Car Throttle

One of the highlights of the Geneva Motor Show next month is the fastest Audi TT yet. The new TT RS Plus is exactly what it says on the boot lid: a TT RS plus more power, more torque and more speed. The original TT RS comes with a 2.5-litre, 5 cylinder direct injection petrol with 335bhp and 332 lb ft of torque which gives it a 0-62mph time of 4.6 seconds, the same as the standard R8, and a limited top speed of 155mph. That isn't enough for some people, though, so the Plus gets a revised inlet manifold and increased turbocharger boost to deliver 355bhp and 343lb ft of torque meaning the 0-62mph is down to 4.1 seconds with the S-tronic gearbox. That's just

The Chicago auto show is here, and one of the first reveals is the new Hyundai Elantra Coupe, as well as the GT hatchback.  While the GT Hatchback isn't exactly new (more on that in a minute), the Elantra Coupe is. Designed to compete with the Civic Coupe and the Kia Forte Koup, the Elantra 2-door takes Hyundai's "fluidic sculpture" into a sportier package.  It's a good looking car in my eyes, with a traditional coupe roofline and an abbreviated, swoopy tail. With how well US sales of the new Elantra have gone (have you noticed they're everywhere?) it makes sense that Hyundai would expand the lineup with some additional models - and a coupe and hatchback are probably a good place to start, considering corporate

FINALLY.  The friggin' Buick Encore is here.  All my dreams and prayers have been answered, I'm so excited I can hardly...

...oh, sorry, got caught up in Auto Show mode there.  I'm just glad we don't have to deal with teaser images of a small SUV any more.  Look, I love auto show season.  Even after years of this, it still gets my blood going - who doesn't like seeing new stuff for the first time?  But not everything that comes out at the auto shows are worth an entire article.  Thus, Car Throttle News Bites: Detroit Auto Show Edition.  If you missed the earlier coverage, you can find it under the Detroit 2012 Category.

Speaking of that

We've prayed, we've hoped and Honda have responded. You can buy your very own CR-Z Mugen, one very quick hybrid, from next year. Car Throttle had the opportunity to take the CR-Z Mugen prototype for a quick test drive at the SMMT test day back in October as well other test cars (which you can check out here) and it was the most fun Adnan had that day. This little Honda coupe is fast. It can go from 0-62mph in 6.1 seconds thanks to a rebuilt 1.5L IMA engine from Mugen which pumps out 200hp and 158lb-ft of torque. This is much better than the standard car and you can check out our review of that here. Mugen also changed the suspension to improve

Hyundai's Genesis Coupe took everyone by surprise when it came out in 2009.  A brand previously known for building cheap, boring transportation appliances had given us a shapely rear-wheel-drive sports coupe with great weight balance, and a choice of two engines: a tuner-friendly 2.0L Turbo base model, and a 3.8L V6, both available with 6 speed manual or automatic transmissions. In doing so, they pitched the GenCoupe directly against established musclecars like the Mustang, Camaro and Challenger - as well as against some import sports coupes like the Eclipse, Infiniti G35/G37, Nissan 350/370Z, and the BMW 1-Series.  It's a tough crowd.  And while the Genesis still shines as a driver's car, it doesn't shine as brightly in comparison any more.  Almost all it's competitors have gained

Well, for one thing, it's a tongue twister.  Mini Cooper S Coupe.  Koop.  Sha-doop.  Not quite a Touareg-level mockery of the English language, sure, but still not something that rolls off the tongue.  But there's more to the odd case of the Cooper Coupe than just the name. If you can't readily tell, what we have here is a Cooper Hardtop with only two seats, a chopped-off windshield, a greenhouse shaped like a backwards baseball hat, a pair of spoilers (one fixed), and not a whole excess of headroom.  If you love Minis for their faux-British charm, you'll love the Coupe.  If you hate them for how purposefully "styled" they are, you'll probably have an aneurysm.  Then get back in your Grand National and mumble about "cars

Finally.  This was bound to happen.  Hyundai sells two cars called Genesis - the sedan and the coupe.  And while they're somewhat related, they're more different than similar under the skin.  So while the sedate (albeit good-looking, well-equipped, and well-priced) Genesis sedan and the related Equus uberlux liner enjoy the silent thunder of Hyundai's 4.6L and 5.0L 32v Tau V8, the company line is that all that quad-cam V8 goodness just doesn't fit under the hood of the smaller coupe.

This is a bummer.  The Genesis goes up against cars like the Mustang, Camaro and Challenger - all of which offer gigantic V8's with north of 400bhp - and some north of 500bhp - as upper level options.  The Hyundai Genesis

Here's Part II of the SEMA Preview coverage.  Alternative title: Turbos, widebodies, big brakes and roll bars, oh my!  In the previous post I covered GM, Mopar, Mazda, and Hyundai.  Now we're moving on to Toyota.

Toyota, Lexus, and Scion have always had a strong presence at SEMA. This year will be no different, with all three divisions bringing concept cars in a futile attempt to convince us the brand is still interesting. Toyota's "big announcement" was the introduction of the F-Sport package for the new-generation Lexus GS350 sedan, which makes the car better looking (negotiable) but not any faster. The exterior gets 19" alloy wheels with 235/40/19 tires (RWD F-sports get 265/35/19 rears, AWD's are square), a more aggressive front

The yearly SEMA (Special Equipment Manufacturers Association) show happens in Las Vegas.  That's enough reason to want to go to it.  But more than the exotic locale (way better than, err, Detroit), SEMA is a hotbed of aftermarket parts.  If you're inclined to think this is a no-big-deal sort of affair, that's not the case.  The SEMA show attracts so much attention that manufacturers themselves have been getting into the SEMA game for a few years now, whether directly or through various 3rd party companies.

There are so many "new car" debuts prior to SEMA that I would literally flood your RSS feed with them.  I don't want to do that.  Plus, I can't write an entire article about a Chevy Sonic

For those who love the idea of the Mini Coupe but don't want a roof that looks like a baseball cap, I bring great news. Mini has released images of a new convertible version of the coupe called the Roadster. The new Roadster has a fabric roof, just like in the bigger Mini Convertible, but unlike it's bigger brother, the fabric roof folds away into its own storage compartment instead of lying on the back end. The roof is semi-automatic meaning that to put it down you would unlock a latch yourself and then the roof will fold away by itself. There are other differences with its bigger convertible sibling. The Roadster sits 20mm closer to the ground, the