Car Throttle

Perhaps I'd gotten my hopes up a bit too much for this one. The concept of the Honda CR-Z sounded brilliant: tiny short-wheelbase two-seater, electric motor assist, 6-speed manual transmission, basically a combination of Honda economy and reliability with a bit of funkiness and fun-to-drive. But I'm just not so sure.  The production CR-Z debuted at NAIAS yesterday, and I don't quite think they've perfected the formula.  I'll get the bad parts off the table first: the CR-Z has a total of 122bhp, yet with a stick shift it only manages to attain an average of 33mpg on the US cycle.  For a car this small with this little power, I was sort of expecting fuel mileage numbers starting with a 50, not a 30.  If I

It's been a long time since VW marketed a Jetta coupe. There's been a smattering of VW 2-doors (Scirocco, Corrado) and a whole bunch of hatches, but there hasn't been a 2-door 4-seat coupe in the lineup since the 80's (since you can't actually count the Corrado's rear seats.  C'mon.)  And despite the current (and gorgeous) Scirroco being on sale in Europe, VW decided that the US market needs something else with two doors so as not to cannibalize GTI sales.  Which are pretty strong. This is the New Coupe Concept, but you can just called it Jetta Coupe.  It sits on a modified MKVI Golf chassis: 3" longer wheelbase (probably to fit all those blasted batteries) and 2" shorter roofline, but it doesn't look like a

It seems like we've been waiting longer than I can remember for the new Focus. The first-generation model was something of a minor revolution when it hit the US market in 1999...  and then it proceeded to get worse with each successive facelift for the next ten years. While the competition marched on (there've been two brand-new Civics, one Corolla, and two Sentras in the OG Focus' lifespan!), the Focus, uhh... focus'd on things like squishy seats, SYNC, and killing off the hatchbacks to replace them with "who cares?" 2 door coupes. Meanwhile, Ford of Europe has been enjoying a brand-new, cutting edge Focus MkII since 2004, while we trudge along with the same old crap we've had since Clinton was president.  Well, no more! Ford chose

Top Ten lists are a longstanding tradition with automotive journalism outlets. And why not?  People love a Top Ten list (it gives them something to argue about!), and man, they're not exactly hard to throw together.  The issue is that the vast majority of them are fluff, crap, really just a slap on the back to whichever manufacturer schmoozed that rag the most that year. ('’) Well we here at CarThrottle don't subscribe to that happy, shiny version of things.  To be honest, a large number of the cars on our roads are complete, total junk.  This has always been obvious.  The world's full of Chrysler Sebrings and Kia Amantis.  But there are even cars trying to pass as performance vehicles (which is a heavy focus

It's beginning to look like Alfa fans in the US can finally stop their incessant whining. Myself being an unsatisfied US Alfa coveter, I've really been getting tired of waiting for Alfa Romeo to return to US shores again.  It was supposed to be 2007.  Then 2009.  Now, who knows?  But thanks to Fiat's recent tie-in with failing US automaker Chrysler, the prospects of seeing Alfas on US roads - and soon - are pretty strong. And when the wave of Alfas start shipping over, this'll be the first thing off the boat: the new Giulietta.  It's the replacement for the archaic 147 hatchback, and it's been designed with a wider market in mind than it's predecessor. It was originally going to be named Milano, but due

Lately, one of the things you've all undoubtedly heard enough about is the Camaro. For god's sake, Chevrolet brought an entire tanker load of modified Camaros to SEMA in virtually every imaginable form.  Yenko Camaros, Camaros that look like Trans-Am's, evil Camaros, Red Camaros, there was probably a Camaro with wings. And the new Camaro has been getting a lot of press everywhere, really.  And for good reason - it's an extremely attractive car that people actually want to buy, rather than settle for, which seems to be par for the course in today's automotive market.  But all the attention is really sort of centered around the SS model, which is the high-performance one powered by the 6.2L LS3 Corvette engine.  So of course people are going

At some time, I'd say every automotive journalist reaches the point where they're sick of writing about 911's. I mean, Porsche releases 12 new variations of the 911 each year, sometimes seemingly just for the fun of it, and we're supposed to treat it like it's news.  It's not news.  The 911's had the engine in the wrong place since it was born in 1964, and the engineers at Stuttgart are too stubborn to put it in the right place. Still, even if a new variation of the 911 isn't quite as exciting as say, an actually new car coming out, it's still a 911.  So it still deserves some love.  The latest variation (I think it's number 13,468?) is an updated version of the 911 GT3

Volkwagen's been one busy company lately. They're revamping their entire Golf lineup to improve refinement and reduce overall build cost as they transition to the MKVI, and the latest update is to the Golf Estate - known in the US as the Jetta Wagon. The updates are pretty minimal, to be honest.  The front end has been swapped for the new, narrow-eyed MKVI front end already seen on the regular Golf.  Around back, the taillights have been tweaked for added newness, and the lower body panels are painted body-color.  Err, and that's about it. Of course, the interior has been completely redone with the new MKVI dash layout and gauges, which I think is a nice look.  And the Jetta Wagon's still got 1,495L of maximum storage

Opel/Vauxhall's Golf/Focus competitor, the Astra, is due for a refresh. While the current Astra is a capable and competent if slightly dull car, it dates all the way back to 2004, which is practically ancient in compact car terms. The next-generation Astra promises to be more of a good thing, and is expected to officially debut at the 2009 Frankfurt show this fall.  For now, Opel is teasing us with a few not-too-revealing shots of the exterior to keep our interest in things. The new Astra will be based on the new Delta II architecture, which will underpin the Chevrolet Volt and it's continental twin, the Vauxhall Ampera - as well as the new Chevrolet Cruze, which is to replace the over-ripe Cobalt lineup. Power will come