Vetus Zink02 Bow Thruster Zinc on 2040-parts.com

2014 Kia Forte sedan pricing set at $16,700

UPDATED: The base 2014 Kia Forte sedan will cost $16,700 including destination when it goes on sale next month, fitting slightly below its compact competitors. Kia is touting the 2014 Forte as the least expensive in its class, and the compact sedan does in fact cost $80 less than the redesigned 2013 Nissan Sentra at $16,780, $90 less than the new 2013 Dodge Dart at $16,790 and $225 less than the 2013 Ford Focus sedan at $16,995. The new price is a slight increase from the 2013 model, which cost $16,175 after shipping charges.

VW & Audi sell 100,000 diesel cars in the USA for the first time

VW & Audi sell 100,000 diesel cars in the USA for the first time Until very recently, a diesel engined car in the USA was as rare as hen’s teeth; Americans felt much the same as we used to about diesel-engined cars – fit only for commercial vehicles. But from a slow start, VW Group of America is gradually changing the mindset of American car buyers and now, 36 years after the first VW diesel was sold in the US, the VW Group have sold more than 100,000 diesel-engined cars in the USA in a year for the first time. With 12 Audi and VW diesel models on offer in the States – including new arrivals Audi arrivals like the Audi Q5 TDI, A6 TDI, A7 TDI and A8 TDI models – its seems the USA may now be heading down the route the UK went a few years ago, where a majority of car buyers in the UK feel the default buy is a diesel.

BMW Alpina D3 BiTurbo – a great diesel

The BMW Alpina D3 BiTurbo - a brilliant, quick and economical everyday drive Alpina has turned out some stunning versions of the BMW range over the years (and some not so stunning – their 8 Series springs to mind) and they fill a gap that is either not profitable in small volume for BMW or, in some cases, a hole that BMW hasn’t plugged. And this one is a good hole to fill with the BMW Alpina D3 Bi-Turbo, a 3 Series diesel with the heart of a hot hatch. Alpina has taken the engine out of the 1 Series 123d and given it a boost to 240bhp, in the process dropping the 0-60 time to a very creditable 6.9 seconds But it’s not the sprint that count,  but the way this peppy diesel unit delivers it.