Alert 450r Deluxe Remote Starter System W/ Keyless Entry on 2040-parts.com

Driving the Chevy Volt isn't special, and that's good

We've had our first taste of the drive system under development for General Motors' pioneering Chevrolet Volt, piloting a test mule based on the Chevrolet Cruze at the company's Warren (Mich.) Technical Center, and it left us hungering for more. Yes, it's an electric car, but mostly, it's a car--one you could imagine driving every day without feeling as if you were engaged in a lab experiment. Frank Weber, vehicle line executive for the Volt, gets his nose out of joint if you call the drive system a hybrid.

One Lap of the Web: Relentless auction consumerism and a chat with Pete Brock

-- Bonham's is hosting "Les Grandes Marques du Monde au Grand Palais," happening right now in Paris. Sounds fancy. And as with almost every Bonham's auction, there is some fancy machinery: our friends at Bring a Trailer point out an almost surreal variety of cars, from a Mazda 323 GTX Group N rally car to a cute lil' Saab 92B De Luxe.

BMW 1-series hatchback (2011) first official pictures

BMW has peeled the last pieces of camouflage sheeting from their F20 1-series and announced details of the upcoming entry-level car. BMW 1-series: the evolutionary new look As revealed in CAR's spy images last month, the 1-series is a clear evolution of its predecessor, featuring smoother lines but a more aggressively-angled front-end. The new headlight design dominates the nose, providing the 1-series with a pronounced squint compared with its predecessor.  F20 has grown in most dimensions over the first 1-series: it is 85mm longer overall, and sits on a 30mm longer.