96 Seadoo Sea Doo 717 Cc Complete Engine Motor on 2040-parts.com

BMW vs Winter: 435i Coupe vs M3, Part One

By Ben Barry (photography by Richard Pardon) First Official Pictures 29 January 2014 12:00 How much difference can winter tyres make to your car’s performance and safety? In snowy conditions, choosing between winter and summer tyres is like choosing between crampons and slippers, but plenty of British winters pass with barely a flake touching the ground. So it’s understandable that most of us are reluctant to fork out for winter tyres.

New Ford Focus ST (2011) at Paris

The 250bhp 2011 Focus ST Ford did threaten that a performance version of the 2011 Ford Focus would be a world car. We all jumped to the conclusion that would be an all new 2012 Focus RS – and it still probably will be – but if Ford need a get out of jail free card on the performance promise the 2011 Focus ST could be it. It appears that Ford are taking the first performance version of the new Focus to the Paris Motor Show in October.

Driven: BMW 6 Series convertible

Every large BMW coupe – from the E9 3.0 CS, through the shark-nosed E24 6 Series, Claus Luthe's beautiful E31 8 Series, right up to the outgoing, Bangle-era E63 6er – has had an exoticism beyond every other car in the brand's range. We drove the latest from the most southern point of Europe back to our London office to find out if it too is a truly Grand Tourer. Stepping off the 'plane in Gibraltar, greeted by a Deep Sea Blue 650i with Ivory White leather, 19-inch rims and Shadow Line exterior trim under the early summer Mediterranean sun, it's clear that the right colorway and a more appropriate setting certainly help the F12's cause after our disappointment with the car at its debut in Detroit earlier in the year.