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Watch these Australian Ford and Holden muscle cars duke it out

Australia's Motoring has put together a little video on two of the great performance vehicles available down under - the Holden VF Commodore HSV GTS and the Ford Falcon FPV GT R-Spec. And while both FPV and the Falcon might be on their way out, there's still plenty of time for a little head-to-head comparison between the two.
The cars aren't all that well evenly matched, though. The Ford boasts a 5.0-liter, supercharged V8, which the Aussies measure out at 449 horsepower and 420 pound-feet of torque. The HSV, though, with its Corvette-derived, 6.2-liter, supercharged V8 is just too powerful - 576 hp and 545 lb-ft of torque.
Predictably, it doesn't end too well for the Ford. As the guys from Motoring point out, the new VF Commodore is just too new and too good, with its extra power and its adaptive dampers (GM's excellent MagnaRide). Interestingly, Motoring did point out that the Holden's electric steering is better than the Ford's hydraulic steering, which is a lot like a Porsche purist saying they prefer water-cooled engines to air cooled.

2014 Ford Fusion to get 1.5L EcoBoost three-cylinder?

Just one year after launching the all-new 2013 Fusion, Ford is reportedly set to alter the sedan's powertrain lineup with the addition of a new 1.5-liter turbocharged three-cylinder EcoBoost engine. A member of Blue Oval Forums apparently got their hands on the ordering guide for the 2014 model year Fusion, and this 1.5-liter mill is set to be introduced with late availability.
This lines up with other news about the Chinese-market Mondeo being offered with a new 1.5-liter EcoBoost - a derivative of the 1.0-liter triple that will come to North America under the hood of the Fiesta (note: the 1.0 is also offered in the current Euro-spec Mondeo). In the Chinese application, the larger three-pot engine produces 177 horsepower and 177 pound-feet of torque, which is very close to the current 1.6-liter inline-four's output numbers of 178 hp and 184 lb-ft.
What's interesting, however, is that the 1.6-liter engine will reportedly still be offered in the Fusion, but only with the six-speed manual transmission. The smaller 1.5-liter EcoBoost will only be mated to a six-speed SelectShift automatic, and will feature start/stop. This means that while the 1.5 is slightly down on power compared to the 1.6, it could easily improve fuel economy numbers, allowing the Fusion to regain the title of having the best mileage in the segment, likely besting the 38 miles per gallon of the Nissan Altima. Currently, the Fusion 1.6 is rated at 23 mpg city and 36 mpg highway.

Ken Block walks you through his new 'Hoonigan Racing' HQ

Ken Block seems like one hell of a nice guy. I ran into him at CES this past January, and he dropped the video games he was playing to chat with me for a while. His crew also recently gave our Steve Ewing a tour of the offices you're about to see on this video. Good guy to know.
As it turns out, they're some fairly cool new digs. Dubbed 'Hoonigan Racing Division HQ,' the office is open to Ford Focus ST and Fiesta ST owners who attend the driving program offered out at Miller Motorsports Park. The very same program that Ewing reported on just recently.
Or, if you've no plans to buy an ST or travel to Utah any time soon, you can let Block show you around himself in this MTV Cribs-style video. With interior decorating that relies heavily on shipping containers and luxurious amenities like a ping pong table, 10 refrigerators and a bear(?), there's no lack of eye-candy in the driverly HQ. (Judging by Block's outfit, you'll probably not go thirsty if you're a Monster drinker, either.) Take the tour along with the Gymkhana master, below.