Gearwrench 9040 1-7/16" Jumbo Combination Ratcheting Wrench 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.

SEMA 2008 show report: Mercedes GLK

By Ben Whitworth First Official Pictures 04 November 2008 10:30 Mercedes set an all but impossible challenge for tuners at this year’s SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) show in Las Vegas – to turn its gut-wrenchingly ugly GLK off-roader, which makes its formal American debut at the show, into something desirable and cool. The best four submissions – the Brabus Widestar, Urban Whip, Pikes Peak Rally Racer and Rock Crawler - were displayed at SEMA. And presumably scared a lot of showgoers senseless.

Ford Fiesta – Good. Fiesta advertising – not so good.

The billboard on a US Fiesta Display (click for bigger image) We have to hand it to Ford. They have handled the introduction of the Fiesta to the US market in a very clever, 21st century way. Their Fiesta Movement campaign paid big dividends and delivered a record level of awareness for a relatively unknown little car in the land of the V8 gas guzzler.