Car Throttle

Volvo and Performance are not really two synonymous terms. Volvos have always been (well, until recently) square cars for even more square people.  Tough engines, comfy seats, angular styling - great for hauling the kids to soccer practice, not so great for hauling ass.  Right?  Well, this guy begs to differ:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGDxgYWG5MU

As it turns out, if you roll up next to a Volvo 850 at a stoplight and it sounds like an angry chainsaw, you probably shouldn't race it if you want to escape with your dignity intact.  Domestic Muscle guys have been learning this lesson the hard way for years. Now, to be sure, Volvo made some quick cars before the T-5 motor came out.  The 740 Turbo wagons in the

I'm sure you're familiar with the term "bucket list" by now.  It's a list of things you want to do before you die. Being automotively obsessed, my bucket list is more of a list of cars that I want to own before I die, or rather before you can't find one somewhere besides a junkyard.  Today, I finally got behind the wheel of one of the top three cars on my bucket list: an old Volvo. Hey, you have to know by now if you've been reading this website that I'm a bit of a weirdo.  But I've had a thing for the Volvo 850 T-5R/ 850R since I knew how to drive a car.  This relates to the fact that my first car was an 850. 

I am entirely aware of the fact that "realistic" and "fantasy" are antonyms. A "Fantasy" garage is packed with the best of the best, picked for possessing an all-star list of attributes.  Like a Fantasy Football team, I suppose.  A realistic fantasy garage can't exist, because in the real world circumstances are never ideal for average people.  Still, we can all dream - even if we're dreaming small.  I've never had a problem deriving the basic joy of driving from any automobile (possible exceptions include a Prius and a Cavalier) and thus I've never had trouble dreaming small. For me, this is simply a list of cars that I plan to own at some point in the future.  There aren't any Pagani Zonda's or Ford GT's or

Top Ten is another new featurette I will be producing on a weekly basis.  It's a very simple concept: the 10 best of SOME genre, in order.  You are encouraged to leave comments either praising my choices, or yelling at me for what I missed, at the bottom.  Game on! The public stigma of a station wagon (estate to Europe) is frankly pretty negative these days.  I can't say I understand it; in many ways, wagons are the most useful cars on the road.  They offer car-like handling (since they're normal cars) and loads of cargo space.  I generally think the two-box shape of wagons is a positive thing stylistically speaking, too.  So why are they so universally loathed? Maybe it's this generation's childhood memories of getting sick

1991-1999 BMW 8-Series Coupe "And when they say great white sharks... they mean the kind in big, black cars." This buyer's guide is for an altogether different type of coupe than the last one.  While the appeal of the NSX was the raw connection if offered between the driver and the road, the appeal of an 8-series BMW is the way it effortlessly munches highway miles, the powerful and unique engines under the hood, and it's mildly thuggish demeanor.  If you're looking for a big, stately coupe that will get noticed but you don't have to mortgage the house for, the 8-series might be worth a look. Background The 8-series coupe (E31) debuted in 1991 as the replacement for the highly-acclaimed 6-series (E24) coupes from the 70's and 80's.