45,000 complain about used car buys

USED CARS bought from independent dealers drew the highest number of complaints from disgruntled consumers in the last year, according to new figures. Citizens Advice has called on retailers to display consumer rights information at checkouts after more than half a million people complained about shoddy products worth £3.5 billion in the last year. Figures show 45,000 used car buyers lodged a complaint in the year to February, followed by 12,000 regarding mobile phone contracts and 11,500 about repairs by an independent garage.

New Opel Monza Concept at Frankfurt 2013 signals a new big coupe from Vauxhall

The Opel Monza (1980s Monza pictured) will make a return at Frankfurt There was a time, for those not old enough to remember, when mainstream car makers produced big saloons and coupes. But no more. With very few (low-selling) exceptions, car makers like Vauxhall and Ford have given up their full-sized saloons and downsized, with SUVs of varying sizes now seen as the real future.

BMW X5 trio spied testing near Spartanburg

Autoweek reader J. Monroe spotted a camouflaged BMW X5 convoy somewhere on Interstate 26, which just so happens to run near the German automaker's Spartanburg, S.C., plant (one of the X5's production sites). Despite a strategic application of BMW's dazzling, swirly vinyl wrap, the lines of these X5s were identical to those on the models available now.