Car Throttle

As the small German city of Frankfurt enters its final three days of glamour and gloss in front of the eyes of the general public, the rush from the first Press Day on Tuesday 13th September has now finally worn off. And after an extremely tiring but fun two days in FF which saw my feet slowly morph into concrete slabs, I'm here to relive some of the good bits and some of the bad bits from the IAA 2011. Favourite Concept Car - BMW i8 Frankfurt is usually the place to see the craziest concoctions from the auto world's greatest minds in engineering and manufacture. This year there were more concept cars than ever before looking to steal the limelight including the Jaguar C-X16,

Jaguar has already shown sketches of their concept for the Frankfurt show, and now pictures of the real thing as well as some details have surfaced.  While some other *cough, Honda* manufacturers have promised us a Hybrid sports car, then given us a weird hatchback with 122 horsepower, there might actually be something to Jaguar's sports-car hybrid, which they say is bound for production. Called the C-X16, right off the bat it's a winner: It's damn pretty.  The styling is instantly recognizable as the work of Jaguar's Ian Callum, designer of multiple Astons and Jags.  Strictly a two-seater, the C-X16 (or whatever it will wind up being called in production) will slot below the XK as an entry-level Jaguar sports car- something they promised us

We're continuing to up the ante in the run-up to this year's biggest automotive show, Frankfurt 2011. We have already covered the updated Suzuki Swift Sport which is set to wow hot hatch lovers when it's released to the wild in Germany, but now is news straight from Jaguar about a new production concept which we will be reporting on live from the auto expo halls. Dubbed the C-X16, with an artistic rendering taking the front cover, Jaguar have promised that the vehicle will be "a precursor to future Jaguar sports cars that will aim to set new class benchmarks in design, vehicle dynamics and technology." The prancing feline manufacturer hasn't really given much away to the press but Autocar reports that the production version is

Excuse me for being excited, but it's been a while. And by a while, I mean 12 years.  And by "it" I mean the introduction of a new 9-5.  We've heard a lot about the car that is to save Saab (if anything will) here on CarThrottle, but Saab has finally put out it's official set of press releases for the new 9-5 and now we've got all the little details to share with you.  On paper at least it looks extremely promising in a lot of regards, but the proof's in the pudding...  or at least behind the wheel.  Still, get 'em while they're hot: new Saab 9-5 specifications! As you probably know, the new 9-5 sits on the Epsilon II chassis shared with the Opel

Fast wagons are cool. I don't want to hear any whining, it's the truth and you know it.  With that out of the way, the pool of truly fast wagons has just grown by one, and I have to say I'm pretty smitten. The E63 wagon isn't a new concept - in fact, they've been selling E63 AMG's in the US the last few years - but this is AMG version of the new E-class wagon.  So while the engine doesn't change (much), the body of the blitzen Benz is all new, and man is it good looking.  With a nod to Autoblog for these images, wouldn't you say this is one of the meanest looking wagons ever made? The engine is still AMG's bespoke 6.2L 32v

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it." It's worked for a lot of cars in the past, hasn't it?  How about the Jeep Cherokee?  The Fox-platform Mustangs?  One could definetely say that Mini has a tried-and-true formula, and thus "ain't broke."  But apparently Mini's strategy of selling cute, sharp handling sports cars disguised as hatchbacks (to the rate of 30,000 units YTD in the US, which by the way is about 23,000 more than BMW's own attempt at small premium cars, the 1-series Coupe) isn't enough, and they're adding more models. Now, I think this is ridiculous, but I suppose diversity isn't a bad thing.  We've already covered the interesting looking Mini Coupe here, but the interesting news is that it and a drop-top sibling are

There's a metric ton of exciting new metal coming out at Frankfurt this year. The list is pretty long:  R8 drop-top, Ferrari 458, a bunch of cool concept cars, a new Bugatti, supercars galore, little diesel-hybrid things, and god knows what else.  What am I most excited about the debut of, though?  ...A Volkswagen Golf.  Well, this Volkswagen Golf, to be particular. This is the new Golf R20, the high-performance variant of the new MKVI Golf/Jetta chassis.  You may notice a name change, and you're not to be blamed for thinking it isn't for the better.  The R20 replaces the Golf R32 as the top dog in VW's staid, sensible family hatchback range.  Where as the previous Golf R32 had a howling 24v 3.2L VR6 motor (a

It's sad, but it seems that Audi has finally figured out how to make a proper Saab. What am I talking about?  Alright, if I told you that there was this really nicely equipped car with four doors and a visible hatchback, tons of grip, lots of safety equipment, refined and modern design, and an engine that combines tons of power with surprising fuel economy...  You'd probably think it was a Saab. But sadly, this is the real world, and modern Saabs continue to disappoint.  Hey, something had to take the spiritual place of the 9000 Aero.  I suppose I'm fine with the fact that it's an Audi.  And why am I whining, then?  Well, mainly because Audi hasn't see fit to stamp "export to USA" on

I gotta say, I'm getting pretty sick of it. By "it" I mean the constant stream of newly released tasty hot hatches that will never see the light of day in the US.  I can dream, though, right?  There's liable to be a few such debuts at the Frankfurt show, and we've already covered one - the luscious Fiat 500 Abarth 695 Tributo Ferrari.  It's also likely we'll see an RS version of Audi's attractive A3 hatch, packing my personal favorite current production engine - the TT RS's 5-cylinder DI Turbo motor.  And you can add Alfa Romeo to the list of manufacturers I hate, because they're debuting an especially tasty version of the adorable little MiTo hatchback. Called the Quadrifoglio Verde, it sits above

Frankfurt seems to be the show to debut your exotic supercar at this year. Already we've got the Mclaren MP4-12C, the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Gullwing, the Ferrari 458 Italia, the Audi R8 Spyder, and probably the Noble M600.  Add the topless variant of Lamborghini's wild Reventon supercar to the mix, and it looks like it's going to be a killer show this year, economy-on-life-support or not. I honestly thought the Reventon was done at this point; it was limited to 25 units of production and all were sold to rich oil sheiks, or something.  Apparently Lambo isn't done with this futuristic-looking range topper, or perhaps they want something mental to compete with the Aston One-77.  The Reventon is still just a Murcielago with a really cool