Car Throttle

Company executives through the ages have all possessed the almighty skill of making ordinarily exciting news sound mundane and clinical. This is less of a sweeping statement and more of a simple fact of life. Imagine my surprise then when, in front of a room full of journalists on the Barcelona launch of Toyota's new flagship sports coupé, the Chief Engineer of the GT86 project - Mr Tetsuya Tada - dropped the F Bomb. Nope, not a profanity or dirty utterance but simply one word; fun. And here's why he's on the money. Sports coupé design has recently culminated in such cars as the Audi R8, Peugeot RCZ and Volkswagen Scirocco, all of which in my eyes are beautiful due to their many curves and lines, and also due to their subtle ferocity. With the GT86, first impressions are slightly jaded by the fairly non-jaw-dropping aesthetics. Sure the car has running LED lights and a rear wing but it's all subtle. Our test vehicle had a dark grey metallic finish specification which was slightly more difficult to photograph but glistened under the Mediterranean sun, however even with 17-inch dark accent aluminium wheels, it failed to draw much of a reaction from Catalan pavement-passers. But dig a little deeper and you'll begin

Making its debut this week is a potential sports version of SEAT's new city car, the Mii. It's not the first time we've seen a forthcoming pocket rocket from the VW Group city car trio, as Volkswagen have shown us a GT Up concept, but the chances are it won't be the last time we see one as we reckon Skoda will give the Citigo the vRS touch. We're hoping. SEAT's new Mii FR will be shown for the first time at an annual hot hatch event in Worthersee, Austria along with some one-offs from the Spanish manufacturer such as the new Ibiza Cupra concept and track versions of their popular hatchbacks. Changes on the outside include classic hot hatch trinkets such as side skirts and a bigger boot spoiler but unique touches include discreet black highlights on the wheel arches and, my personal favourite, those 16-inch razor sharp alloys finished in grey with a red outline around the wheel. The interior is much more bonkers than the standard car, which I like. The seats are two-tone black and red with huge FR Line logos in the centre. To further remind you what special SEAT you're in, there's even a giant FR Line logo stuck on the

What's better than driving five of Volvo UK's latest and greatest on a track in Wokingham? Try five Volvo cars on a track in Wokingham, three of which have been given the Polestar treatment, a professional driving school in the form of Ultimate Car Control, a former British Touring Car Champion giving you tips and a splash of rain to top things off. Jealous yet? Read on... The primary reason for our assembly in Berkshire, aside from a generous invitation from Volvo, was to take part in a course that usually runs for fleet drivers only. Dubbed "Excellence in Professional Driving" and run by Ultimate Car Control, the course offers total corporate compliance for businesses under UK Health and Safety Laws. If that sounds a bit too red-tape for your liking, then understand that this is something that will affect you if you're ever self-employed, driving a company car, or driving your own vehicle on business time. The aim of the day was to get us up to speed (pun definitely intended) on safety techniques that would help in ordinary, everyday driving circumstances and to navigate around the dangers that pop up. How you react to these dangers from behind the wheel can often be the difference between a life saved

The latest Mercedes roadster looks oodles more hairy-chested than it's predecessors. It's even more butch than the last car and comes with sprinkled cues from its bigger brother, the SLS, such as the more in-your-face grille and a mirrored interior design. This week, a well known celeb has been spotted pottering around town in one and this particular SLK ticks all the cool boxes. It has black alloys, obsidian black paint job, flared side skirts and LED daytime lights. The chances are it's owned by a bloke such as Peter Andre, Zac Efron, Bruno Mars or it even could be part of Wayne Rooney's car collection. Ah, Miss Carey, it's your SLK. Even though she is seen here in the passenger seat, it is definitely her car as the headrests have her trademark 'M' signatures neatly stitched on them. Apparently, it's her friend that is in the driver's seat taking her home from the shops. Of all the cars out there that celebrities get chauffeured in, Jaguar XJs, Maybachs and Rolls Royce Phantoms, I didn't expect to see the SLK as one of them. The baby Merc convertible is a car you're meant to drive yourself although, if I'm honest, I'm glad she's not applying make-up behind the wheel. At the same

He sells it by the bottle. And ships it by the crate. Yes, it's Professor Green, the man with a doctorate in UK grime. We recently got sent a few pictures of a rather tasty looking black Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG on set with Pro and were intrigued as to the video that'd be produced. Fortunately for us, the resulting video "Remedy" featuring Ruth Anne has just hit VEVO and as predicted, the C63 AMG Coupe has a starring role. The "story" is pretty simple - we follow Pro Green around East London as he parties hard with car in tow and girls and drinks on flow. Standard procedure. The video is shot at night so it's hard to make out exactly what kind of a beast the C63 AMG is. If you didn't already know, this monster is powered by a naturally aspirated 6.2-litre V8 which is capable of churning out 451bhp. As if that weren't enough for Pro, the car shoots to 62mph in 4.5 seconds. With 19" AMG alloys costing £1,550 the total set back would have been £57,000 for this ultra sporty 4 seater had the famous UK rapper been footing the bill. Fortunately we're sure it was a rather large bit of product placement for

Allow me to identify two random things that irritate and annoy me. One is Big Brother - the hopefully now-defunct 'social experiment' involving fame-hungry simpletons being spied on via the medium of television by people up past their bedtime. And the second - unfairly, ridiculously high car insurance premiums. Now, wouldn't it be just brilliant to combine those two entities into one steaming pile of rancid awfulness? Well, now you can, thanks to the emerging technology on telematics! Or is this actually not as bad as it seems..? Telematics is easy to get your head around, as you'll see from the video. And on the face of it, monitoring a driver and rating their insurance costs appropriately is a top idea. We know that uninsured drivers add about £30 to our annual renewal, and the misbehaving youth and elderly add about the same again. If we could properly document individual drivers, rather than stereotypes, the roads would get safer and we'd all have more cash to splash. That's the obvious and undeniable up side. I'm a skeptic though, and allow me to explore the nature of the down-sides that I'd want answering before some corporate-type screwed a spy-box into my pride-and-joy car. Firstly, if the system monitors driving style, where does its

There is one thing that the latest 1 Series will split opinion on. Let's get that straight first. Just like the last "1", the looks are controversial as you'll either love them or hate them and personally, I'm not a fan as the front end reminds me of a certain baddie from a very popular mobile app. Do you see the resemblance? Not so long ago, BMW created their first baby M car using a beefed up 1 Series coupe, E92 M3 wing mirrors, brakes and suspension, and a turbocharged straight six engine from the Z4 roadster. It was such a hit that our Ollie crowned it his car of the year in 2011. Sadly, it was only available in limited numbers and all of the UK editions are now sold out. Fret not Bimmer fans, as the mini monster is back. It's now called the M135i and it's the second car to join M's new line up, with the first being that crazy 5 series tri-turbo diesel estate, the M550d xDrive. As it's name will suggest to BMW eggheads, the M135i has a petrol engine. Specifically, it's the same twin-turbo 3 litre straight six engine used in the 640i coupe with 316bhp and 332lb ft

A wad of hundred dollar bills flew through the air, landing in the centre of the conference room table next to a yellowed Mitel conference phone. It was the start of a new month and the Dealer Principal was making what was to be our main focus quite clear. “You’ve got an entire row of used cars out there that haven’t moved in far too long,” he thundered at the sales staff. Producing a sheaf of papers from his jacket pocket, a list featuring about a dozen vehicles that had been on the lot approaching 100 days appeared. “These are all in Recon as we speak, getting turned into cream puffs. That cash goes to the person who sells the most off this list.” A bounty, then. Game on. I enjoyed selling second-hand vehicles off the lot, if for nothing else than earning the favorable commission when compared to most equivalent new models. Knowing the commission percentage of gross profit for new and used was very similar, and there was often a lot more profit built into the asking price of something from the left-hand side of the parking lot, so I tended to sell as many used as possible. The smell of a new car is alluring; the smell of money

What can I say about the Mini John Cooper Works GP? Well for starters it’s the fastest Mini ever. That’s probably enough as it is. However not only does this new Mini looks like a bit of a beast, but on top of that, it’s hard to argue against Mini’s motorsport pedigree - when they’ve poured plenty of their know-how into this car, you know it’s going to be a great hot hatch. But if you’re still not sold, keep reading... It seems these days that the ‘standard’ for judging a car’s performance is (alongside power, 0-62mph time and top speed) the time it can set lapping the Nurburgring Nordschleife. So with its rev-hungry turbo-charged heart shifting it along, motorsport-inspired aerodynamics, adjustable racing suspension, and non-existent rear seats for less weight, the Mini John Cooper Works GP claims a serious time posting a fastest lap of 8 minutes 23 seconds. That’s quick. Seriously quick. Anyone driving an Audi RS4 or a Lotus Exige S is going to get beat, it’s as simple as that. And it absolutely thrashes its predecessor – the Mini Cooper S with the John Works GP pack - by a massive 19 seconds. Which in real terms is about six years. This is also one

Petrolheads are in mourning this weekend over the passing of one of the  true motoring icons: Carroll Shelby. Synonymous globally with heroically powerful American automobiles, Shelby's 89 years have contributed a wealth of legendary metal to the roads, some of it rare and exotic, some of it blue-collar and brutish. Here we give thanks and pay tribute to a life's work making the world a louder, faster, better place, and a legacy of performance, with 5 masterpieces. Thanks for the memories Mr Shelby. 5. Shelby Daytona Coupe Often referred to as one of the most beautiful cars ever to have taken to a racetrack, the Daytona Coupe wasn't styled by Carroll Shelby,  though it was based upon his legendary AC Cobra platform. It may have been born of humble stock, but in its rather short racing life the Daytona battled the Ferrari 250 GT, and took endurance wins at Sebring, Le Mans, and in 1965, the 24 Hours of Daytona. Just six were built before Shelby was reassigned to another famous Ford racing project. Thanks to the rarity and history of the cars, you're going to need deep pockets to call one of the originals your own. In 2009, amid world financial turmoil, chassis number CSX2601 came up for auction in