Vintage Gauge Ford 1935 Mirror Clock on 2040-parts.com

Try a prestige car from Europcar before you buy. Or you could just go to a dealer.

You can hire a BMW 5-Series (pictured) from Europcar before you buy It’s always good to have a promotion to get punters through the door, but the latest PR promo from Hertz does seem to have a very visible flaw in its logic. According to Europcar – the leading car hire company in Europe, don’t you know – the best route for trying out a new prestige car before you buy is to give them a call and book a day or three in the cars of your choice. Europcar say you can have anything from a 4×4 to a luxury saloon and performance cars, with the suggestion you can pit a Mercedes SLK against an Audi TTS or check out the differences between a new E-Class or new 5-Series.

Toyota drags down new-vehicle quality average; Ford leads Detroit 3 gains

Dragged down by Toyota Motor Corp., the quality of new cars and trucks sold in the United States slipped slightly this year--the first time since 2007, according to a study released Thursday. But Detroit's automakers--helped by Ford Motor Co. and some of the smoothest new-model launches ever--have matched or surpassed Asian and European rivals in initial vehicle quality for the first time, based on the closely watched J.D.

Italian Grand Prix 2012: McLaren lock out the front row.

McLaren has locked out the front row for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza with Lewis Hamilton on pole and Jenson Button second. Lewis Hamilton grabbed pole position in Monza this afternoon for McLaren  in qualifying for the 2012 Italian Grand Prix, with a second place for Jenson Button locking out the front row for McLaren. It had looked throughout Q1 and Q2 that it would be Ferrari who were dominant and likely to take pole, but Alonso suffered a rear roll bar problem at the start of Q3 and ended at the bottom in tenth place.