Spectra Premium Cu1599 Radiator Aluminum/plastic Chevy Gmc 5.0 5.7 7.4l Each on 2040-parts.com

Maintenance 'favours' end up costing more

GETTING help from family, neighbours or friends for basic car maintenance tasks costs the UK public an estimate £300million a year, according to a new survey. Over 2,000 people were surveyed on behalf of Halfords Autocentres and one in six said they regretted asking for help in the first place. 45% who subsequently had to pay a professional to rectify mistakes were left with a bill in excess of £100.

Mercedes fixes diesel injector problems

Mercedes say that a new injector system for C Class and E Class diesels with the OM651 engine have now been fixed. So extensive was the problem that many owners were waiting months for their cars to be fixed as Mercedes struggled with a mounting pile of broken cars and injectors that were failing. Mercedes tell us that the problem was fixed with the release of new injectors later in 2010, but Cars UK readers have continued to complain about their cars needing multiple visits to dealers with injectors failing multiple times (that original story garnered more than 500 comments from disgruntled Mercedes owners).

McLaren P1 Concept is 97% production design (video)

At a private reveal of the new McLaren P1 Supercar in New York, McLaren has confirmed that 97 per cent of the P1′s styling will remain. McLaren has said that 97 per cent of the styling of the P1 Concept is exactly as the production version will look, with the only changes being some vents in the bumper to let hot air out and a tighter mesh on the grill at the back. The fac t that the P1 will stay faithful to the concept’s design already seemed evident after we had spy photos of the P1 visiting a McLaren supplier in Norfolk recently (and spy video of the P1 too), where we struggled to find anything different from the concept cars.