1937-40 Ford Starter Drive Spring on 2040-parts.com

Ford Ranger Wildtrak – Geneva debut

Ford Ranger Wildtrak - on sale in November It’s not just the Ford B-Max and the Ford Vertrek that are getting an airing at the Geneva Motor Show this week – it’s Ford’s commercial stuff too. Well, Ford’s pick-up crossed with a  car, anyway. Ford are showing off their range-topping Ford Ranger Wildtrak, all butch and blue with a fake rollover bar but a real ground clearance and decent wading depth.

Top Gear, Belfast and a Renault Twingo

Top Gear firing a Renault Twingo in to the sea in Belfast A couple of months ago we reported that Top Gear had upset Belfast with its filming antics for the latest series. To be fair, they didn’t upset Belfast as such, just a publicity seeking politician and a moron from FoE. All par for the course, we’d say.

2013 Nissan LEAF updated

Nissan has updated the LEAF EV in Japan for 2013 with better range, less weight and a new LEAF S entry-level model. Revealed in Japan – but likely to come to the UK from 2013 when the LEAF starts rolling out of Nissan’s Sunderland factory – there are significant upgrades to the powertrain which result in both less weight and better range. Nissan has had a play with the electric powertrain and made it both smaller and lighter with a new motor that uses 40 per cent less dysprosium (a rare earth metal) than before, and comes in 30 per cent smaller and 10 per cent lighter, and a new streamline battery case and a few other tweaks drops the LEAF’s weight by 80kg.