98-02 Mercedes Benz E300, E320 W210 Cd 6 Disc Changer A 0028207989 on 2040-parts.com

The no-show cars: a reader rant on mad concepts

Instigated by Harley Earl at General Motors in the late 30s with the quaintly named Buick Y-Job, show cars, or concept cars, were presented to an excited public eager for new things. As the world recovered from a depression and then a war, these vehicles pointed to a better future that many people believed in, including the people who produced them. And, although many of the concept cars of the 50s, with their Jetsons plexiglass roofs and notional nuclear powered engines seem ludicrous now, in their time they weren’t that cynical.

Subaru BRZ: First official BRZ picture

Subaru BRZ - First Photo Released We’ve had a raft of images of the Toyota FT-86 in the last week or two, but very little on its Subaru sibling – the Subaru BRZ. But now, with the Tokyo Motor Show and the official debut of the BRZ (and the FT-86) looming, we have the first photo of the Subaru offering in the Toybaru project. Developed by Subaru and Toyota – with, it seems, Subaru doing the oily bits and Toyota the styling – the ‘affordable’ sports car from Japan does seem to be a tempting offering.

Jaguar to offer 4WD across its range – but does that mean for the UK too?

Jaguar has revealed it plans to offer all wheel drive models across its range for future models, but will the UK get the chance to buy a 4WD Jaguar? Not only was the lack of a four wheel drive platform hampering sales, but it was cited as one of the main reasons Jaguar hadn’t given the green light to an XF Estate. But things have moved on in the last couple of years and Jaguar has recently launched a 4WD XJ and 4WD XF (although not for the UK) and finally delivered the XF Sportbrake (but without a 4WD option).