Wagner H5649 Front Disc Hardware Kit on 2040-parts.com

Small but safe: the Fiat 500

By Ben Pulman Motor Industry 31 August 2007 10:29 Fiat’s new baby, the 500, has just achieved a full five-star Euro NCAP rating for adult safety. The 500's score of 35 points puts it ahead of cars like the Mini and Renault Clio while the 500’s closest rival, the Renault Twingo, only achieved four stars in the latest tests. The 500’s 35 points bettered the Twingo’s 28, as did its 14 point to the Renault’s 11 for pedestrian safety (though both ratings are equivalent to two stars).

Watch the Weather Channel Tornado Hunt SUV find its target

A chase crew from the Weather Channel drove its GM SUVs directly into the path of an oncoming violent tornado Friday, resulting in this dramatic video from inside what appears to be a Chevrolet Suburban being tossed across the Oklahoma plains like a child's toy. Meteorologist Mike Bettes and his colleagues escaped relatively unharmed thanks at least in part to seatbelts and airbags, but the team will need to visit their local Chevy dealer for some minor repairs prior to heading out on another chase.

First Sight: Holden VE Commodore and Statesman

GM Holden last week launched its biggest program ever, the $1 billion all-new Holden VE Commodore range. Designed at Holden's Port Melbourne design center, the 4th generation Commodore is the first all-new model of the series to be fully designed and engineered in Australia. Previous generations of Commodore since 1978 have always been based on lengthened and widened Opel large car platforms of the day but since the demise of the European Omega in 2003, GM lacked a suitable rear-wheel-drive donor platform for a new Commodore, hence the clean sheet approach for the latest VE model.