The good oil: Tesco petrol pump malfunctions

Volkswagen importer European Motor Distributors says it's looking at adding a wagon to its Golf lineup. The practical, roomy and nicely styled small wagon will join the Australian range early next year, with a choice of petrol and diesel engines. New Zealand boss Dean Sheed says it's actively being considered for our market and suggested it could be configured and priced to appeal to fleets. Also confirmed is the Golf R, replacing the much-liked high-performance R32, likely to be priced in the early $70,000s. It'll be joined by a hot Scirocco R coupe mid-year.

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So you think suggestions to lower the speed limit on Tamaki Drive is outrageous? Over in the UK, vehicle drivers could soon be made legally responsible for any accident involving a cyclist, even if they are not at fault. Cycling England, an agency funded by the Transport Department, wants civil law changed so drivers or their insurer would automatically be liable for compensation claims. The proposal is modelled on regulations in the Netherlands, Denmark, and Germany, each heavily skewed in favour of cyclists. Even in cases where a crash results from illegal or dangerous manoeuvres by the cyclist, the driver is usually blamed.

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Still in Blighty, a Cambridgeshire Tesco petrol station was swamped with cars after a malfunctioning pump began selling petrol at less than half price - for nearly a week. Despite queues stretching around a nearby roundabout and causing traffic jams, it took staff six days to realise what was happening.

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Holden's adding a Captiva five-seater SUV later this year to compete directly against Toyota's RAV4, the Honda CR-V and Hyundai Tucson. Powered by a 2.4-litre four-cylinder engine and available as a 2WD with manual transmission or a 4WD with automatic, the Korean-built car will be available from $33,490.

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A Canadian taxi driver is heading to court to keep family photos, flags and religious objects on his car's dashboard in violation of a Montreal rule intended to keep cabs tidy. Arieh Perecowicz, 65, says he spends 15 hours a day driving passengers and in more than 40 years hasn't had a customer complain about the dashboard add-ons. Even so, he has been fined a total of $1800 by the taxi bureau for refusing to remove his things.

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Good Oil pleads guilty to not always being the most, um, economical of drivers, so it was quite remarkable to return a new Subaru diesel Outback after not sparing the rod and getting an overall fuel consumption of exactly 7 litres/100km. That's not quite as good as the official 6.4 litres/100km overall, but far better than Oil gets from some vehicles whose real-world consumption goes way over the manufacturer's figure. Subaru is sometimes criticised for the fuel consumption of its boxer engines, but this new kid in town knows the difference between sip and gulp.

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The 2010 range of new cars in the US is 6.6 per cent "greener" than the 2009 model years, according to new data. The top 10 are Chevrolet (20.3 per cent improvement), GMC (15.3), Mercedes-Benz (13.6), Lexus (13.2), Mercury (11.6), Kia (11.0), Ford (10.4), Acura (8.0), Volkswagen (8.0) and Suzuki (7.7).