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Honda Civic Tourer 1.6 i-DTEC wins MPG Marathon

The winners of the MPG Marathon in the Honda Civic Tourer 1.6 i-DTEC Last year Honda took the CR-V 1.6i-DTEC out MPG Marathon playing, and managed to return an impressive 78mpg in a car the official figures say should do 63mpg, disproving (to a point) that cars just can’t achieve official economy figures in the real world. This time it’s the turn of the new Honda Civic Tourer with the latest 1.6 i-DTEC ‘Earth Dreams’ engine to go out and eke every possible inch of tarmac from every single drop of petrol. In the hands of Honda R&D engineers Fergal McGrath, James Warren, Tony Shiggins and Julian Warren, the Civic Tourer drove a total of 330 miles and managed to do 97.2mpg – an impressive 31.8 per cent more than the official average.

MINI Paceman Coooper S hits the Nurburgring (video)

The next MINI to hit showrooms – the MINI Paceman – has been caught testing at the Nurburgring ahead of a Paris Motor Show. We did think that the MINI Paceman – which arrived at the Detroit Auto Show last year as a concept – would make it to market as a Countryman Coupe. But just last month MINI let it be known that they’re actually going with the funkier Paceman rather than the descriptive, though predictable, MINI Countryman Coupe for the production version of the Paceman which will debut in production guise at the Paris Motor Show in September.

GM expands advanced-vehicle-technology center in California

General Motors unveiled a new technical center dedicated to the development, maintenance and testing of alternative-energy vehicles last week in Torrance, Calif. The company has had local digs for years but recently leased the building next to its existing Advanced Technology Center for an alternative-energy research facility. It now employs a dozen scientists, technicians and engineers to advance the electrification of GM vehicles.