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NEW YORK (AP):The recession and its hangover may have turned bill-paying habits upside down. Cash-strapped Americans are paying off their car loans before they pay credit-card bills and make mortgage payments, a study finds.

Rivalry has always fuelled exciting racing, and that is what is anticipated at the Palisadoes International Raceway in Kingston today, when Campion College schoolboy Thomas Issa faces off with his opponents in the Rotax Junior Class.

On Friday as the Automobile Dealers Association (ADA) Motor Show made its long-heralded return, unusually heavy rainfall soaked parts of the capital - including the National Arena on Arthur Wint Drive, indoor venue for the display of new cars.

Meeting the 2012 M-Class Mercedes head-on can be intimidating, given the aggressive aura generated by its bold, impressive look. But after getting past the 19-inch wheels, it was the interior of the new vehicle that really grabbed attention at last Wednesday's unveiling...

The crash-test dummy is the contraption simulating a human body used to scientifically test the results of a vehicle's impact under controlled conditions. A Canadian rock and folk music band has also named itself the Crash Test Dummies, one of its more popular releases being Superman's Song from the 1991 album The Ghosts That Haunt Me.

It has been five years since the last Automobile Dealers Association (ADA) Motor Show and next weekend the new car-dealers organisation plans to return big.

WASHINGTON (AP):Beware of car-dealer ads that promise to pay off the loan on your trade-in.

A trip across the island will take the traveller along roadways with definitions like avenue, boulevard, lane and terrace, among others, attached to the name. Matthew's Lane in Kingston and Parke Lane in St Andrew, Bustamante Highway in Clarendon and Ken Jones Highway in Portland, Michael Manley Boulevard in Portland....

About six or seven years ago, Randolph Cheeks Jr bought what he thought was his ideal car. "This was the first time I had a bit of money together and was in a position to buy a really decent ride," he said. "I lived very prudently for a while, putting together the money."

Western Bureau:The highly anticipated JamWest drag-racing event, which took place over last weekend in Little London, Westmoreland, was quite a thrill for fans who turned out in large numbers to witness fast motor vehicles battle on the speedway.

Jaguar chose the extra day in the leap year, last Wednesday, to reveal details details and the first images of the XF Sportbrake, a aersatile derivative of the multi award-winning XF saloon.