Car Throttle

Even though the recent recession fatally wounded parts of the industry and fossil fuels running dry will threaten its future, the world of cars is still very much alive and kicking. There is such a variety of new products coming out this year ranging from affordable city cars you'll actually want to own, to ridiculously expensive supercars you'll lust after, old school coupes to revolutionary family cars, petrol engines to plug-in electric motors. The list is almost endless. So to help fellow car lovers and "new kids on the block" out, here's a round-up of 33 cars we can't wait to see in 2012 in order of release date. January 2012 Kia Optima It's been available around the world for a while but the Kia Optima

BMW disappoint me. Sure they build fabulous performance cars like the BMW 1-Series M Coupe, the M3, the M5, and the to-be-built 552bhp BMW M6. But that's about it really. No gull-winged, bi-spoilered, extra wide arched, super-low supercars. This irks me as BMW are now, in my opinion, either too profit-oriented, politically correct, socially conscious or environmentally friendly for their own good. In a recent interview, BMW North America's Product Manager stated that the German brand doesn't feel the need to make a supercar and that they like to build practical cars that are drivers' cars and executive cars that one can use everyday. This thought is further cemented by the statement made by Albert Biermann, BMW M’s development chief who told Autocar last year that

The M Performance line is intended to fit in between regular production BMW's, and the full-fat M models (M3, M5, 1M Coupe, etc).  Sort of like S-Line Audis, R-Design Volvos, and AMG Package Benzes, but with a catch: all four M Performance models that are coming to the Geneva Show in March are powered by diesels. Go cry in your beer if you want, but I'm not joking about the "Monster diesel" part.  Case in point: BMW's 4.4L twin-turbo V8 as seen in the 550i, 650, 750i, etc makes a healthy 400 horsepower and 440lb-ft of torque.  This new 3.0L I6 diesel going into these models makes 381bhp and 546lb-ft of torque.  Yes, five hundred forty six, or 740nM if you prefer that scale.  That's

Before a certain Mr. LFA was born, a typical Lexus owner would have been pushing 50 years old. A fact probably unsurprising given that all Lexus built a short while back were three saloons; small, medium, large and a convertible to top it off. All were quiet, comfortable, peaceful and they weren't in your face. To then improve their product range, the folks in Toyota City decided to add the same hybrid technology as Toyota's Prius into their cars to make one of the first 4x4 hybrids on the market. However just talking about the not-so-distant past of Lexus induces yawning from your good author. The future, on the other hand, looks very exciting indeed. 2009 saw the first IS-F, a 5.0L V8

One of the best niche body styles out there has to be the four-door coupe. First invented by Mercedes back in 2004, the idea was to make a car that looks as elegant as the CL but gives it the practicality and comfort of the E-Class and the resulting car was dubbed the CLS. There have been others since from Team Germany such as the Audi A7 and the up and coming BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe. They're great if you have executive car money but what if you're bored of your humble Passat? The people's car manufacturer had this problem in mind when they created the Passat CC back in 2008 and now there's a new one. This time they've ditched the 'P' word for us

Not many rugged off-roaders have style these days. There's only one that springs to mind which is the Mercedes G55 AMG, but that costs supercar money to buy and run. However there's now another proper off-roader from Mitsubishi that aims to look good and cross all manner of terrains; the Shogun Black. It's the second of Mitsubishi's products to come with the limited edition 'Black' styling tweaks, the first being the baby ASX crossover. Don't forget to subscribe to Car Throttle YouTube's channel as our winter sports day review of the ASX Black will be hitting your screens soon! The Shogun Black is pretty much the top of the range, long wheel-based, 7-seat SG4 but it comes with black 20" alloys, rear spoiler, wing mirrors,

It's not long to go until Christmas is finally here! If you haven't done your Christmas shopping yet then why not have a look at the Christmas presents that the car fans in your life will love or hate you for. I'll let you into a secret, I've been given a couple of the presents featured in the past (it's easy buying me petrol-head related pressies). BMW M-Sport Coffee Table To start things off imagine one of your friends or someone in your family recently settled into a new home. Picture the scene. They need somewhere to put the TV guide, random bits of paperwork and their drink and you notice that they once gave you a lift in a M-Powered BMW. Well I've found the perfect

The fast diesel car is something of a faux pas. It's a playground dare - every manufacturer secretly fancies seeing how one would be received, but doesn't want to risk making the leap of faith themselves, in case they get sent to see the headmaster. Or their shareholders. The attempts we've seen up until now have extended to been the utterly crackers, disgusting and fantastical Audi Q7 V12 TDi (the world's first production V12 diesel road car) to the other end of several scales (price, size, taste) with the thoroughly sensible Skoda Fabia vRS. You could add the BMW 535d to that list as well, but that was merely the top branch of the Five diesel tree, rather than a dedicated go-fast model. Since Audi began

We're at the point now where a 4-door "Coupe" isn't weird.  I suppose.  Passat CC, two generations of the Mercedes CLS, we'll call anything a coupe.  So here's the latest: the four-door version of BMW's 6-series coupe.  My Coupe runneth over.  So what's the deal with the 6-Series Gran Coupe? Well, it's a four-door version 0f BMW's third-generation 6-series.  Or, it's a 5-series with a lower roof line.  Or, it's a BMW CLS.  Some have been wondering why companies bother making these types of cars, and others have been wondering what took BMW so long to make a CLS clone.  I fall into the latter camp; Merc sells a good number of the swoopy CLS, so it's a no-brainer that BMW would follow suit. BMW's styling

One must maintain perspective when driving an old car.  You hear legends and stories about how great something was, but you have to remember that it was during the time period it was around those legends accumulated.  Best example of this: old school muscle cars from the 60's.  Sure, they're cool, and back in the day they were some of the fastest things with wheels and license plates.  But if you lined up a Chevelle SS396 with a 4-speed against a brand new, stock 2.0L Volkswagen GTI, it would get it's lunch handed to it.  This is perspective, and it's important to keep. So when I was given the opportunity to slide behind the wheel of a 1988 BMW M6, sure I was excited.  It's one