Fel-pro 60743 Throttle Body Base Gasket on 2040-parts.com

Driven: Volkswagen Passat CC GT

Elegant and refined. Forty years ago these two words would not have been used to describe the Beetles bought in droves by the counterculture in the US; a symbol of the hippy movement and the definitive people's car, designed at a time when Germany sought to put people in motion. With the Passat CC, however, Volkswagen is indeed making a sharp move away from the ‘volks wagen', and these two words rolled off the tongues of those who saw the car in all three countries we drove through on our winter holiday.

Aston Martin V8 Vantage N430 and DB9 Carbon for 2014 Geneva Motor Show

Aston Martin will show off special new versions of the V8 Vantage and the DB9 at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show in March. The updates to the two model ranges are very different in character, however. The V8 Vantage N430 is a race-inspired special with more power and less weight – not to mention a somewhat shouty paint job – while the DB9 Carbon Black and Carbon White models are intended to bring a little extra luxury and style to the British marque’s Grand Touring model.

Seat opens new Global Design Center

Seat has opened its new Global Design Center, located within the Technical Center close to its manufacturing operations in Martorell, near Barcelona. A week of opening celebrations culminated with an event on Nov 8 for designers from the fields of architecture, fashion, industry, advertising, communication, art and photography, as well as specialised design media. More than 130 attendees were able to stroll around the Seat Design Center facilities in an informal and relaxed atmosphere.