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.

VW Polo R Line (2012) first official pictures

Sportiness is not a word normally associated with the VW Polo. Even in GTI guise the current VW Polo is a rather sober driving experience compared to more exuberant rivals like the Renaulsport Clio or upcoming Ford Fiesta ST. There's nothing wrong with that, but with a WRC campaign on the horizon and a sensible-shoes donor car on its hands, Wolfsburg have created the Polo R Line.

Supermarkets slash fuel prices for bank holiday

SUPERMARKETS have announced fuel-price cuts ahead of the August bank holiday getaway. From tomorrow Asda, Sainsbury's and Tesco are all reducing the cost of their petrol by up to 2p a litre, with diesel going down by 1p a litre. In Asda's case, this will take the price of its petrol to no more than 124.7p a litre, with diesel at 128.7p for diesel – its lowest prices since January 2011.