T444 International Powerstroke Turbo 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.

Lotus offers Final Edition models of the Exige and the Elise

It's the end of the line for the Lotus Exige and Elise models in North America. To celebrate, Lotus has created Final Editions for the Elise SC, the Exige and the Exige S260. The lack of availability of Toyota's 1.8-liter 2ZZ is partly responsible for the cancellation.

Driven: a week with a Chevrolet Volt

In Fall 2010, before the Volt went on sale in North America, we sampled an early build model and came away so impressed, we declared it the car for the digital age. Since then the car has received harsh criticism from the press and been outsold by the Nissan Leaf in the North American market. Given the unique powertrain, we felt longer exposure to the Volt was therefore in order, so on a recent trip to Michigan, we lived with one for five days.