Stainless Turbo Cat Back Exhaust 3.5" Burnt Tip Muffler 05-07 Cobalt Ls/ltz 2.2l on 2040-parts.com

Maintenance 'favours' end up costing more

GETTING help from family, neighbours or friends for basic car maintenance tasks costs the UK public an estimate £300million a year, according to a new survey. Over 2,000 people were surveyed on behalf of Halfords Autocentres and one in six said they regretted asking for help in the first place. 45% who subsequently had to pay a professional to rectify mistakes were left with a bill in excess of £100.

VW e-Up! EV price confirmed

Volkswagen has confirmed its e-Up! electric city car will cost £19,250 including the £5,000 government Plug-in Car Grant subsidy. The car is on sale now in the UK at Volkswagen’s 24 specialist EV electric vehicle retailers, with deliveries starting at the end of January 2014.

MIT develops self-transforming materials that behave 'like robots without robots'

A cross-disciplinary research lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has developed a suite of programmable materials, including carbon fiber, printed wood grain, textile composites, rubbers and plastics, that self-transform when exposed to an external stimulus. Director of the Self-Assembly Lab, Skylar Tibbits, presented a TED talk on 4D printing in 2013, where he demonstrated how a flat sheet of material could effectively build itself when exposed to water, like a robot without a robot. Following positive feedback from industries including aviation, automotive and manufacturing, his lab has been working on developing materials that change according to different activation sources, including heat, light, and air pressure, in addition to water – all of which have automotive relevance.