Car Throttle

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

The Gullwing is back, and in a big way. We've been seeing spyshots of the upcoming modern Gullwing Benz for what seems like eternity at this point, and it's good to finally have a face to associate with a name.  And oh, what a face. The SLS AMG takes the spot left in Merc's fold by the now-departed, somewhat unloved McLaren SLR, affectionately known as the McMerc in some circles.  It is to sit atop the heap of Mercedes-Benz models as their halo car, as well as providing a technical showcase of the AMG division's automotive know-how.  It is both retro and modern, aggressive and beautiful, and it's 100% a rolling event.  Let's take a closer look at this range-topping supercar. The SLS was supposed to stay

A new Rolls Royce is something like getting a new Pope. It doesn't happen very often, it's sort of a big deal, but the fact of the matter is it looks exactly like the last one.  There's a new Rolls Royce out, and if you scratch your head and say "it sure looks like the last one," then you're not alone.  What's cool is that this is a new kind of Rolls Royce.  It's supposedly a Rolls Royce for people who want to actually drive their Rolls Royce, which isn't really something they've done in the past. The car's official debut is schedule for the Frankfurt show (where else?) but like most cars these days, the real debut for the Ghost comes a few weeks ahead of

You might be tired of hearing about special edition Elises, but I'm not. In fact, what's wrong with you?  They're Lotuses, you like them if you're reading this site, so here we go. The latest infinitessimally different Elise is based on the entry-level Elise S, and it's called the Club Racer.  It's a modern Elise with some classic Lotus styling cues and colors, wrapped up in a fun (and efficient!) package with an attractive price. The Club Racer inherits the standard Elise's 134bhp 1ZZ-FE engine, shared with the Corolla and MR2.  While that sounds as fun as partying with a bunch of nuns, when coupled to the Elise's 860kg kerb weight (1896lbs) it equals surprising performance - 0-60mph in 5.7 seconds - along with surprising efficiency.  The

The Porsche 911 is sort of like Medusa. You cut off one of it's heads and... wait, no, that's not right.  No, the Porsche 911 is sort of like a Mustang - there are so many versions you can't keep track, and they just keep introducing new variations anyway. This latest derivative is more of a throwback to the old days of the 911, though, rather than a new model name because they changed the shift knob design.  It combines totally modern performance (actually above and beyond a regular 911) with some classic 911 styling cues, including a few we haven't seen in a while. Let's start with the most obvious.  Gotta be the knockoff Fuchs-style alloy wheels.  How utterly awesome are these? The 911 SC isn't just

In the history of elaborate automotive introductions at auto shows, there has been some quite interesting things. Cars crashing through windows, a Dodge Ram being debuted with a herd of cattle - those are just a few off the top of my head. In recent years these have been toned down as budgets got tighter, but displaying at an auto show is still a highly expensive endeavor. From the sounds of it, Wiesmann is planning an unique introduction of it's own. They call it "building a sports car" but in reality an uncompleted car will be displayed at the show, where two members of Wiesmann's team will work to complete it. Wiesmann says: "On this way we will be able to show our manufacturing skills and our

More detailed spy photos of the long-rumored Mercedes Gullwing sportscar have broken cover, courtesy of admirably nutty Brit car site PistonHeads.  This replacement for the soon-departed Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren will feature "gullwing" doors in honor of the famous 1950's 300SL Gullwing race car, with retrofuturistic styling to match.  Underneath, though, the SLS AMG will be a fully modern performance vehicle. The press release cleverly disguised as spy photos tell us a bit about what to expect from the SLS.  The chassis is an all-aluminum space frame, for exceptional rigidity and reduced weight.  Power will come from a front-mounted aluminum V8 sitting mostly behind the front axle.  Based on the bespoke AMG 6.2L 32v V8 that sees duty in everything from the C-Class to the SL,