Car Throttle

2011 was undoubtedly Car Throttle's "Year of the Swede". Thanks to Volvo UK's generosity and support of CT, we managed to get our hands on nearly every model in their line-up from the S60 to the XC60. We even managed to captain some scallywags across The Solent in a Volvo Racing Yacht; definitely one of my highlights of the year. So it comes as no large surprise that we would choose Volvo, especially after the passing of their younger Swedish brother Saab, to kick-start our 2012. However this time we chose to steer clear of the family saloons, older-gen estates and pricey SUV's and instead took on a car right up your alleyway, fellow youngsters. Yes, the 2012 Volvo C30. With a starting price of £14,995 though

Custom, custom, custom. Let me say that again, custom. I'm not just ripping off a catchy EA tagline when I say "It's in the name" because it really is - the smart BRABUS Tailor-Made is tailored to you and it's likely you won't find another one on the road quite like it. So when this fortwo Cabriolet rocked up on my doorstep, I ignored the annoying lack of capitalisation on smart and fortwo and took it for a test drive. The results? Well you can see the funky video on YouTube and in the embed above: 2011 smart BRABUS Tailor-Made ForTwo Review (phew that's a mouthful!) Not familiar with the badge? The chaps behind smart were the same ones behind the swatch customisable watches in the

If you're an avid Car Throttle fan, you'll know that we have a strong tendency to not do things "by the book". Take a simple car video review. Our "in-depth" research on YouTube has found far too many boring car reviewers (read: 50-year-old, bald blokes) who love to spout performance figures, chassis materials and snigger subtle digs at manufacturers who produce car fodder. Whilst there's a room in the reviews market for lateral G-ratings on a skid pan and all the knowledge that the older generation may bring to the table, us young Throttlers are developing videos which give a more rounded view of new vehicles, combined with some attempted banter and searching storylines. And where possible, we like to give individuals other than myself, the opportunity

What's green, potentially venomous and loves to slide? Okay, so your Car Throttle correspondent still hasn't mastered the set-up of a good one-liner, but the answer as you probably guessed isn't your back-garden adder. No. It is instead Skoda's 2011 Fabia vRS and whilst you might laugh that off from merely glancing at the car, let me explain why you'd be foolish to cast this off as a poor man's Polo GTI. Please allow me to firstly guide you to our video review which is embedded above. If you've been watching enough television, you will have seen Skoda's new attempt to re-market the sweet, made-out-of-cake Fabia using the dulcet tones of one Julie Andrews. The time has come however, for the Fabia to be rebuffed as

Nobody is content with their age. The young and juvenile will do anything to grow up quickly and start living life, whilst the old will do almost anything they can to regain their youth. It's one of the overriding themes of life and it's a thought which springs to mind when I muse over Volvo's 2011 V60 sports wagon. It's not just a sports "wagon" either. No, the Swedish manufacturer have labelled this big-booty estate - as we call it here - with the keyword dynamic. Is it just a buzz word? Perhaps. But it's only once you spend a week with the car, as I was lucky enough to do, that you realise that the V60 possibly does contain that special change agent which allows it

If you're lucky or dare I say "unlucky" enough to be around Canary Wharf at 7 in the morning, you'll catch a glimpse of one of The City of London's greatest phenomena. Rush hour. This parade of sorts has in its ranks financial analysts, traders and executives who played varying roles in highly-publicised events you may remember such as "The Financial Crisis 2008", "The Financial Crisis 2009", "The Financial Crisis 2010" and "The Continued Financial Crisis 2011". It's safe to say that these commuting individuals form the bulk of Occupy Wallstreet's Hit List. The bad kind of hit list. OK, so I might be being a bit melodramatic. You may mistake your Economics degree'd author here to be part of that very same crew and in

What is beauty? Can a car be beautiful? That's a question many of us car folk torment ourselves with night after sleepless night. The quick answer to that is yes, achieving a stunning facade can be created and the 2011 Honda CR-Z may have just completed that achievement. The slightly more lengthy answer is that "it depends". Depends on whether the exterior styling delivers emotion, depends on whether the inside has more guts than a Bear Grylls camel, and depends on whether the car as a whole package has got - as much as I hate to use the phrase - The X Factor. The Honda CR-Z is a mark of the future with its 1.5-litre petrol engine mated to an electric motor which produces upto 57 lb-ft

If you'd have asked a car enthusiast ten years ago what a compact crossover was, they would have probably looked back at you with glazed over eyes, slightly confused. But fast forward to the present day and the crossover marketplace is bursting at the seams with nearly all major manufacturers - BMW (X1), Volkswagen (Tiguan), Nissan (Qashqai) - involved in the competition for consumer attention. So what exactly is a compact crossover? It's what happens when you squash together an SUV, an estate and something sporty too; combine these three things together and you're left with a vehicle that sits higher up off the road, that looks sleek and stylish but that maintains the type of practicality that car buyers need. The auto world's version of

119 days. The last time I checked, we still have 119 days before the official kick off to the ho-ho holiday season. So when Mitsubishi pitched up outside my door, handed me the keys to a shiny new 2011 Colt Ralliart and told me they'd be back in a week's time, I thought Christmas had come early. Cue a montage of us firing up the Car Throttle cameras, camcorders and microphones and BOOM; the final, finished product is now available for the world to see. Simply hit Play in the YouTube player above and enjoy or if you're reading this from farther afield, click the link below: 2011 Mitsubishi Colt Ralliart Video Review This was always going to be a hit or miss affair. Whilst Mitsubishi

Being an eco-warrior normally involves growing dreads, not showering for a couple of weeks and growing your own compost out of human manure. That, or being extremely good at Doomsday Powerpoint presentations. The fact of the matter is, it's 2012 and we're still no closer to finding a true sustainable power source to light up our homes and fuel our cars, and the verdict is even worse if you listen to the rascals on Top Gear. Electric batteries take ages to charge, hydrogen fuel pumps still carry inherent safety risks and air-powered vehicles still remain something you would probably see in some Sci-Fi Thriller and not in real life. So what options do you have as an environmentally-aware motorist? You could get yourself a Toyota