Car Throttle

Up until this point, Audi's A1 has been interesting, but not exciting.  The small avante-garde hatch, based on the VW Polo chassis, has enjoyed brisk sales in it's home country thanks to clever packaging and an appealing price.  But with engines topping out at a 185bhp 1.4 TFSI (like the one in the Skoda Fabia VRs our man Adnan test drove) and front-drive only, it's not really a hot hatch.  More like a warm hatch. Well, Audi finally saw fit to fix that.  Meet the A1 Quattro, all 256bhp and 4 driven wheels of it.  This will be a limited-production model, but it lifts the A1's performance from "meh" to "Oh hi there, you're pretty.  I didn't catch your name!  You have plans later?" Under

If you're a car guy, chances are you're a fan of the Mercedes-Benz SL.  Benz's top of the line sports car has been with us since the 50's, providing top-down joy to well-endowed bankers, dentists, and stock brokers everywhere.  The formula has always remained basically the same:  big engine up front, two seats and a drop top in the middle, driven wheels at the back.  People continue to buy them, despite the fact that Mercedes replaces the SL about as frequently as the Vatican replaces the Pope. Seriously!

• Generation 1 (W121 190SL/W198 300SL): 1954-1963 (9 years)
• Generation 2 (W113 SL): 1963-1971 (8 years)
• Generation 3 (R107 SL): 1972-1989 (17 years)
• Generation 4 (R129 SL): 1989-2002 (13 years)
• Generation 5 (R230 SL): 2003-2011 (8 years)

Now, almost without exception, all the

We're at the point now where a 4-door "Coupe" isn't weird.  I suppose.  Passat CC, two generations of the Mercedes CLS, we'll call anything a coupe.  So here's the latest: the four-door version of BMW's 6-series coupe.  My Coupe runneth over.  So what's the deal with the 6-Series Gran Coupe? Well, it's a four-door version 0f BMW's third-generation 6-series.  Or, it's a 5-series with a lower roof line.  Or, it's a BMW CLS.  Some have been wondering why companies bother making these types of cars, and others have been wondering what took BMW so long to make a CLS clone.  I fall into the latter camp; Merc sells a good number of the swoopy CLS, so it's a no-brainer that BMW would follow suit. BMW's styling

Charger, Challenger, Aspen, and now Dart.  It's simple:  Chrysler has fired the person in charge of coming up with new names for their products.  Dodge released some CGI renderings today of the 2013 Dart, which will replace the awful Caliber.  Those who've been around a lot longer than me will remember the Dart as Dodge's low-end offering that ran in various forms from 1960-1976.  Hey, if you're going to resurrect a name, I'm glad it's not Volare. Unlike the original Dart, there will be no three-on-the-tree and indestructible Mopar straight-six.  The Dart is based on the platform of the Alfa Romeo Giulietta hatchback, enlarged for US tastes.  It's both wider and has a longer wheelbase, and the platform is referred to as the CUSW (Compact US

Hot on the heels of yesterday's reveal of the Toyota GT-86,  Subaru has dropped it's first images of the BRZ.  If we've seen the Toyobaru, now we're seeing the Subieyota.  (Toyobarubieyota?)  If you were expecting something radically different from the GT-86, well - err, no. The Subaru BRZ is almost indistinguishable from the GT-86, except for the Stars of Pleiades badge on both ends, and a slightly different front clip.  The pattern inside the taillights is slightly different, and there's no "86" Boxer badge on the front fenders, but that's about it.

Even the same wheels.

Mechanically, it's identical to the GT-86.  That means a front-mid engine/rear drive chassis, a 2.0L "D4S" boxer engine with 197bhp/151lb-ft, and six speed manual or automatic transmission.  Subaru

It's a day I never thought would come.  After numerous teaser concept cars, the production version of the Toyota FT-86 is here.  First of all, it's going to be called the GT-86 in Europe, and just "86" in Japan.  The US version is still likely to be marketed as a Scion (probably called the FR-S), and there will be a Subaru version (for now being called the BR-Z, although we'll find out soon enough.)  Regardless of what it's called or where it's sold, the Toyobaru/Subieyota is finally coming into focus as a production car, and we have some of the greasy details and real pictures to share with you. A lot of these details are probably things you've already heard, but here are the basics. 

Subaru has a long and complicated performance history.  They've been making turbo Impreza's since 1992, and along the way there's been a dizzying array of ultra-high performance derivatives.  The standard higher-performance WRX - the STI - has had plenty of derivatives itself.  Clumps of letters and numbers: Type RA, Spec C, P1, RB5, 22B, Series McRae, Catalunya, Turbo Terzo, WR Sport, S202 - all designations that dedicated Subieheads worship.  Among the hottest have been the S20x cars, starting with the S201 on the old-school GC8 Impreza chassis back in 1999.  It featured a wild body kit, a larger turbo with more boost, and a then unheard-of 305bhp - back when Japanese manufacturers stuck to the "276bhp" gentleman's agreement. S202 through S204 were based on the

We still can't get one in the US, and now there's another reason to be sad about that:  Audi will be introducing the production version of the A1 5-door (Sportback) at the Tokyo Auto Show at the end of November. Audi previewed the 5-door A1 with the A1 Sportback Concept at the '08 Paris show, and the real thing isn't especially surprising.  Dimensions will be nearly identical to the 3-door A3, riding on the same 97.2" wheelbase, and an overall length within 5mm of the 3-door as well.  The 5 door will come with an optional color-contrasting roof and pillars (while the normal one just has the pillars in a contrasting color.)  It's  mostly the same inside as well, meaning small but high-quality. Engine choices will

It's somewhat unusual that you can't go into a Cadillac showroom right now and buy a big sedan.  The quick-selling CTS fits somewhere in between a 3 and a 5-series BMW as far as interior room goes, but those looking for a "traditional" land yacht Cadillac don't have an option... unless the Escalade counts.  (which I think it does, but YMMV.)  Since the demise of the DTS (DeVille, front-wheel-drive with a transverse Northstar 32v V8) and the STS (rear-wheel-drive, longitudinal 3.6 V6 or 4.6L Northstar V8), it's been CTS or nothing. Cadillac is about ready to rectify this situation with the upcoming XTS large sedan.  It will flesh out Cadillac's model line, fitting above the CTS (and the upcoming ATS sedan will fit below it).  If

BMW isn't quite as special-edition happy with the M3 as Porsche is with their cars, but they're getting closer.  They introduced another limited-edition version of the M3 today, limited to 40 units total in the US called the Coupe Competition Edition. Built to celebrate the M Division's upcoming 40th birthday (40 years already?  Really?), the Competition Coupe is a number of visual changes along with a bit of extra hardware.  The paint is a special "Frozen Silver Metallic," similar to the M3 Frozen Gray special edition from last year, but a little lighter.  This semi-matte-finish color looks simply amazing in pictures; hopefully it won't be as hard to maintain as the Frozen Gray is.  Black hood ducts, and dark chrome kidney grills, side grills and exhaust