Car Throttle

Cars and Coffee is always an opportunity to see both the newest, coolest stuff (the first Nissan Leaf I saw was at Cars & Coffee) and some old classic iron as well.  It seems like each month there's a "star," a car that people crowd around to get their first good glimpse of.  Guess what it was this month? If you guessed it was the Fisker Karma, you'd be correct.  There was a crowd around the Finnish-built extended-range electric vehicle like flies around a pile of rotten fruit.  Errr, bad metaphor.  And if that looks like a GM LNF (which I really need to stop writing about), that's because it is.  This is the first Karma I've seen in the flesh, and the overall impression

The automotive world is filled with rivalries.  STI owners think EVO drivers are mentally handicapped, Mustang owners laugh at Camaros, Prius drivers have those "pissing on Insight" stickers, and Holden owners like to pull Ford drivers out of their cars at stoplights and beat them to death with pipe wrenches.  Another to add to the list: Cobalt SS and Neon SRT-4 owners.  On the surface, both cars are pretty similar: high performance versions of domestic economy cars, with drastically more power and braking abilities and not a lot of interior luxuries.  I love both; I love the Cobalt SS Turbo more. One way to settle the whole argument is to quit the bullshitting and bench racing, assemble some teams, slap them on a dyno (or

42 degrees, overcast, with a chance of rain and some mud: not ideal conditions for a stance society meet, ever, really.  Still, the turnout for Eurowise's meet on this frigid January day was great.  Sponsors included Wrong Fitment Crew, Stance Society, ISO, Hoodstatus, and others.  There was everything from slammed hoopty Hondas to a pair of nearly matching late-model NSX's to drool over.  Check out some of the great stuff from the show, with a more complete gallery below. A Subaru STI tucking tires is odd, considering the rally-bred background, but that doesn't mean it can't look good.  White makes the gnarly Scooby seem almost classy; the huge scoop and wing negate most of that seriousness.  Dig the hood pins. Almost 20 years on, Supras

A local VW/Audi performance and maintenance shop, Black Forest Industries, celebrated their 10th anniversary this past weekend with a fall show for Wolfsburg and Ingolstadt's finest.  Not only were there tons of slammed VW's and Audi's, but also great beer from the local Aviator Brewing Company.  Win-win. Black Forest Industries is a shopped based in Cary, North Carolina who's primary purpose is modifying VW's.  They also do maintenance work, but they sell a lot of aftermarket parts.  I went there back in the day to get Neuspeed lowering springs installed on my Jetta, because spring compressors scare me.  That was three cars ago, and since then BFI has moved to a bigger shop in an easier-to-reach location with more space. Over the years, BFI

According to my densely populated calendar, there are only 68 days left until Christmas 2011. That's right, the time of the year when mince pies replace apple pies, X Factor gears up to catapult yet another newly-formed group to the top of the Charts and store-fronts look like they've been ransacked by "shoppers on steroids" is nearly upon us. Fantastic news, says your Grinch-esque author. However the phrase "Christmas has come early" became thoroughly apt two weeks ago when The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (or SMMT if you're short on time) invited Car Throttle to attend its South West meetup down in Calne, near the historic town of Bath where we were able to meet, greet and test drive cars from a number of different

It seems like opinions on the stanced car scene fall into two categories.  It's sort of polarizing.  Either "low is a lifestyle, and I enjoy scraping my sump on speedbumps because dammit, it looks good" - or something more along the lines of "All that camber reduces your contact patch, riding so close to the bump stops compromises handling, I hope you like changing wheel bearings, and why make a car look like a race car when it can't handle?"  It's the battle of form versus function, and it's not really new at all. Regardless of where you stand on that issue, it's hard to argue they make great show cars.  Two big stance groups - Stance:Nation from the west coast and ISO (Insane Stance &

The weekly Sonic Drive-In Meet in Raleigh is always good for car spotting.  It's pretty heavy on Import Performance cars, but you still wind up seeing some pretty unique stuff out there. It's not often you see a Merkur XR4Ti any more; most of them are in junk yards or have been shipped off to China as bulk steel to be turned into a refrigerator by now.  This white one is remarkably clean and wingless.  Our European readers are probably saying "So what?  It's a Ford Sierra."  Not nearly as common here! Another from the front.  So bizarre to see these days. An odd pair!  A clean, original Mercury Comet (based on the Maverick) - next to a slammed Bugeye WRX.  That WRX has a

Last month, the normal Cars & Coffee meet in Raleigh was called due to rain.  This Saturday, it was sunny and 90°+ outside, so attendance was good.  I try to avoid showing you the same cars twice, which works out just fine because there's always an interesting variety of cars that shows up for C&C - here's some of the cool stuff spotted this month. A very clean, original Boss 302 Mustang.  This one was for sale - yours for only around $54,000!  (which is actually more than the new Boss 302's cost before inevitable crazy dealer markup.) A collection of Vipers, two first gens and two second.  Note: that red one with grey stripes on the far right has a twin-turbo V10 built by

At next month’s Frankfurt motor show, a new British car manufacturer will be unveiled to the world; Eterniti Motors. The company’s first foray into the market will be with a luxury crossover called the Hemera... A conceptual sketch of the Eterniti Hemera has been released and the price range being touted is in the region of £150,000-£200,000 putting the car in direct competition with the centenary celebration Lagonda and the new Bentley SUV. Details on the company are few and far between, with the bio on the Eterniti’s Twitter account calling itself a "boutique luxury car brand uniquely from London, offering bespoke specifications" with the cars being designed and assembled in-house. Eterniti is registered in Stevenage, Hertfordshire and was only registered in October 2010 but the

Spend the whole day on the road, more issues than a congressional budget committee meeting, packed like sardines in an E36.  You'd hope the show itself would be worth it.  Thankfully, it was more than worth it.  Bimmerfest East was absolutely incredible, with everything from classic old-school BMW's - before it was an "anything" series, xDrive whatever, no-dipstick complicated lease machines up to the latest and greatest M cars, stuffed with superchargers and sets of wheels worth more than my car.  There was something for everyone, and despite the heat radiating off the asphalt everyone had a great time.  I walked around for hours, snapping pictures, shooting some videos, and soaking it all in. A blue E36 M3 coupe, looking clean and original - well, except