Topgear News

Hyundai has added a special edition Tucson Xenith to its SUV range.

The six-speed 2-litre common-rail turbodiesel Xentih features the full leather interior, heated front seats, ABS with EBD, remote locking with alarm and air conditioning with climate control of the Tucson CDX and adds a range of exclusive extras.

The New Hyundai Tucson Xenith includes colour-coded side mouldings and bumpers; rear privacy glass; two-tone leather and Alcantara upholstery; birds-eye black maple wood effect trim; leather and alloy sports gear knob and 19” multi spoke alloy wheels with polished rims.

The Xenith is priced at £20,670 OTR this highly equipped model is in the showrooms now.

With the end of production of the Ford StreetKa in 2005 and the Escort Convertible in 1997 Ford have not had a presence in the growing coupe-cabriolet market.

All that has now been remedied with the two-door, four-seat, Ford Focus Coupe-Cabriolet which is now in dealer showrooms.

Sales officially started at the beginning of this year with some 600 units already with customers but it is only now that he models are becoming readily available in time for Summer… Read the rest of this article at MotorTorque here)

The new Citroën C4 Picasso has arrived at dealerships this weekend. The new car has 5 seats and is different from the seven seater Picasso. The new C4 has rear windows that wrap around to the back doors of the car. The extra glass window allows a wider range of vision out of the back of the car, meaning that parking should be easier.

The three back seats slide and tilt independently and the car also comes with a six speed gearbox and the choice of manual or automatic. The car is also said to be comfortable and have a reasonable amount of space inside.

Research from the UK TyreSafe Organisation has found that pressure washers can damage the sidewalls of tyres in only 5 seconds.

Pressure washers are commonly used by hand car washes for speed, but the research has shown that after just 5 seconds, there can be damage to the sidewall and degradation. The tyre damage can be even worse if the water is heated or if the pressurized water is aimed at the tyre for some time. The results of damaged tyres can be blow-outs which have been known to cause serious accidents.

The research showed that over 80% of drivers were unaware of the damage that pressure washers can cause to tyres.

Toyota has recently released details of the new Yaris SR 1.8 to the Yaris range. The new model will be at the top of the Yaris range and will have 130 horsepower making it capable of 0-60 in 9.3 second - on average, the new Yaris does 39 miles per gallon.

The new Yaris comes with 17 inch alloy wheels, fog lights, roof spoiler, sports seats, leather wrapped steering wheel and aluminum interior trim. The new Yaris also comes with either three or five doors. No details yet as to the costs.

Kumho tyres will be the new sponsor of the British Rallycross Championships and is set to be the main sponsor for the next three years. They will also be supplying tyres to the teams – the teams will have the chance to try out the new tyres in a test session on the 31st March.

The first race in the Kumho Tyres brc British Rallycross Champoinship will be at Lydden on Easter Monday (the 9th April). It will also be the 40th anniversary of the first rallycross event held at Lydden and stars from rallycross past and present are expected to attend. There will also be a classic rallycross to mark the anniversary.

New F1 rules state that Bridgestone have to mark the softer of the tyres in use over race weekends so that spectators can see which teams are using which tyres. However, after the Australian Grand Prix this weekend, the 3cm white circle on the softer of the tyres in use for each race cannot be seen when the cars are moving at speed. This means that several of the critics were right and that the white circle does indeed merge with the Bridgestone logo on the tyres when they are moving at speed.