Blog on 2040Parts

2013 Movie Review: 'Turbo'

Associate Editor Blake Z. Rong: "Where were you when a snail entered the Indy 500?" It's a simple premise, really. "Turbo" is the heartwarming story of a talking snail (Ryan Reynolds) who's obsessed with IndyCar racing, then after traveling to the 101 Freeway and falling into the LA River, he finds himself sucked into the engine of a supercharged Camaro.

Ram Black Express goes Darth Vader

Ram introduced the Ram Black Express on Thursday. The locomotive-sounding name denotes the black on black styling, Hemi engine and a low starting price of $28,050. The Black Express gets an all-black exterior, including the hexagon grille, fascias, bumpers and wheels.

We're Getting More MPG

The average car/truck/SUV sold by the top eight brands in America makes almost one mile per gallon more than it did a year ago, according to sales-weighted data from the industry analysts at TrueCar. TrueCar's TrueMPG industry average of 23.7 mpg remains the highest the car market has seen, 0.7-mpg higher than at this time last year. The biggest gainers by brand are Nissan and Chrysler, which improved their fleets by 1.1 mpg over last year's numbers.

Chrysler recalls some vans, cars and SUVs for airbag problem

Chrysler announced two recalls last week, both for the potential of improper airbag deployment. On certain model year 2013 Chrysler Town & Country minivans, Dodge Grand Caravan and Ram C/V Tradesmen models, a software error could result in the wrong airbag deploying in the event of a crash. For example, a left-side impact would cause the right-side airbags to deploy.

BMW takes the Active Tourer Outdoor outdoors this weekend

This weekend BMW will be taking its BMW Concept Active Tourer Outdoor to the annual OutDoor fair in Friedrichshafen, Germany. We first saw the concept last September, noting that it was a departure for BMW in more ways than one -- with the German automaker stretching itself into segments in which it previously had no foothold. The BMW Active Tourer is meant to preview a whole new generation of small cars from BMW, but one of the biggest changes underneath is a transverse layout of the engine -- a setup that BMW has traditionally shunned in favor of a longitudinal layout.

BMW Concept Active Tourer Outdoor arrives. It carries bicycles.

BMW Concept Active Tourer Outdoor (pictured) carries bicycles We’ve already had a preview of BMW’s ‘Green’ take on the new FWD 1-Series with the Concept Active Tourer ahead of the Paris Motor Show last year, and now we get the ‘butch’ take on the same theme – the BMW Concept Active Tourer Outdoor. But unlike most car makers, who make their pseudo off-road saloons ready for the great outdoors with raised ride height and bolt-on plastic cladding, all BMW seem to have done is fit the Tourer Outdoor with a bicycle carrying system. But unlike most bicycle carrying systems that bolt the bikes to the back of the car, BMW’s system puts the bikes under cover in the back on built in, retractable carriers.

Production Peugeot RCZ R revealed ahead of Goodwood FoS debut

Production Peugeot RCZ R (pictured) revealed Peugeot promised a more powerful RCZ – the RCZ R – at the Paris Motor Show last year, and subsequently confirmed it would arrive at the 2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed. Now, with the FoS kicking off today with the Moving Motor Show, Peugeot has revealed photos of the production RCZ R – painted in sporty red – and given us some proper specs. As we already knew, the RCZ R makes use of the PSA/BMW 1.6 litre turbo petrol the regular RCZ already has, but in the R’s case Peugeot has managed to turn the wick up to 11 and delivered 270bhp.

South Wales to get new racing circuit for 2015

Wales, already home to some of the UK’s best driving roads, is getting an all-new purpose-built racing circuit. The 3.5-mile track, to be christened ‘Circuit of Wales’, is due to be opened in 2015/2016, with work beginning on the site later in 2013. Where will the Circuit of Wales be built?

Fiat turn naked women in to a 500 Abarth (video)

The naked women turn in to a Fiat 500 Abarth The Fiat 500 has been, perhaps, Fiat’s biggest success story in its history, and a part of that is down to Fiat’s often very clever advertising. We’ve had everything from the ‘Motherhood‘ and ‘Fatherhood‘ videos for the 500L to the series of adverts featuring the glorious Catrinel Menghia in various states of undress. And as Fiat obviously has a penchant for the female form, it’s really no surprise that they’ve managed to feature more than a dozen naked women in a new advert for the 500 Abarth in the US.

McLaren 12C GT Sprint fills the gap between the 12C & GT3

McLaren 12C GT Sprint (pictured) debuts at Goodwood FoS McLaren has revealed a track car that’s not quite as focused as the 12C GT3 or the Can Am, but a bit more focused than a regular road-going 12C – the McLaren 12C GT Sprint. Built by McLaren’s race car division, the GT Sprint gets the same 616bhp and seven-speed twin clutch gearbox as the regular 12C but with new oil and cooling systems and a new radiator at the front borrowed from the GT3 car, McLaren has had a play with the suspension on the 12C GT Sprint, lowered it by 40mm and fitted racing slicks to make the Sprint a lot firmer and sharper than its road-going sibling. Cosmetically, the GT Sprint gets a new front bumper, a bonnet that looks like it came of the 12C GT3, bigger air ducts and wing louvres and the option of lightweight bodywork and a carbon fibre rear wing to push the price up if you want to spend more.

New Skoda Octavia vRS costs from £22,990

New Skoda Octavia vRS (pictured) costs from £22,990 Skoda’s take on the VW Golf GTI – the Skoda Octavia vRS – was revealed last month ahead of its debut today at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, and now we know it will costs from £22,990. For your £22,990 you’ll get the Octavia vRS with the 2.0 litre TSI engine delivering 217bhp and 0-62mph of 6.8 seconds. Pay a bit more (£23,260) for the diesel (why would you want to do that?) and you’ll get 181bhp from the 2.0 litre TDI and get to 62mph in 8.1 seconds.

One Lap of the Web: Cop-car guide, an inside look at Morgan Motors and the best hybrid cars

We spend a lot of time on the Internet -- pretty much whenever we're not driving, writing about or working on cars. Since there's more out there than we'd ever be able to cover, here's our daily digest of car stuff on the Web you may not otherwise have heard about. -- Just when we think everything is going smoothly when we're driving, those flashing lights pull up behind us.

McLaren to introduce 12C GT Sprint at Goodwood

McLaren is producing a 12C model that will slot in between the “basic” 12C and the all-out racing GT3 version called the 12C GT Sprint. It will be a track-focused supercar with enhanced suspension, cooling and aerodynamics. The GT Sprint starts with the basic McLaren 12C.

BAC Mono moves to Liverpool

The BAC Mono with brothers Brigg & Mayor of Liverpool (pictured) The BAC Mono is in the public eye this week after its impressive performance on Top Gear, but even without the publicity from Top Gear the brothers Brigg were already doing very well with the Mono. So well, they’ve been looking for new premises to continue their growth and have settled on a move from Cheshire to Liverpool (just up the road) and a new facility on the Speke Hall Industrial Estate in South Liverpool is set to become the new home of the Mono. BAC’s new home in Speke will be up and running by the autumn, will create an additional 60 jobs in the local economy – and more in the supply chain – and is expected to turn out more than 100 Monos a year by 2015.

Peugeot designers bring kids' car designs to life

Peugeot designers have brought six childrens' car sketches to life by rendering them as a prize for the 'Draw Me The Car of 2020' design competition, launched in collaboration with children's magazine Okapi. The six 10-15 year old winners – Clement, Thomas, Lena, Tom, Leo and Gaspard – were able to see their dream cars realized by Peugeot designer Olivier Gamiette, who worked on the EX1 concept car. Peugeot presented the first placed winner, Thomas, with a 270mm by 140mm model of his design at an awards ceremony held at the carmaker's design center in Velizy, France.

Citroen DS3 Cabrio Racing heading for Goodwood FoS

Citroen DS3 Cabrio Racing (pictured) will debut at Goodwood this week. We’re big fans of the Citroen DS3, and the DS3 Cabrio manages to be something most cabrios aren’t – as good to look at as their coupe siblings. So the news that Citroen has decided to fill a niche in the DS3 range by taking the extreme DS3 – the DS3 Racing – and blending it with the cabrio to create the DS3 Cabrio Racing should come as no surprise.

Peugeot RCZ R (2013) first official pictures

Forget the 208 GTi: the Peugeot RCZ R is the Peugeot’s new performance flagship. The range-topping RCZ boasts a record-breaking 270bhp, and will hit 62mph in under 6sec. Peugeot expect UK models to cost over £30,000 when the RCZ R goes on sale here in the first quarter of 2014.

Jaguar F-type Project 7 concept (2013) first pictures of Goodwood one-off

The Jaguar Project 7 will make its debut at the 2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed. Based on the F-Type convertible, the single-seat P7, named as a tribute to Jaguar’s seven Le Mans victories, has retro tweaks from the legendary Jaguar D-Type that won the 24-hour in 1955 and ’56. What's special about the Project 7 F-type?

Jaguar Project 7: It’s an F-Type R with the DNA of a D-Type (video)

Jaguar Project 7 (pictured) is an F-Type R with D-Type Styling We did wonder, when Jaguar revealed they were taking a one-off design study of the new F-Type to Goodwood this week if it would be the first look at the Jaguar F-Type R. Well, it is, but with a big twist. Yes, the Jaguar Project 7 – for that is what Jaguar has called this one-off F-Type – is an F-Type with the 542bhp version of the Supercharged V8 the other performance Jaguars get.

Upcoming Volvo XC90 gets new safety tech

The Volvo XC90 has been with us for 10 years now -- a long time indeed when it comes to product life cycles of comparable upmarket SUVs. The stylish sport utility was a popular seller in North America for a good part of that decade, and for a while was even offered with a 4.4 liter V8 engine developed by Yamaha and shared with the second-gen S80 (a first for a Volvo passenger car). But if there's one thing Volvo is known for, it's not V8 engines -- it's safety.

McLaren 12C GT Sprint (2013) first pictures

The McLaren 12C GT Sprint will cost around £200,000 and be limited to an initial batch of 20 models finished in McLaren Orange as standard. The special edition bridges the gap between the regular version of the road-going 12C and the GT3 and Can-Am racing models, and has been developed by McLaren GT, the racing arm of the company. So what’s different for the McLaren 12C GT Sprint?

Goodwood Festival of Speed (2013) the cars of GFoS

If you’re one of the 150,000 expected visitors at Goodwood for the Festival of Speed this weekend, you’ll be among the first to see a wealth of new performance cars in action on Lord March’s drive. Here’s the full round up of confirmed attendees with links to CAR’s full stories – which are you most excited to see (and hear)? Audi’s Le Mans-winning R18 E-tron Quattro will be driven up the hill by 2013 race winner Allan McNish – check out his pre-Le Mans interview with CAR here.

Citroen DS3 Cabrio Racing 'concept' (2013) first pictures

Citroen will show a 'concept' version of the DS3 Cabrio Racing at the 2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed – though it looks all but production ready to us. The DS3R Cabrio uses the same 202bhp 1.6-litre engine as the DS3R hot hatch, but weighs an extra 25kg thanks to the folding rood conversion. Citroen DS3 Cabrio Racing: the details The DS3 R Cabrio is mechanically identical to the hard-top DS3 R, with the same six-speed manual gearbox, Citroen Racing-tuned chassis, and uprated brakes.

Suzuki Swift Sport gets 5 doors & costs £14,249

The new Suzuki Swift Sport 5-door (pictured) offers a more practical option to the Sport The Suzuki Swift Sport arrived in the UK at the end of 2011, and although it wasn’t exactly the sort of hot hatch that would make a Fiesta ST quake in its boots it did up the fun factor from Suziki’s more than decent Swift. In fact, the 3-door Swift Sport did a bit more than up the fun factor, it got Australia’s advertising authorities up in arms about its ‘suggestive’ advertising and got itself banned from Ozzie TV for being too ‘hot’. Which probably didn’t do sales any harm at all.

Mini plans to set new world record for largest one-make parade

Mini never shied away from setting records in the most dramatic way possible, and the company's next stunt hopes to set a new Guinness World Record for the largest parade of Minis. The rendezvous point for this record attempt will be the famous Mackinac Bridge in Michigan, where the official car count will take place. The organizers, Mini USA along with Mini of Grand Rapids, are hoping that at least 1,451 Minis will show up, to beat the previous record of 1,450.

New 2014 Corvette Stingray gets 29 mpg highway

Chevrolet has been dropping stats about its new Corvette every so often, and the latest to come down the pike are its fuel economy ratings. The Corvette Stingray's EPA estimated rating of 17 mpg in the city and 29 mpg on the highway makes it 11 percent more fuel efficient than the previous Corvette. These ratings are for the Corvette equipped with the all new seven-speed manual transmission.

The Bluebird DC50 is an electric supercar to celebrate land and water world speed records

The Bluebird DC50 (pictured) is an electric supercar to celebrate Campbell world speed records Don Wales has an impressive family tree – certainly when it comes to speed – with Sir Malcolm Campbell his grandfather and Donald Campbell his uncle. So it’s no big surprise that Don is plotting to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Donald Campbell’s land and water world speed records in 2014 with a new, limited edition supercar, taking time out from making Bluebirds to break the electric land speed record. But the anniversary is in 2014, so Campbell junior has decided that his celebratory supercar – the Bluebird DC50 – will be an electric supercar rather than an ICE one.

Caterham 620R heading for Goodwood debut

The Caterham 620R (pictured) will debut at the Goodwood FoS Caterham may be planning an assault on the mainstream car market with an SUV and a City Car, but it’s not forgetting its roots, with a new entry-level 7 in the mix and now a new range-topping 7 – the Caterham 620R. The Caterham 620R is heading for Goodwood this week for a debut – and consigning the current R500 to the history bin in the process – as the most powerful road going car Caterham have ever produced. The power comes from the same 2.0 litre Supercharged Ford engine as the R500, but in the 620R the wick has been turned up to 11, with 310bhp on offer, enough to scoot the 500kg 620R to 62mph in just 2.8 seconds.

Caterham 620R (2013) first official pictures

Caterham will launch its most hardcore road-going Seven ever at the 2013 Goodwood motor show. Called the 620R, the new range-topper develops 310bhp, and will hit 60mph in 2.79sec, making as fast as an a 691bhp Lamborghini Aventador. The 620R replaces the R500 in Caterham's range, and costs £49,995.

Datsun gears up for supermini production – but it’s not coming here

Nissan’s revival of the Datsun name kicks into first gear later this month with the official reveal of the reborn marque’s new supermini. The new Datsun, which will share components with the Nissan Micra, will be unveiled on 15 July 2013 in New Delhi, India , before going on sale across India, Indonesia, Russia and South Africa in 2014. What do we know about the new Datsun supermini?