Ford Oem 7t4z14b345a Air Bag-side Impact Sens on 2040-parts.com

2014 Subaru XV – less choice, more refinement

The 2014 Subaru XV (pictured) gets a bit of a tweak The Subaru XV arrived in the UK in 2012, and it’s a perfectly able and reasonably-priced compact crossover from Subaru. But within a year of launching the XV Subaru decided to inject a bit more appeal in to the XV with a price cut of £2,300 across the range and now, not more than six months later, they’re fiddling with the XV range again. The 2.0 litre petrol XV gets new valve-train components to cut engine noise and revised suspension, with extra soundproofing improving NVH levels across the range, a revised power steering system for added stability and feel  and thicker and reshaped suspension lower arm and extra reinforcement around the base of the A-Pillar for better crash performance.

New Ford Kuga (2012) to debut at Los Angeles Motor Show

2012 Ford Kuga / Escape to debut at Los Angeles 2011 - based on the Vertrek Concept (above) Yes, strictly speaking the debut of the new Ford Kuga at the Los Angeles Motor Show in November is actually for the 2013 Ford Escape. But in the new ‘One World’ of Ford the new Escape – based on the Ford Vertrek Concept from this year’s Detroit Motor Show – will, with just a few changes, become Europe’s new Ford Kuga. What makes it even more certain that the Escape is much the same as the Kuga will be is news on the engines.

Nissan plots BladeGlider production (2014)

By Ben Pulman Motor Industry 03 January 2014 10:30 Last month we brought you spyshots of Nissan’s new Almera hatchback; this week it’s the altogether more enticing news that bosses at the Japanese car giant hope to put the wacky BladeGlider concept car into production. The ‘swept wing’ BladeGlider is inspired by Nissan’s ZEOD RC, the company’s entry into the 2014 Le Mans 24-hours, and it seems production of the crazy concept is a possibility. ‘It’s in our mid-term plan,’ Nissan chief planning officer Andy Palmer revealed to CAR.