Wrangler Rampage 3d Mesh Grille - 86512 on 2040-parts.com

Frankfurt Motor Show news review: making sense of the 2013 IAA show

Newspress Frequently the car that attracts people’s attention at motor shows is an exotic-looking beast that everyone ‑ creators included ‑ know will never see the grind of a production line. Unusually, at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show press day, the car on everyone’s lips was a model that many journalists have already driven, and for which dealers are already taking orders: the BMW i3. With its skinny tyres and boxy, upright stance, the all-electric model isn’t as easy on the eye as the usual headline-grabbers.

Smart ForTwo Cityflame edition launches

The Smart ForTwo got a bit of a facelift in 2012 to keep it fresh until the all new ForTwo with a rear-engined, rear wheel drive platform to be shared with the next Renault Twingo, arrives in 2014, and the new CityFlame limited edition gets a cosmetic makeover to make its stand out. That cosmetic makeover includes a bright yellow paint job - vivid pearlescent flame yellow – with a black tridion safety cell, black grill surrounds and mirror caps and a set of 15″ black painted alloys. There are ‘CityFlame’ logos on the mirror triangles and a set of Brabus headlights. Inside the Cityflame there are yellow inlays in the cloth/fake leather seats, yellow stitching, yellow splashes on the dash and steering wheel and a set of mats with embroidered ‘CityFlame’ motifs.

Car design: a reader laments current styling trends

No Sonny, They Don’t Make ‘Em Like They Did In My Day Actually, back then, if they could be bothered to make them at all, they hardly ever made them properly, and much of what got made properly wasn’t worth the bother. So that’s nostalgia for you. But a post a while back from the clear-sighted Wittgenfrog echoed my own thoughts.