Car Throttle

The Jaguar product range is a bit limited compared to BMW, Mercedes and Audi. However Jaguar have revealed to Autocar their plans for a new small saloon. It's not a compact executive rival for the 3 Series and A4 as anticipated though, it's actually a rival for cars that aren't even on the road yet. Let me explain what I'm on about, at the Geneva Motor Show back in March Audi revealed an A3 saloon concept which is slightly longer than an A3 hatch but smaller than an A4 saloon and Mercedes have done a rival to this called the CLC saloon which is basically a B Class with a stretched wheelbase but both of these cars are just concepts at the moment. Now Jaguar

Five-doors, hatchbacks, wagons, estates, "touring" cars - call them what you may, the market for wagons in the United States is pretty small. That stands in marked contrast to their success around the world. As such, most mainstream vehicles do not have a wagon variant. Surprisingly, they are more plentiful in the luxury segment; for entry-level cars Audi offers the A4 Avant, Cadillac has fielded the CTS Sport Wagon, and BMW sells the 3-Series Sports Wagon. For mid-size cars Audi has ditched the Avant, but Mercedes-Benz continues to produce the E-Class Wagon. All are slow sellers, however. With the sixth-generation BMW 3-Series launching last week, many were wondering if sales of the wagon would continue in the U.S. Autoblog reports that BMW will bring

The 3-series is BMW's bread-and-butter mainstream sales model.  They've sold somewhere between 300,000 and a half a million of them a year since the mid-90's, with a history stretching back to 1975.  While BMW is free to come up with whatever "genre-crossing" tripe it feels like, the reason it can do that is on the back of all the money that the 3-series makes them.  It's won more awards - and races - than most people care to count.  So when they make a new one, they're fairly careful to make it better, but not make it a whole lot different.  This is the case with the brand-new 3-series, which is referred to as the F30 internally.  (I'll miss the E-designations.) Like almost every new

Europe has been getting all the special edition models lately, such as the Nissan 370Z Racing Edition, Audi's R8 Limited Edition and now the 3-Series Exclusive Edition and M Sport Edition from BMW. Its a good thing these models aren't big improvements as far as performance goes, and instead mainly exterior packages. There are two, the 3-Series Exclusive Edition and an M Sport Edition. BMW's 3-Series Exclusive Edition sets itself apart with 18-inch lightweight V-Sport wheels finished in Space Grey. The Exclusive Edition also adds an exclusive color, Mineral Gray, in addition to the range of other standard colors. Inside, the car is differentiated by two color schemes, Pearl Grey with grey contrast stitching and black with white contrast stitching. The finish for

Sometimes progress is slow and steady.  Sometimes, though, it just pops out of nowhere. A good example of this is BMW's latest engine, which has been rumored for a while, and they just released some juicy details on.  Called the N20, it's a 2.0L turbocharged inline four cylinder, and it will be replacing the 3.0L naturally-aspirated I6 in many base model BMW's.  It pulls off a pretty neat trick - faster car, better fuel mileage and emissions figures.  Read on for more details. The new N20 motor is a 2.0L all-aluminum inline four cylinder that borrows a lot of technology from BMW's TwinPower Turbo engines - namely, the N54 and N55 Turbo straight-sixed that can be found in the 1, 3, 5, Z4, X3, X5, X6,

The sports compact genre has flourished over the past few years. Mitsubishi is a big player in that market with the Lancer Evolution, a favorite in racing games everywhere. The Evolution X SE is a new mid-range model that sits between the GSR and MR. Mitsubishi made a promotional video for the car as it was was put through its paces in California. We're glad Mitsubishi is focused on enthusiasts - because this car is specifically geared toward the enthusiast market. The Evo X SE starts at $36,445, and is equipped with the dual-clutch transmission on an Evo X. That price point puts it at about $2000 more than a base Evo X GSR and over $3000 cheaper than a base Evo X MR, the high-end model. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLkeGG_vva0&feature=player_embedded#! Next-Gen 3-Series

BMW has been putting an emphasis on new performance lately, in addition to efforts to expand the lineup by going down market. In the past few years, the X5 and X6 M has been added, and rumor has it that a M performance model for the 1-Series is in the works as well. BMW recently announced the M3 GTS, the highest performance M3 to date. Being German only and with no plans for it to be available in the United States, some increased performance for the M3 could be on the way. (BMW M3 Sedan from the United Kingdom Pictured) As if it really needs it! More performance = more $ though. Bimmerfile is the site with the scoop, saying to expect a similar competition package to the

It's been a big news week for BMW. Initial details of the not-quite-an-M3 335is model broke late last week, official images of the "what is that?" Mini Countryman escaped ahead of the embargo, and details and pictures of the M-Sport package 3-series coupe have all surfaced on the web within the past few days.  BMW likes to keep the press rolling; most journos have hardly stopped drooling over the new 5-series at this point, and already there's a handful of new models to cover! The entire 3-series lineup is getting a minor facelift for 2011, and there will be some new derivatives of interest joining the lineup.  Exterior changes aren't massive - there are new (and rather prominent) headlights at the front as well as new bumpers

The great thing about manufacturers competing with each other is that we, the consumer, wind up the inevitable winner. While Audi, Mercedes, and BMW continue to produce ever-more-powerful cars just to keep up, we get more and more choices.  When the (B8) Audi S4 came out last year, it narrowly managed to capture the "most covetable small sports sedan" title from the previous standby choice, the twin-turbo 335i.  The supercharged V6 Audi has a more sophisticated AWD system, more power, better fuel economy, and just in general a little bit more of everything. Well of course BMW isn't going to just sit on it's hands and say it's good enough.  That's not the nature of the beast.  And although it hasn't been officially announced yet, it's one

Onslaught of the Gran Turismos! There doesn't seem to be much "Gran Turismo" about the 5-Series GT, but GT it is. More are coming though! What's next a 7-series GT? With BMW, you never know. A new 3-Series GT is coming to the United States market in 2011, around the time the X1 debuts. The 3-Series GT would bring the 3-Series model count up to 5 models. Sedan, Coupe, Convertible, Wagon and now, GT. Yay? Photo courtesy of Edmunds Inside Line. To me the X1 seems like it could fit the "role" of a 3-Series GT, but I guess not. BMW is determined to make the most out of what it thinks is a new segment it's creating that "bridges the gap" between 3-Series and 5-Series. Couldn't