Bosal 255-079 Exhaust Hanger/parts-rubber Mounting on 2040-parts.com

BMW Alpina D3 BiTurbo – a great diesel

The BMW Alpina D3 BiTurbo - a brilliant, quick and economical everyday drive Alpina has turned out some stunning versions of the BMW range over the years (and some not so stunning – their 8 Series springs to mind) and they fill a gap that is either not profitable in small volume for BMW or, in some cases, a hole that BMW hasn’t plugged. And this one is a good hole to fill with the BMW Alpina D3 Bi-Turbo, a 3 Series diesel with the heart of a hot hatch. Alpina has taken the engine out of the 1 Series 123d and given it a boost to 240bhp, in the process dropping the 0-60 time to a very creditable 6.9 seconds But it’s not the sprint that count,  but the way this peppy diesel unit delivers it.

Leno invites Ricardo HyBoost Ford Focus to the garage

Jay Leno invited Tom Apostolos to the garage this week. He’s the president of Ricardo Americas, a tech company partially responsible for the hybrid powerplant on the McLaren P1. Leno and Apostolos talk about hybrids, and how you have to drive them tens of years and hundreds of thousands of miles to get any added value out of them.

Honda CR-Z Mugen: First photos revealed

Honda CR-Z Mugen - almost ready for Goodwood We got news a couple of months ago that Honda were getting Mugen to do a tuning job on the CR-Z Hybrid and put together a ‘Concept’ for this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed. But it seemed clear that although Honda were keen to point out that the Honda CR-Z Mugen would be a one-off, it was unlikely to stay that way. Honda are desperate to inject a bit 0f aggression in to the lethargic CR-Z, and a nippy Mugen version would help its image no end.