editor Jon Wong

For those who have ever stared longingly at a Mazda RX-8, or who love the symphony of a Honda four-cylinder engine turning at 200 rpm short of the redline and the tactile joy of the shifter sliding flawlessly from gear to gear, you have a friend in AutoWeek associate editor Jon Wong. On Friday, readers took the opportunity for a virtual mind meld, as Jon fielded questions in an online chat at 3:30 p.m. Eastern.

Trevor’s Back! TVR sold to new British owner

TVR sold to a new British owner, Les Edgar TVR – once the pride of Blackpool – effectively disappeared from the car scene in 2006 when its Russian owner, Nikolai Smolensky, shuttered up TVR just two years after he bought it from Peter Wheeler and last yeare announced there would never be another TVR. But it now seems TVR has been sold to a British businessman, Les Edgar, who has bought the rights to the TVR name and the right to manufacture parts for existing cars. So far, the only evidence of a return is a new splash page on the TVR website (pictured above) which tells us that TVR are ‘Roaring Back’.

Mugen Honda CR-Z Hybrid – but don’t get too excited

The Honda CR-Z Hybrid gets the Mugen treatment Honda are trying to tell anyone who will listen that the Hybrid Honda CR-Z is a modern version of the Honda CRX. You know, all fun and sporty and nimble and on the right side of warm, but with all the green goodness people think they have to want. We haven’t actually come across anyone who buys in to the idea, but Honda aren’t giving up on the marketing pitch of the Honda CR-Z as the first ‘Sporty’ hybrid with the production version of the CR-Z debuting at Geneva next week.