London, Aug 31 : A curry restaurant owner in Sheffield, London, has been shot dead at the wheel of his car in what is believed to have been a planned assassination.

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Filed under: Spy Photos, Sedan, Volkswagen

After spending time with the Jetta sedan last year, we came away mostly impressed by its performance and looks. V-Dub’s bread-and-butter model is handsome enough to keep buyers interested, but every design gets stale and after wearing the same duds since 2004, VW is working on all-new sheetmetal for the 2011 model year.

KPG caught the new Jetta Sedan undergoing hot-weather testing in Arizona, and while most of the shots show little more than swaths of black camo, the heat and wind worked away at the adhesive to reveal crisper lines, a swoopier roof, a more angled rear side window and some snazzy looking taillights.

VW is calling the revised Jetta its “New Compact Sedan” and the Jetta name is in no danger of being changed. Expect the 2011 Jetta to take aim at the Civic and Corolla with a significant drop in its base price when it goes on sale late next year.

Spy Shots: 2011 VW Jetta Sedan originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Etc., Government/Legal

Ever wonder what actually goes into determining the rated fuel economy of a new car or truck? Anyone with a vehicle that’s failed to live up to its EPA estimated figures would surely fit into that camp – especially if the car or truck were purchased in large part to its high mileage rating – and you can add our names to that list as well. As it turns out, the process is every bit as as complicated as we’d expect.

Car and Driver recently hung out at the EPA’s testing facility near the Motor City, and some highly intriguing bits of information were gleaned. For instance, C/D says that just 15 percent of new cars get tested by the EPA each year for fuel efficiency, and the rest get their ratings from testing performed by the manufacturer using the government agency’s guidelines. It’s reportedly rare that the EPA’s figures vary greatly from the numbers provided by the manufacturer, but if they do, discussions and negotiations ensue.

There are a total of five tests performed to measure expected fuel efficiency, some dating all the way back to the late Seventies. More recent protocols are a bit more complex and require specialized facilities that can cost up to $10 million dollars by EPA estimates. There’s plenty more to the story, so click here to read the full four-page report. Hat tip to Julio!

[Source: Car and Driver]

C/D drills down to find out what goes into EPA fuel economy ratings originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mount Wilson Observatory in California is in danger of being set alight by forest fires that are ravaging the mountains north of Los Angeles.

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Filed under: Etc.

Thanks to modern technologies like ignition keys with embedded chips and factory installed security immobilizers, it’s getting harder and harder to steal new cars. As a result, the number of cars and trucks stolen in the United States dropped by 13.1 percent in 2008 compared to 2007, a trend that has been continuing for five years. Total thefts for the year could actually end up under 1 million for the first time in 20 years.

Owners of older cars on the other hand aren’t so lucky. One of the main driving factors behind car thefts is to strip the vehicles and sell the parts. The main market for those parts is older, high volume vehicles, so the same vehicles are the ones that tend to get stolen. The top ten stolen vehicles for 2008 includes a couple of surprises and a bunch of perennial hits. Check out the whole list by clicking the image above.

[Source: SmartBrief | Photo by stephenyeargin | CC 2.0]

Continue reading Top Ten Stolen Vehicles of 2008

Top Ten Stolen Vehicles of 2008 originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Two of the three largest US tobacco companies have filed suit to block marketing restrictions in the US.

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Refugees that fled to China to escape fighting in Myanmar are now trailing home.

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African Union chairman and Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has told participants of an African group that Israel’s presence in the region is one of its greatest threats.

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The commander of Western forces in Afghanistan has described the situation there as "grave."

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The Palestinian group Hamas has slammed the United Nations over supposed plans to teach Gaza Strip children about the Holocaust.

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