Car Throttle

Up until this point, Audi's A1 has been interesting, but not exciting.  The small avante-garde hatch, based on the VW Polo chassis, has enjoyed brisk sales in it's home country thanks to clever packaging and an appealing price.  But with engines topping out at a 185bhp 1.4 TFSI (like the one in the Skoda Fabia VRs our man Adnan test drove) and front-drive only, it's not really a hot hatch.  More like a warm hatch. Well, Audi finally saw fit to fix that.  Meet the A1 Quattro, all 256bhp and 4 driven wheels of it.  This will be a limited-production model, but it lifts the A1's performance from "meh" to "Oh hi there, you're pretty.  I didn't catch your name!  You have plans later?" Under

Rumors and speculation have been circulating about the new M5 for quite a while now, and BMW just dumped pictures and all the juicy details on their latest super sedan for all the world to see.  Considering how much we knew about the car before it even became public, none of it's particularly surprising, but we do have all the nitty gritty on Bavarian Motor Work's latest bad-ass autobahn bruiser for you. As we've been hearing forever, the high-revving, torque-light 5.0L V10 in the previous (E60) M5 has been given the heave-ho, replaced by the M-spec 4.4L twin-turbocharged V8 currently used by the X5M and X6M.  This compact V8 has reverse-flow manifolds (intake on the outside of the banks, exhaust on the inside) driving double twin-scroll

Yesterday, some images of the next BMW 1-series leaked out online. It used to be that manufacturers would flip their lid, file a cease and desist, and try to get the toothpaste back into the tube, so to speak.  Thankfully, they're starting to learn this never works, and just going with the flow.  This is what BMW did with the 1-Series. The car that replaces the current E81-chassis 1 Series will be bigger in nearly every dimension, save height.  This is probably a good thing; one of the most frequent criticisms leveled at the current 1'er was that it was a tight fit inside for full sized humans.  Overall length is up 85mm, width increases 17mm, the front and rear track widths grow 51 and 72mm,

It's funny that Volkswagen still calls it the New Beetle. I mean, ok.  It doesn't have an air-cooled flat four in the back.  But it's 2011 - you can't call something "new" that debuted in 1998, seriously.  The New Beetle has lead an interesting life - it really kicked off the popularity of the retro trend when it debuted, selling vast quantities of cuteness to soccer moms and sorority girls for a while.  But nothing that's a "style of the moment" stays popular forever, and that's certainly true of the New Beetle.  It was one of those cars where all the people that wanted one bought one pretty early on, and then they kept selling them anyway. A facelift in 2006 made the Beetle a little

OK, this is clearly not a motorcycle blog you're reading right now.  It's CarThrottle. We prefer to smoke two or more tires at a time, and have an unusual attachment to sitting in our vehicles, not on them.  Still, every car guy has a little bit of bike respect or admiration in them.  Although my experience with motorcycles is pretty much limited to a 100cc 4-stroke dirt bike when I was 14, the two-wheel concept is intriguing to me every time someone rides by on one on a nice day. So I do tend to keep abreast of news pertaining to our two-wheeled brethren.  I'd been hearing that Italian maker Ducati was developing a "power cruiser" - a low-slung mostly naked bike with a huge engine

It's here and it's pure gorgeousness! After the endless leaks of teasers and tidbits of information on the Aston-Martin One-77 over the past (well, it seems like forever) we finally get an undisguised view of the the production vehicle. Finally, real headlights! Not the blacked out mockups that have been driving me crazy. Tell me that isn't amazing? The One-77 is absolutely fitting of it's role as the ultimate Aston Martin ever. Along with the new images of the exterior comes a reveal of what's under the skin. Aston Martin has on display at the Geneva Show the first completed carbon fibre and aluminum chassis that will underpin the car. In other words, you're looking at Aston Martin One-77 #1. Take a good look at that interior; it's the