Legacy Lcg90252 Digital Oil Control Valve on 2040-parts.com

Electric cars amped up with £500 million boost

THE GOVERNMENT is to extend the £5,000 grant scheme open to anyone who buys a car with plug-in electric power. It is part of a £500 million move to encourage car owners – and city authorities – to take up the electric car baton and run with it. The initiative will give cities a chance to win government funding to further the sales of electric cars in their areas, for example by allowing them to use bus lanes or park for free.

Concept Car of the Week: Mercury El Gato (1970)

Of all the brands that marked American automobile history, Mercury had never been the most popular or the most loved, which ultimately led to its demise in 2011 when Ford chose to terminate the brand. To be fair only a handful of Mercury models are worth remembering: the 1950 Mercury Eight iconic base for custom cars, the 1955 Montclair, the Mustang-based Cougar, the Marauder X-100, the evil Cyclone Spoiler. However one of their coolest creations is fairly unknown mostly due its short concept car life: El Gato, in Spanish translating as "The Cat".

Yearly driving costs rise 3.4 percent

This won't be a surprise to anyone--it's costing more to own and drive a car. Higher prices for fuel and tires, and a larger drop in the resale value of cars, pushed the average cost of owning a sedan to $8,776 a year, according to AAA of Heathrow, Fla. That's up 3.4 percent from a year ago.