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Used car sales return to pre-recession levels

As the UK’s buoyant new car sales figures continue to buck the European trend, it was only a matter of time before this had a positive knock-on effect on sales of used cars. Now, according to figures released in the latest BCA Used Car Market Report, used car sales hit 7.1 million last year, outpacing new car sales by 6.4% and, even more crucially, returning to pre-recession levels. Best used car buys for 2013 On Bing: see pictures of used cars In fact, a record £38.1 billion worth of used cars were sold in 2012, £5.8 billion more than was spent on new cars.

Toyota Prius Recall: 30,790 cars in the UK, 1.9 million worldwide recalled

The 3rd generation Toyota Prius (pictured) is being recalled Toyota’s hasn’t had a lot of luck with recalls in the last few years, although the latest recall for the Toyota Prius isn’t quite on the scale we’ve seen for previous recalls. It’s only eight months since the last Toyota Prius recall – which affected around 5,000 Prius models in the UK from 2009 – but this latest recall is a lot more extensive, affecting third generation Prius built from March 2009 to February 2014 and totalling 30,790 cars in the UK and 1.9 million worldwide. The issue is a problem with the hybrid system’s boost converter software, which is used when the car is under heavy load such as accelerating hard from a standstill.

Hennessey Venom GT hits 230 mph in less than 20 seconds

The power junkies over at Hennessey have uploaded a YouTube video of the company's Venom GT hypercar. The Lotus-based GT sprints from 0-to-228 mph in 19.96 seconds, or the time it takes to update your Facebook status. Behind the driver of the Venom GT is a Corvette ZR1-sourced LS9 V8.