Edelbrock 70060 Nitrous Plate Kit on 2040-parts.com

Aston Martin Rapide S arrives with 550 horses

Aston Martin is replacing the four-door Rapide with the Rapide S, which gets minor styling tweaks and extra power. Just as they did with the new DB9, Aston Martin has made the new Rapide S a more aggressive car, with small styling tweaks like a new grill and a small spoiler at the back, some minor trim tweaks with the addition of Piano Black trim and a new duotone black and red leather trim, and an optional carbon fibre pack for exterior highlights. Under the skin, the Rapide S is still based on Aston’s VH platform, but it does get the latest Gen 4 tweaks including new adaptive dampers with Normal, Sport and Track modes, tweaked dynamic stability control (DSC) and the latest AM11 engine dropped by 19mm for a lower centre of gravity.

Honda CR-Z – production ready at Detroit

Honda has revealed the production-ready CR-Z at the Detroit Motor Show Honda are very keen to catch up with Toyota in the hybrid car wars. The Honda Insight was their answer to the Prius (although better looking it was even more woeful to drive than the Prius) and Honda are now looking to move in to the ‘Sporty’ Hybrid market with the Honda CR-Z. Honda revealed the CR-Z back in October at the Tokyo Motor Show, and did the usual new model think of labeling it as a concept.

Alfa Romeo MiTo Maserati – the courtesy car

The Alfa Romeo MiTo Maserati - the Maserati courtesy car As you’ll know if you read here regularly, we like the Alfa Romeo MiTo. Sure, it has its faults (what car doesn’t) but it’s very stylish, remarkably well put together (certainly for an Alfa), fun to drive and holds its value well (which is a real first for Alfa Romeo). But it’s not necesarily the sort of car that would register on the radar of the average Maserati owner.