Alfa Romeo Brera and Spider 1750 TBi and 2.0 JTDM (2010): first official pictures

By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 17 May 2010 07:00 Alfa Romeo has fitted its new 200bhp 1750 TBi engine to the 2010 Brera coupé and Spider convertible ranges – alongside the 170bhp 2.0 JTDM diesel. We'd already seen both engines in the 159 compact executive model in 2009, but the new pair should broaden the appeal of Alfa's distinctive sports duo.Alfa's 1750 TBi: the tech lowdownThe TBi engine is a very zeitgeisty 1742cc four-cylinder, equipped with twin overhead cams running 16 valves, direct injection and turbocharging. This full book of tech is enough to liberate 200bhp and 236lb ft from just 1400rpm – not bad specific outputs for a 1.7.The new TBI engine will appeal to business drivers in particular, who will benefit from CO2 emissions of 189g/km in the Brera and 192g/km in the Spider.

Peugeot RCZ R with 260bhp to debut at Goodwood FoS

The Peugeot RCZ R (concept pictured) will debut in July at Goodwood We saw the first glimpse of the Peugeot RCZ R at the Paris Motor Show when Peugeot revealed the RCZ R as a concept at the same time as it revealed a facelift for the RCZ range. At the time we said we expected the RFCZ R to turn from concept to reality by the end of 2013, and today Peugeot has revealed that the RCZ R will make its debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July before going on sale. The production RCZ R gets a tweaked version of the 1.6 litre turbo found in other RCZs (and other PSA/BMW cars) with 265bhp and the same range of styling tweaks the regular RCZ facelift got last year.

Grab a ‘VAT Free’ Skoda Octavia

In yet another ‘Sign of the times’ Skoda has announced that they are now offering ‘VAT Free Octavias’ until the end of the year. No, this is not a tie-up between Alistair Darling and VW, it’s just Skoda’s way of offering a headline price decrease of a bit over 13% (less expensive to Skoda than last week for the same headline, to be fair, and there is a new model due in January!). Grab a VAT free Skoda Octavia I’m pretty sure that there will be a raft of these ‘VAT Free’ offers floating around on everything from cars to washing machines, capitalising on the fact the VAT is in the headlines.