Car Throttle

Sometimes I realize I have a certain lack of perspective when it comes to the car thing.  Perhaps it's a regional thing.  I'm in Los Angeles for a few days (a family member is getting married), and some of the cars that raise eyebrows in Raleigh would be taxis around here.  If there's an area in the US that embraces car culture more fully than the city of Angels, I'm not sure what it is.  This is a place where a C-class Mercedes is like a Taurus, and you routinely see more than ten Bentleys a day.  It's special.  My shutter finger has been getting tired.  Check it out. See, in the middle of the eastern seaboard, a CL55 AMG Supercharged is the kind of

Ferrari's mid-level F430 sports car has been around since 2004. In supercar terms, that's approximately equal to "eternity."  Ferrari recently released a few details and computer renderings of the F430's replacement, as well as a name: 458 Italia. The 458 Italia occupies the same spot in the Ferrari lineup, mainly that of the serious mid-engine V8 sports car.  Like most new cars these days, it offers more of everything: more power, more gears, more technology, better fuel consumption and emissions, you name it.  While we haven't seen any in-the-flesh pictures of the 458 Italia, I can tell you this: it's going to be fast. Motivating the 458 Italia is a new 4.5L direct-injection V8, derived from the new DI 4.3L V8 in the gaudy California Spyder. 

Today, Maserati is a purveyor of what I like to call automotive pornography. They produce two products - the almost criminally good-looking Gran Turismo and the equally seductive Quattroporte.  Both sell for north of $100k, are chock full of Ferrari bits, and are absolutely wonderful, top-notch modern supercars.  This hasn't always been the case. Maserati returned to the US market in 2002, after leaving without saying goodbye in 1991.  They, like Alfa Romeo, were basically chased out of the US thanks to persistent rumors of suspect reliability as well as a less than favorable exchange rate which artificially inflated prices.  Many say that the reason for Maserati's failure in the US was the Biturbo.  Let's take a look at that car (and it's derivatives) and return to

The Ferrari 430 Scuderia Spider 16M is an exceedingly rare car. Ferrari's "makes no sense" combination of the hardcore 430 Scuderia model with the "look at me!" convertible 430 Spider is only being replicated 499 times.  So judging the Novitec Rosso Ferrari 430 Scuderia Spider 16M on the fact that it's a heavily modified version of a race-bred, 499-example by-God Ferrari makes using logic difficult. For one thing, a regular Scuderia 16M makes a more-than-adequate 503bhp at an astronomic 8500 rpm, and accelerates to 60mph in... well, under four seconds.  Who's counting?  On top of this, German tuning company Novitec Rosso adds twin belt-driven superchargers running through beefy air-to-water intercoolers.  With boost set at only 7psi, the V8 churns out an alarming 696bhp at 8400 rpm.