Car Throttle

Another day, another Lotus Elise/Exige variant. It seems like the arrival of the newest, latest, greatest Exige/Elise is about a bi-weekly event; but it's still a Lotus, so who's going to complain?  Lotus is the flag-waving prime example of evolution, not revolution, improving the breed.  The latest evolution of the hard-top Exige has evolved just a little bit more, and it's the most powerful factory Exige yet. The flyweight mid-engine hardtop coupe, based on the resin-bonded aluminum spaceframe chassis of the Elise, fills the "track day" niche in the Lotus lineup.  I think.  Anyway, this year Lotus has boosted output on it's Toyota-sourced four cylinder powerplant again, from 240 horsepower to 257.  Lotus uses a proprietary supercharger setup on the Toyota 2ZZ-GE, which was used in

The latest in a long line of Renault hot hatches, the new Renaultsport Megane RS is just exactly what you'd expect: a turbocharged, hard-edged, body-kitted performance variant of the regular Megane. This is the first Renaultsport variant of the new Megane, which has been receiving relatively positive reviews in the press as of late.  It's based on the sleek-looking Megane Coupe, and features a revised motor plus some neat carryovers from the old Megane R.26R. Under the hood is a 2.0L, 16v inline-four equipped with a quick-spooling twin scroll turbocharger.  This motor makes more power and torque than the previous Renaultsport motor, while boasting a wider powerband and improved drivability and response.  Power peaks at 250 horsepower at 5,500rpm, while the torque peak of 340nM( 250lb-ft)

Aston Martin's stunning DBS Coupe, star of 2 different James Bond films, now has an even sexier sibling - the DBS Volante. In traditional Aston speak, "Volante" means "expensive convertible," and the DBS Volante is no exception.  The DBS itself is just a more-muscular version of the V12-powered DB9, and with the introduction of a drop-top DBS, there's almost no reason to buy a regular DB9 any more. Under the Aston's impossibly long hood beats the same 6.0L 48v V12 powerplant as in the hardtop DBS, producing a respectable 510bhp and 420lb-ft (570nM) of torque.  This engine is mated to either a standard 6-speed manual, or a 6-speed sequential gearbox, mounted transaxle style in the rear in race-car fashion.  Aston claims the top-of-the-line DBS Volante will accelerate to