Car Throttle

We showed you a spy photo of the Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet yesterday. The real, official thing debuted at the Los Angeles Auto show today, with a price tag and lots of pictures, and I have to admit that I'm still just as confused as I was before. The whole idea behind the CrossCabriolet is to provide a convertible for people that want a useful, comfortable, spacious convertible - not an impractical sports car.  There aren't many convertibles that can seat 5 people in comfort along with carry a lot of luggage, and most of them have absurd price tags.  (The Bentley Continental GTC comes to mind, here.)  So a Murano convertible makes some sense in theory, actually - it's just the execution is a bit hard to

Some articles really don't require a whole slew of words to convey a point. This is one of them.  Behold, the upcoming Nissan Murano... CrossCabrio. You see, what we've got here is, uhh...  Well, it looks like someone took a Nissan Murano, hacked two of the doors off, and gave it a drop top.  About this strange creation, Nissan has to say the following:

"The world’s first all-wheel drive crossover convertible, delivers the open-air exhilaration of a convertible while extending the versatility of the Murano in exciting new ways. With room for four adults, space for golf bags or luggage (even with the top down), and a premium level interior, the Murano CrossCabriolet represents a breakthrough in concept and design.

Some of our readers may know that for a while, I ran another website called SaabSnaab. (Yeah, isn't that clever?)  Sadly, SaabSnaab has since lapsed into non-existance while I figure out what I'm going to do next for my own site, but in the mean time I think that CarThrottle is a reasonable place to spout my disturbing Saab-related ramblings.  After all, we've got a wonderfully eclectic mixture of readers with interests everywhere between Tesla and Galant VR-4's; this post is bound to resonate with someone.  I'm actually making this post on Brian's behalf, who requested a continuation of my previous Life With An Old Car article via email.  This is a continuation of my observations in Part 1. A Cool Old Car Is Less Than

The Continental SuperSports sits at the top of Bentley's range, as the halo performance variant of the Phaeton-based Continental range.  It's a bit out of place in my mind, to be honest:  carbon fibre this and that, parcel shelf instead of a back seat, E85 flex-fuel capability, a horse-ton of horsepower, Darth Vader-on-meth styling, and a top speed that clears 200mph by a comfortable margin are not things one associates with an "old money" traditional British luxury brand.  Still, it's awesome in an "I don't quite understand this" sort of way - there's no obvious reason for it's existence, but aren't you glad it exists in the first place? Well if you're a fan of the Continental SuperSports, by the transitive property you should be even

The Audi R8 is already one of the most desirable vehicles on the market. It combines the exotic feel and performance of a Lamborghini Gallardo with all of Audi's know-how on how to make a modern vehicle.  It's coddling and comfortable, extremely fast yet nimble, refined but slight old-school - have you seen that gated shifter?  And now, Audi's cranking up the "want one" qoutient to 11.  Today the first images of the upcoming R8 Spyder have hit the web, and I like what I see. As far as the design goes, there aren't a whole lot of surprises in store.  It's an R8 without the solid roof.  And while most coupes look awful with the top chopped off (I'm looking at you, Nissan 350Z!), the

Since the Maserati GranTurismo debuted in 2007, we've been twiddling our thumbs waiting for the drop-top version to appear.  Well, twiddle no more Maserati afficianados, for the GranCabrio is here!  And while it isn't exactly the most shocking thing ever (I mean, it's a GranTurismo without a solid roof, what were you expecting?), it's still a convertible Maserati. A few things worth mentioning about this particular drop-top goddess: unlike most of it's competition, the GranCabrio will use a folding canvas roof, rather than the ever-popular folding hardtop (Merc SL, Cadillac XLR, etc.)  In a break from Maserati tradition, the Spyder's wheelbase remains the same as it's fixed-roof counterpart, which means that it retains it's back seats - however useless they may be.  Previous drop-top Maser's ditched

What the manufacturer fails to deliver, the aftermarket will always provide - err - something like that. Aftermarket companies have been in business providing you a way to convert your vehicle into a convertible. Whether or not they do a good job, now that's a different story. Some do it better than others though, and you can really tell the ones that do well from the ones that don't. Newport Convertible Engineering (NCE) recently did a conversion on the Mercedes Benz CL AMG, currently available from the Mercedes as a coupe-only. Recent work that the company has done include the Toyota Prius, Toyota FJ Cruiser, Hummer H2 and the Cadillac CTS. Top up, the car looks quite good. When it's collapsed is where things fall apart (no pun intended).  The

The appeal of the Saab 9-3 Viggen is enigmatic, to say the least. Objectively, it's not that great of a car.  It's reasonably quick (2.3L turbo I4 with 235bhp in a small car will do that!) but suffers from an awful shift linkage, massive wrist-snapping torque steer, and a chassis as stiff as cooked spaghetti in convertible form. Still, I have this deep-seated urge for a Viggen (as you can see in my recent post here).  They have character.  And I like torque steer.  Also, they're quite photogenic. This beautiful Viggen-in-the-sunset picture comes courtesy of the most talented Flickr user Mugley, who seems to have an affinity for blowup sex dolls and jackal masks in his unique photography.  Takes all types, I suppose.  The clarity of

Italian automaker FIAT has revealed the expected convertible version of the 500 supermini ahead of it's debut at the Geneva auto show next month. It's pretty much what fans of the super cute subcompact were expecting, which is no bad thing. The drop-top (sort of!) version, called the 500C, differs from it's competition mainly in it's structure.  Instead of having a full drop-top (as in, the entire roof folds), the 500C retains it's roof arches and C-pillar, with a powered roll-back canvas top providing fresh air. I suppose the main benefit of this is retaining the majority of the closed car's structural rigidity and rollover safeness, but I suspect it also has a lot to do with it being cheaper as well as a historical reference.  See