King Kt 70 Transponder on 2040-parts.com

Electric cars must get noisier, ICE cars must get quieter

Electric cars will have to make a noise to protect pedestrians It’s four years since the Lotus solution for making electric cars noisy raised its head, since when the US has had a go at the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act in 2010 to do the same thing, the Japanese are playing too, and Toyota revealed the Prius Vehicle Notification System, and now the EU has decided its time to act to make EVs emit ‘noise’. Despite the most appealing part of an EV being that it makes our cities quieter, legislators worry about the blind, partially sighted and distracted pedestrian (think earphones and a Smartphone) being mowed down by a stalking electric car and feel the need to act. So the European Parliament has decided that by 2019 new models of electric vehicle will have to make a noise in cities, and that by 2021 all new hybrids and electrics must be noisy too.

BMW M5 30th Anniversary Edition (2014) first official pictures

By Ben Pulman First Official Pictures 07 May 2014 15:02 BMW is marking the 30th anniversary of the M5 by building the most powerful ever version of its legendary super-saloon. The BMW M5 ‘30 Jahre M5’ has an extra 39bhp from a tweaked version of its 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8, plus there’s a smattering of special trim and anniversary badging, and just 300 will be built. Apparently ‘this power boost has been achieved through carefully calculated tweaks to the engine management and an increase in charge pressure’.

Peugeot 207 S16 announced

Peugeot has revealed the slightly shouty Peugeot 207 S16 The last few days new from Peugeot has been all about the Toyota recall mess and having to drag in a pile of 106s for the sticky throttle fix.  So it’s nice to report a new car from Peugeot instead (particularly if you’re in to boy-racer Peugeots) with a limited edition Peugeot 207 on offer. Peugeot has announced the Peugeot 207 S16 to celebrate its domination of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge for the last three years, and of Kris Meeke in winning the 2009 IRC drivers’ title.