2013 facelift for the Mercedes E Class & Estate revealed

The 2013 Mercedes E Class and E Class Estate get a facelift with updates to the styling and engines and higher levels of equipment. The restyling of the 2013 E-Class is surprisingly comprehensive for what amounts to a mid-life facelift, with new single headlights replacing the old split lights, new grill – with the choice of a traditional grill or a sporty version (think SLC grill) – new bumpers, new bonnet, smoother haunches and a crease line down the side all the way to the new LED tail lights. Inside, the new E Class gets two part trim the extends right across the dash in either wood (if you’re old) or aluminium (if you’re not), new analogue clock in the middle between the air vents, new instrument cluster, new air vents, new centre console  and new steering wheel with a Direct Select lever and flappy paddles.

New Bentley Continental GT Speed hits 205mph (video)

With the new Bentley Continental GT Speed about to get its public debut at the Moscow Motor Show we have new video of the GT Speed hitting 205mph. We had the news this morning that the Bentley Continental GT and GTC are both getting the new 8-speed ZF gearbox to make them both quicker and more economical, a new feature for the W12 engined Bentleys that’s also shared by the new Continental GT Speed. The GT Speed is due to get its public debut at the Moscow Motor Show next week, and as a bit of a PR trailer for its public debut Bentley has released new video of the GT Speed doing what it does very well – going quickly.

UK Car Insurance Company reports buyers downsizing

Swinton Insurance claim quote requests for bigger cars are down 20% Swinton say that it has seen an increase of 25% in quote requests for smaller engined cars in the last six months and a decrease of 20% in car insurance quotes for cars over 1.8 litres (which, short of the big-engined cars being scrapped begs the question: What’s happened to the big-engined cars? Did they just disappear, or are they just not being insured?). But this got us thinking.