Volkswagen Jetta, Alternator, 90 Amp, 2.0l, 02-03 on 2040-parts.com

Revealed: the popular city cars that FAIL a new crash test

It’s fair to say that drivers are pretty well protected in just about any new car on the market today. It’s rare for cars to get anything below the maximum five stars in the Euro NCAP crash tests, and even the most basic of cars come with equipment like ABS and airbags as standard. But America’s Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has devised a new test, which involves a “small overlap front crash” – similar to a head-on crash but only the front corner of a car collides with a solid object.

Honda Vezel Hybrid is the production Urban Concept & Jazz SUV: Tokyo Motor Show

Honda Vezel Hybrid is the production Urban Concept At the Detroit Auto Show at the start of the year, Honda revealed the Urban Concept as a compact SUV based on the Jazz and destined to take on cars like the Nissan Juke. Fast forward to the Tokyo Motor Show and the Honda Vezel Hybrid has been revealed as the production version of the Urban Concept (although it’s unlikely the Vezel name will be used in the UK) and will arrive in the UK in 2015. In Japan, Honda are offering the Vezel with either a Sport Hybrid i-DCD which mates a 1.5 litre petrol wityh an electric motor or as a straightforward 1.5 litre petrol, both of which will be available when the Vezel goes on sale in Japan on 20th December 2013.

Audi R8 V10 – Cheaper than we thought

The magnificent Audi R8 V10 was officially launched at Detroit this week (although we brought you details on the R8 V10 over a month ago!), and it will cause some real problems for car manufacturers at this level – most noticeably Porsche. Which could be a problem, as Porsche owns Audi! Audi R8 V10 - Cheaper than we thought The R8 V10 seems something of a bargain at £99,575 OTR (or £104,665 for the R-Tronic), particularly if you compare cars with similar performance, such as the F430, which is nearly £40k more.