Blog on 2040Parts

Brabus takes on Mercedes GL63 with Widestar kit

Brabus added the Mercedes GL63 AMG to its Widestar lineup on Monday. In addition to the wild body kit, Brabus adds 70 hp to the mix and a handful of twist at the wheels to create the B63-620 Widestar. The visual upgrades begin with the fender flares that add 3 inches to the width of the already-big SUV.

2015 Cadillac ATS-V spied chasing BMW M3

The Cadillac ATS was conceived as a BMW 3-series fighter, so it stands to reason that a hotter version of the rear-wheel drive sedan -- a Cadillac ATS-V -- would be called forth to challenge the mighty M3. New spy photos seem to show just that. Of course, this could be a case of a privately owned BMW M3 being in the right place at the right time, catching up with what appears to be a heavily camouflaged Cadillac ATS-V on the road somewhere outside metropolitan Detroit.

Dacia won’t build a car smaller than the Sandero

The Dacia Sandero (pictured) will remain Dacia’s smallest model In austere times, budget buys sell. Which is why Dacia is having so much success with its compact Sandero and Duster SUV. With prices on the Sandero starting at just £5,995 and Duster SUV prices as little as £8,995 (although you’ll have to pay £10,995 for a 4WD version), car buyers are buying Dacias as quickly as Renault can build them, with sales in a European market that shrank by 7 per cent last year up by 18 per cent to 90,000 cars for Dacia.

Ford EcoSport, Kuga & Edge SUVs will drive Ford’s sales

SUVs, like the Ford Kuga (pictured) will drive Ford sales in the future In 2010 we decided that the Ford Kuga was the inheritor of Ford’s ‘Family Car’ crown, as it offered everything a traditional family saloon does but in a more practical package. And the car buying public seem to agree. Ford’s latest Kuga is selling so well Ford has had to up production for Europe, and the new compact EcoSport SUV is about to take on the world, with Ford planning to roll it out in 60 countries across the globe in the next few years.

New Hyundai Test Centre at the Nurburgring revealed

Hyundai’s new test centre at the Nurburgring If anyone had said, just a few years ago, that Hyundai would develop a test centre at the Nurburgring to help shake-down their cars, they’d have been laughed at. But Hyundai – and Kia – have come so far in recent years that it makes absolute sense for them to develop a full-time testing facility at the Nurburgring to test their cars for the road, along with just about every other car maker of note. James May may object to the Nurburgring factor in the suspension set-ups of many road cars (and we do have some sympathy for his point of view), but the sometimes extreme nature of the Nurburgring’s surfaces – and its endless twists and turns, uphill and down – do offer car makers an easily accessible place to test cars in the (almost) real world.

Watch the Weather Channel Tornado Hunt SUV find its target

A chase crew from the Weather Channel drove its GM SUVs directly into the path of an oncoming violent tornado Friday, resulting in this dramatic video from inside what appears to be a Chevrolet Suburban being tossed across the Oklahoma plains like a child's toy. Meteorologist Mike Bettes and his colleagues escaped relatively unharmed thanks at least in part to seatbelts and airbags, but the team will need to visit their local Chevy dealer for some minor repairs prior to heading out on another chase.

Peugeot 208 takes on Wacky Races in a new advert

The Peugeot 208 takes on wacky races in a new advert If you’re of a certain age, you’ll remember Wacky Races. In particular, if you’re anything like those in the office here who are old enough, Penelope Pitstop and Dick Dastardly and Muttley. Interestingly, Peugeot in Brazil has decided to bring what looks like the entire Wacky Races mob to life in a new advert to promote the Peugeot 208.

Kia Recall: 25,000 UK Kias recalled for faulty brake lights

Kia are recalling 25,000 vehicles in the UK Kia’s research and development checks have uncovered a fault in the brake light switch on a whole raft of Kia cars built between 2006 and 2011, with over 25,000 UK-owned Kias being recalled to have a fix. Models affected are previous model Carens, Sedona, Sorento and Sportage and some of the current Sorento and Soul models as well as a few Optimas (actually, just 2 Optimas). This isn’t a huge problem for owners, but Kia has discovered that carbonisation on the brake light switch contacts can make the switch a bit glitchy, with the possibility the brake lights might not come on at all when the brake pedal is pressed or, if they do come on, they may stay on.

Refreshed 2014 Chevrolet Malibu arrives

Just a bit more than a year after launching the 2013 Malibu, Chevrolet took the wraps off its revised 2014 Malibu, saying the car is roomier (1.25 extra inches in the rear seat), more refined and more efficient than the outgoing model. The car gets a fresh face, revised interior, and a new 2.5-liter four standard. The 2.5-liter I-4 is direct injected and has variable valve lift control and start/stop for 196 hp and 186 lb-ft of torque.

EV Dreams

Many people are passionate about their cars. “I'm a Ford man,” one says or, “Camaros rule!” says another. But does the depth of that passion extend to your retirement account?

BMW X5 (F15)

This is the new, third generation BMW X5, the biggest-selling SUV in its segment with over 1.3 million sold since the first was launched in 1999. While the previous versions have sat more in the high-riding wagon space (BMW prefers to call them Sports Activity Vehicles), this latest F15 model appears to have shifted closer to a more traditional SUV, appearing taller and less ‘squat', certainly than the car it replaces. This is partly due to the DLO, which dips down behind the A-pillar, creating a deep window.

One Lap of the Web: Elon Musk's Hyperloop, Greenwich Concours and a Model T

We spend a lot of time on the Internet -- pretty much whenever we're not driving, writing about or working on cars. Since there's more out there than we'd ever be able to cover, here's our daily digest of car stuff on the Web you may not otherwise have heard about. The 2013 Porsche Rennsport Australia went off over Memorial Day weekend at Sydney Motorsports Park and motorsportretro.com has full gallery of pictures.

2013 Jaguar F-Type sales soar

Jaguar has a hit already with the F-Type convertible, the brand's first two-seat sports car in almost four decades. "Half of the first year's production of the F-Type is already sold," said global brand director Adrian Hallmark. Customers who order the car now will be lucky to get one by the end of this year, he said.

New BMW M5 & M6 Competition Package & new 518d prices revealed

The competition package for the new M5 & M6 costs from £5,500 The arrival of the newly refreshed BMW 5 Series saw the arrival of a new entry-level point – the 518d – and the option at the other end of the scale of a Competition Package for both the M5 and M6 (in all three varieties). Now, BMW has decided how much they are going to cost you. The Competition Package for the M5 and M6 comes in a bit steeper than we’d expected (we reckoned it would cost around £5k), with the cheapest option being on the M6 Gran Coupe £5,500) and the most expensive on the M5 saloon (£6,700).

Got a Supercar? Going to Goodwood FoS? They’ve got you covered.

You’ll now be able to park your Supercar at the Goodwood FoS The 2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed is looming, and apart from the usual mix of petrol, faces and cars there’s a new innovation to get more supercars in front of the petrolheads that flock to Sussex for a summer fix of high octane fuel – forward parking for supercars. If you’ve ever been to Goodwood – and if you haven’t, you should – then you’ll be a little overwhelmed with the number of supercars littering the car park. Well, a field that’s a bit of a walk away from the main action, and where everyone parks.

Concept Car of the Week: Mercedes-Benz VRC (1995)

The question of automobile versatility has been a real challenge for decades. Nowadays, car manufacturers keep coming up with hundreds of new segments, sub-segments, crossovers, and crossovers of crossovers... Most of them end up Jack-of-all-trades, master of none.

New (2014) BMW X5: Full UK price list from X5 sDrive25d to X5 xDrive50i

The new BMW X5 costs from £42,590 for the sDrive25d We had the reveal of the new BMW X5 this week (which is either a new X5 or a facelift for the current X5, depending on how you look at it, and also the 2013 or 2014 X5) and now we have full UK prices for the new range. The starting point will be the X5 sDrive25d – BMW’s first rear wheel drive X5 and the first with a 4-cylinder engine – which will cost from £42,590 and comes with BMW’s 2.0 litre diesel which will give economy of 50.4mpg and emissions of 155g/km. BMW expect the same figures to apply to the next up the range – the X5 xDrive25d – which gets the same four-pot diesel as the sDrive version but has 4WD.

Jaguar F-Type sold out until end of 2013

If you want a new Jaguar F-Type, you won’t get one until the end of 2013 The new Jaguar F-Type may not be a volume car for Jaguar – it’s place in jaguar’s lineup is to cast a rosy, sporty glow on the whole Jaguar range – but the numbers sold already seem to indicate the F-Type will end up selling even more than the 75,000 a year Jaguar hoped – assuming they can up production. Adrian Hallmark, Jaguar’s Global Brand Director, has confirmed to Automotive News that the new F-Type is already selling strongly, despite only going on sale a month ago, and the F-Type is sold out for at least the next six months. “Customers who order the car now will be lucky to get one by the end of this year”, he said.

BMW Gran Lusso design explained in Pininfarina video

The two-door BMW Gran Lusso took center stage at the 2013 Villa d'Este Concourso d'Eleganza in Italy last weekend. The Pininfarina-designed, V12-equipped coupe could herald the return of the company's mighty 8-series Bimmers that rolled the streets in the 1990s. Pininfarina posted two videos of the BMW Gran Lusso on its YouTube channel on Wednesday.

Honda Fit EV prices drop

Responding to price-dropping offers from other automakers on their electric vehicles, Honda will slash the lease deal for its Fit EV starting in June. From the current level of a zero-down, $389/month lease, Honda has lowered the price to zero down and $259/month. Also, for any current holder of a Honda Fit EV lease, effective June 1, their monthly lease payment will also drop to $259 a month.

Tesla expands electric-car charger network

Tesla 20-minute “superchargers” will blanket the U.S. and Canada within two years, CEO Elon Musk said Thursday. Musk announced plans to greatly upgrade and expand the number of its superchargers in and between population centers of the United States and Southern Canada to link major cities via free electricity.

Augmented reality application streamlines home car maintenance

The basic home motor-oil swap is about to get a lot more futuristic -- at least if the augmented reality application being developed by AR-media goes anywhere. AR-media's app uses a tablet's camera to position guides and instructions over a car's engine bay in real time. It sounds complicated, but it appears to be relatively seamless in action.

Audi A1 Quattro gets the XCar treatment

The Audi A1 is just one of the cool European city cars we don't get here in the United States. It shares a platform with the VW Polo, Skoda Fabia and Seat Ibiza. Audi saw fit to drop the 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder from the last generation S3 in just 333 examples, all of which have reportedly been sold.

2014 BMW X5 details revealed

The third-generation 2014 BMW X5 has arrived, and its big news is an optional rear-wheel-drive variant. Those models will have a 300-hp turbocharged 3.0-liter in-line six-cylinder gasoline engine in the U.S. We're expecting a Frankfurt motor show debut in September.

One lap of the Web: A Ferrari F40, Sebastian Vettel and random acts of 'squandering'

We spend a lot of time on the Internet -- pretty much whenever we're not driving, writing about or working on cars. Since there's more out there than we'd ever be able to cover, here's our daily digest of car stuff on the Web you may not otherwise have heard about. -- Blood pumping, screaming your lungs out -- do you remember that first joyride during your formative years?

The 500-hp club

Petrol heads, continue to rejoice: Car manufacturers have not ignored your cries for high-powered cars and trucks. Despite tightening emissions regulations and rising fuel costs, automakers are building an increasing number of vehicles putting out at least 500 horses. Based on our research, there are over 80 cars sold in the United States that deliver these burnout-inducing numbers (not including tuners such as Mosler or Callaway).

Drayson Racing aiming for Electric car World Land Speed Record

The Drayson B12 69/EV – heading to RAF Elvington to break the EV land speed record. One of the best uses for electric car technology is to deliver copious amounts of instant torque for track cars – far more than an ICE engine manages – and Drayson Racing Technology is aiming to prove how much that electric power can help by taking its Drayson B12 69/EV to RAF Elvington on 25th June to attempt to break the land speed record for an EV. That record – 175mph – has stood since 1975 (which probably shows how little EV technology has really moved on in the last 40 years), but the low-drag version of the Drayson electric Le Mans prototype is aiming to break that down the 1.86 mile runway at Elvington.

Jaguar Land Rover reports record sales and profits for 2012/2013

Jaguar Land Rover – record sales, revenue and profits Tata must be thanking their lucky stars they took a punt on Jaguar Land Rover 5 years ago when the rest of the car world thought they were a bit of a lost dog, because it’s now JLR that are the shining star in the Tata group, with Tata motor sales languishing in troubled waters. JLR has reported record figures for the 2012/2013 year, with vehicle sales hitting 374,636 (up 22 per cent), revenue up at £15.8 billion (up 17 per cent) and pre-tax profits at £1.675 billion (up 11 per cent) on the back of continuing success for all models – and especially the Evoque – and the launch of more new models to offer great promise for even better figures in 2013/2014. This models have included the new Range Rover, the Jaguar XF Sportbrake, new 4WD versions of the XJ and XF (although not for the UK) and new engine options too.

2014 BMW X5 comes with 2WD and 4-Cylinder engine options (video)

The new 2014 BMW X5 – quicker, bigger and more frugal Critics may snipe at the BMW X5′s lack of off-road ability as its Achilles heel, but the truth is that the vast majority of X5 owners will never venture anywhere muddier than a boot sale car park. So the trade-off for a great on-road drive is a small price to pay. So X5 owners – and potential owners – will be pleased to know that BMW hasn’t messed with their winning formula in the new 2014 X5, they’ve just added more of the same.

New entry-level Caterham Seven to cost under £17k

The new entry-level, sub-£17k Caterham Seven If there’s one thing you know about the Caterham Seven – Caterham’s recreation of Colin Chapman’s iconic Lotus Seven – it’s that it’s not b exactly laden with fripperies and heavy technology. So when Caterham tell us that they’re soon going to launch a new, entry-level, Seven that takes the Seven “…back to its simple design roots” we do wonder how much simpler the Seven can be than it already is. But Caterham say the new Seven will be probably the most fuel efficient car they produce with a new EU-6 compliant engine providing accessible fun for ‘under £17k’.