Timken 513156 Wheel Hub/bearing Assembly Each on 2040-parts.com

CAR tech: why Porsche needs hybrids

At the launch of the 997-generation 911 Turbo in 2006, Porsche faced a daunting future. Anti-car chatter from EU legislators proposed banning anything that produced more than 241g/km of CO2 and exceeded 101mph. ‘We’ll have to close if the European Commission decides that every carmaker must reach [these targets],’ a Porsche exec told CAR.

Mercedes launch new 9G-Tronic gearbox on E350 BlueTec

New Mercedes E350 BlueTec (pictured) gets 9-speed 9G-TRONIC auto It’s not exactly a million years ago that automatic gearboxes offered poorer performance and economy than manual gearboxes, and came as standard with just three gears. But now, automatic gearboxes are so good they can  change quicker than any driver and, with the proliferation of eight-speed auto ‘boxes, offer improved economy and performance too. The next logical step is even more ratios in an auto ‘box, and Land Rover has already revealed they’ll be fitting the Evoque with a 9-speed ZF ‘box from 2014, and the new Jeep Grand Cherokee gets a nine-speed auto ‘box too.

VW Tiguan – People’s Reviewer Winner

Harriet Gore gets a VW Tiguan as the winner of the People's Review The last update we did had the three finalists doing different challenges to bid for votes. Johnny was taking the Tiguan off to a sheep farm to play around; Eric was off to Silverstone to have a bash on the track and the skid-pan and Harriet was off on a mystery tour round Oxford (which as we said at the time was no easy thing). Well, the winner’s been announced this morning and it’s Harriet, who wins a nice shiny VW Tiguan for her efforts.