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For those who intend to buy an Opel Astra 1.6 Turbo, you may want to hold off your purchase for a while. This is because the brand's latest 1.6-litre SIDI turbo petrol engine is now available on the five-door hatchback, four-door sedan and Sports Tourer versions of the Astra. The new engine will replace the existing 1.6-litre Ecotec turbocharged unit. The new range topper makes 168bhp and 280Nm of torque, which is 10bhp less but 50Nm more than its predecessor. In addition, torque availability has dropped from 2,200rpm to just 1,650rpm. The engine is available with either a new six-speed manual gearbox or a low-friction six-speed automatic transmission. The fuel consumption of the new engine is and improved 14 percent over its predecessor and is rated at 5.9L/100km (according to the New European Driving Cycle) for the hatchback and sedan. The five-door Astra 1.6 SIDI Turbo sprints from 0 to 100 km/h in 8.7 seconds, which is 0.3 seconds faster than the current 1.6 Turbo. However, it is still 0.3 seconds slower than its arch rival, the Golf Sport.

Back in December last year, I wrote about the resurgence of several British sports car manufacturers and one of them is Atalanta Motors. Details were little back then but a recent launch of the new car provided more details about the revival. The event was held at the Royal Automobile Club on 05 March 2012, exactly 75 years when the original Atalanta Sports Tourer was introduced in 1937 by its founder Neil Watson. This revival project is a joint venture between restorer Trevor Farrington and motoring enthusiast Martyn Corfield, who purchased the Atalanta name. Both Corfield and Farrington designed a new Atalanta Sports Tourer that combines modern engineering and the classic lines of the original car. At the launch, Corfield spoke about the history of the marque and highlighted some of the innovative technologies which the original Atalanta models featured. The revived company uses modern technology to enhance performance and safety, while the 1930s English sports car styling is retained including the tall and narrow tyres so as to give a good driver