Car Throttle

What can you get these days for $30 grand and change?  Well, if you're a sensible sort of fellow, the kind that wears slacks and a white polo daily, you could get a really darn nice Honda Accord.  To be specific, $29,755 (plus destination fee and accessories, etc) will get you a 2012 Accord EX-L with Navigation.  It's got a 2.4L engine that makes some horsepower, leather seats, an electronic map to tell you where to go, and it will without a doubt run flawlessly with 0 issues for 10-15 years.  10-15 years of perfectly predictable, sedate, drama and fun-free motoring. Seriously!  These cars last forever.  An acquaintance of mine works as a service adviser at a Honda dealer, and they recently got a 2006 Accord

Every car lover's calender starts with a new batch of machines on show in Motor City. I'm talking, of course, about the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan. The city is famous for being the beating heart of the American motor industry and at the start of every year all the world's manufacturers congregate and show off their new products to see what our stateside friends think of their latest offerings. Here's a half-time round-up of the motors on show for 2012 from each stand from the day so far. Bentley Two new Continentals broke free from the covers at the Bentley stand; the V8 coupe and V8 GTC Cabriolet. Little differences to tell these from the bigger W12 on the outside include a gloss black

Introducing the most economical Continental Bentley have ever made. It's not a hybrid nor is it electric but it has a 4.0L twin-turbo V8 petrol. Okay so that doesn't sound very efficient does it? The new V8 Continental GT and GTC will go on sale in 2012 after launch at the Detroit Motor Show in January along side the mighty 6.0L twin-turbo W12 variants we know and love but the V8s have several tricks up their sleeve to help save you some money on fueling them. For instance the amount of cylinders the engine uses varies depending on how and where you are driving it. If you are popping out to town or you're crawling through traffic it will use only 4 of the cylinders but if

I'm almost done with the Los Angeles car spotting articles.  In these last two sections, we'll be looking at two dealers in Hollywood to give you a taste of the good life.  Going down Santa Monica Blvd in West Hollywood, in search of an In-N-Out Burger (which I can report is just as good as everyone says it is!), I saw this Rolls Royce Corniche convertible parked curbside.  Hmm... And a jet-black Bentley Turbo R behind it.  If there's a better name for a Bentley out there than Turbo R, I'm not aware of it.  I got out of the car and wandered up the sidewalk into the front lot of Charles Agapiou Ltd Bentley/Rolls Servicing and Sales.  A dealer and shop that specializes in

I'm back in North Carolina now, where you can swing a dead cat without hitting a Bentley.  On one hand, it sucks.  I like seeing exotics constantly.  On the other, it's nice that exotics remain exotic. I walked around LA the whole time with my camera around my neck for you guys - so I'll continue now with day two and three of car spotting in LA.  Hope you enjoy it! Classic cars, especially older Japanese cars, seem to have a much longer shelf life in California's relatively mild, dry climate.  This 240Z would have a lot more rust bubbles over here in North Carolina.  I could do without the period window louvers, but YMMV. You could do worse for your commute than driving an

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

Last September, Bentley released the new Continental GT. The original car was launched in 2003, and it followed a typical eight-to-ten year life span for Bentley's products. The new model freshens the car and updates it with the latest technology. The original Continental is still stunning, and the new model car builds on that. One of the biggest changes in the works for the new Continental is the availability of a 4.0-liter turbocharged V-8. That engine is slated to be announced at the North American International Auto Show in January. It will serve as the new entry-level model for Bentley, which has traditionally only sold cars with 12-cylinders. A little over a year after releasing the coupe model, Bentley has opened the floodgates on the

This week saw spy shots of Mercedes’ new CLS with a bigger boot. Usually, any saloon or hatchback that comes with a bigger boot is classed in the UK as an estate and estate cars are never usually very cool. They were bought by anyone wanting to lug loads to the dump, collect tons of flat pack furniture from Ikea or for extra space so the dog can come along with the family. But the CLS is a four-door coupe officially which means the CLS seen here is a Shooting Brake. Here’s a little history lesson. ‘Shooting brake’ is a term to describe a two-box car body style that combined coupe features and estate features. The name ‘Brake’ in this case doesn’t mean the

While most of the mainstream car companies are designing smaller, more fuel efficient and environmentally friendly products, Bentley has decided to do the complete opposite and introduce the most luxurious SUV on the market. The yet to be named SUV has a choice of two engines. You can get it with the next generation 6.0l W12 to be used in future Continental GT and GTC models but you also have the option of the same 6.0l V12 turbo diesel available in the top of the range Audi Q7. In an interview with Autocar, Bentley boss Wolfgang Dürheimer says “We will be first to use a 12-cylinder petrol engine in a luxury SUV. I like this idea; it makes clear whose car is the boss.” What I think

Keeping in line with the recently updated Bentley Continental GT coupe, the folks over in Crewe have decided to give the GTC a much needed refresh to make sure it doesn't remain outdated. On the outside, the GT Convertible has much better well-defined lines and the headlights are of noticeable difference. Although a bit froggy looking, the separate blinkers on the front give the GTC that Bentley feel. Bear in mind that the GTC has a cloth roof instead of the hard ones which have recently come into fashion on the 458 Spider and less exotic pieces of metal such as the Volvo C70. The GTC also gets a retuned suspension, a new 40:60 torque split and a widened track with sharpened steering to help prevent