The Mugen 200 will also feature 19 inch ‘Lightning’ alloys, Mugen badges and a unique Mugen number plate, as well as Honda’s latest 201PS i-VTEC engine, which means it’ll have quite a lot of kick for a small car.

As its name implies, the Honda Civic Mugen 200 will be limited to just 200 cars and will be available in April. Orders will be taken for the car from Honda dealerships in March, which is when the price will be announced too.

Though it surely won’t be cheap, this model will doubtlessly be fought over by small car and Honda Civic enthusiasts. Maybe Honda will be nice to us and let us review one.

Thanks to the new MINI website you can navigate around a fun interactive application that allows you to tailor the look of your new car both inside and out. On the roof you can have a choice of lettering, stripes, a chequered flag and the good old Union Jack.

Elsewhere you can add an aerodynamic body kit, additional headlights and various choices of handles wheels and mirrors.

Inside the highlight of the options is a MINI portable sat nav which incorporates route planner, bluetooth, hands free kit and MP3 player all in one, plus a choice of trims.

It’s all about extending the MINI’s brand image of fun, cool, chic; of making your car as individual as you are. These customised MINI parts and accessories may not be to everyone’s taste, but they help retain the fresh style that is so crucial to the car’s appeal.

To play around with the designs on offer you can log onto the accessories section of the MINI UK website.

Details, at the moment, are sketchy, but early indications suggest it’s likely to be much along the same lines as the concept hybrid which went on display at the Frankfurt Motor Show last year.

Great things are expected of this new Lexus. It is an up and coming market. Customers are increasingly look for smaller, more fuel efficient, cars and Lexus wants a piece of the action. As it continues to probe new sectors of the market 2010 looks set to be the year when this normally ever so sensible manufacturer goes on the offensive.

Owners of small SUVs had reason to feel smug this winter. As Britain shivered beneath a blanket of snow, suddenly they had a good reason for using a 4×4 for the school run. True the school in question was normally closed, but they could certainly get there.

Honda has tweaked various areas to make it ever so slightly better than the model we’ve come to know, and in some cases love. There is improved suspension, better insulation and new 17 inch wheels all designed to improve ride comfort.

The crown of best small SUV car is likely to be keenly fought this year, with a plethora of new contenders on the scene. With these updates the new Honda can hope to mix it with the best.

Most importantly, the car has been built in Honda’s plant in Swindon, which makes it British (kind of).

The German manufacturer is extremely eager for people to keep using BMW servicing rather than independents. To help its cause it is actively pushing its inclusive servicing offers with all of the new models.

In short this allows you to make a single advance payment which covers you for the first five years or 60,000 miles, whichever comes first. It might seem like a big expense in the short term, but you will at least know the servicing costs in advance.

On top of that you get the reassurance that yours will remain a genuine BMW with genuine parts throughout the course of its life.

There is a healthy trade worldwide for faked auto parts. Even reputable mechanics can be taken in as they’re often packaged and sold as the genuine article. The only answer, says BMW, is to make sure you stick with genuine BMW services throughout the car’s life span.

Sitting a fair bit higher than many would expect from a MINI and for the first time boasting five doors, the new Countryman is certainly a different design from the trusty MINI we all know and love and swears blind that it offers a genuine carrying capacity of four adults, but it’s still the good old MINI at heart.

Offering both front and four-wheel drive options, the Countryman offers the ideal solution for those who want the MINI look but need that bit more space and ruggedness, whether it’s for off road driving or the school run.

The MINI Countryman is set to debut at around £17,000 at the Geneva motor show this spring.

Honda aren’t the only manufacturer to be entering this particular part of the market. Nissan are also targeting the global small car platform with the new model of their Micra; it seems that cars which are cheap enough to manufacture and sell to emerging markets but are also sophisticated enough for Western markets are the new target for many manufacturers in the small car market.

Offering a design and build quality which will remind owners of the higher end of the Lexus brand, but at a price more fitting an entry level car, the HS 250h is a high quality machine, blending economy on the price and economy on the fuel usage with the quality and prestige that drivers have come to expect from the Lexus brand.

With a 2.4 litre petrol section combined with the electrical propulsion unit and a purported fuel rating of 5.6L/100km city; 5.9L/100km hwy, this new model is the affordable, compact way to get the Lexus name and quality while being kinder to the planet. Due to the size of the car, there are obviously some compromises which have had to be made on the inside; it doesn’t quite offer the luxurious space of the higher-end Lexus models, but for a small car with hybrid economy, it’s certainly a compromise worth making.

MINI aficionados are notoriously difficult to please when it comes to alterations to the classic design and the Beachcomber is the biggest modification in recent memory. With both soft and hard top options due to be made available, this new MINI will be suitable even if it’s not beach weather which, let’s be honest, it rarely is here in the UK.

As divisive as this design is sure to be, it’s hard to imagine the MINI Beachcomber not finding a niche and becoming popular with a number of people; we’ll find out in the New Year when it goes on general release.

The Concept ActiveE is the latest piece to roll out of BMW’s Project i campaign, which is dedicated to creating low-emission city cars and follows the MINI electric car out of the door and promises “CO2-free Mobility”.

The company were mocked when they left Formula One in order to dedicate the resources to their Green R&D, but the decision seems to be paying off: with the range of exciting hardware coming out of the company lately, including the Concept ActiveE, the cleaner, greener Beamer seems to be becoming a reality.