Car Throttle

I went to a junkyard yesterday in search of a few parts for my '97 3-series.  By this point, E36's are starting to pop up in junk yards with mechanical maladies or wreck damage, and the absolute cheapest way to get good parts is from a junk yard.  Sure, it's more of a hassle than finding the bit you need on eBay and clicking "buy it now" - you have to drive to the yard, pay a fee to get in, and find the kind of car you're looking for.  If it's got the part you want, most of the time you've gotta take it off yourself - unless it's already loose.

Turns out the only E36 there was a

It's a sad day for car people.  If you've been on the internet, especially Facebook, and especially General Motor's Facebook page, you probably heard today's big news. Saab filed for bankruptcy in a district court in Sweden today.  We don't make a habit of reporting industry news here at Car Throttle, but this is Saab we're talking about, and this story has been leading to this inevitable conclusion basically since Spyker bought Saab from GM.  With no money to buy the parts to build cars, or pay the workers to build the cars, Saab was in a rough spot.  With accusations of their funding coming from shady places it was hard to secure additional funding to float the company.  And with GM unwilling to supply

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

General Motors today has a radically different product development culture than it did 10 years ago. Products are developed with much less red tape and bureaucratic messes. Hopefully, the corporate development culture has been changed for the good. The change in approach is owed in large part to Bob Lutz, who was hired in 2001 by then-Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner. That's why it was a bit disconcerting to some when he retired from the company in May 2010. Now GM has announced that Maximum Bob is back, in a consulting capacity, providing counsel to the senior leadership of the company. This is good news - Lutz championed performance vehicles and the "secret weapon" journalists the company brought in to provide critique of new

I always make it out to Raleigh's Cars & Coffee event the first Saturday of every month. It's always worth it, even though I abhor waking up early, because there's always awesome stuff to see.  A lot of the same cars show up, so I won't show pictures of stuff you've already seen - for those you can check previous Cars & Coffee coverage here, here, and here. For starters, here is one of 337 Porsche 959's ever built, which was Porsche's rolling technical showcase that blew everything else out of the water in the 1980's, and set the standard for supercar performance.  None were ever imported to the US; it's likely this one has been fitted with the Canepa Design engine

I love Miatas.  They're fantastic cars. I mean, they won't haul furniture or run 11 seconds quarter miles stock, but if you want a light, 2-seat roadster that requires no more maintenance than a Civic - they're hard to beat.  Just enough power to be fun, chassis balanced on a knife's edge, a top that goes down with one hand in about 10 seconds, killer gearshift, pedals placed perfectly for heel-and-toe downshifts, an aftermarket as wide as the sea.  But since the first MX-5 rolled onto our shores in late 1989, it's had a perceived stigma of being a "girl's car." I'm not sure why.  It's basically a Lotus Elan updated with modern electronics, fuel injection, and Japanese reliability.  And the Elan was basically a race

General Motors announced early this morning that the HUMMER brand, formerly dead after the transformation to new-GM and the DOA sale to a Chinese tractor company no one had ever heard of, would be returning next year as the world's only hybrid/EV/electric/environmentally-sensible/responsible/not embarrassing to Americans brand. Jim Taylor, former manager of GM's HUMMER off-road brand, beamed with pride this morning as he made the announcement that everyone had been waiting for.  Standing on the steps of GM's corporate headquarters on Renaissance Avenue in Detroit, MI, Jim began reading from the press release, his voice barely disguising his excitement. "We were faced with a crucial decision.  We could let the HUMMER brand, steeped in history and beloved by the entire American public, sink into the annals of history,

It's good to see signs of life at Saab after everything they've gone through recently. After all, it wasn't too long ago they were being consigned to the dustbin of history by everyone in the industry, left for dead after 20 years of neglect by parent company GM. They've just released details and images of their next offering, the 9-4x, before it's debut at the Los Angeles auto show. And while it might not be my cup of tea, less just be thankful it's happening at all. The 9-4x is basically the Saab version of the Cadillac SRX, which shares a lot of parts with the newly redesigned Chevy Equinox. In fact, to put it in perspective it's helpful to think of this new Saab

General Motors is on the comeback trail after a difficult past few years. Sales are up and most importantly, new models are selling to retail customers with little incentives. Perhaps the brand that has been doing the best of all is Buick. That comes as a surprise to many industry observers who left the brand for dead. The Enclave started the revolution back in 2008, being a competitive product. It followed with the LaCrosse and now the European-sourced Buick Regal is doing well. What's next for the brand? A small car to slot into the emerging small premium segment. We've been hearing about a Buick small car for quite some time, and the rumors have been true - officially confirmed today by GM. Not only have they been

Last year was a difficult year for the automotive industry - iconic brands being lost and lots of changes in the order of things. Porsche was bought up by Volkswagen, and over at GM Pontiac, Saturn, and now HUMMER have all disappeared. Saab was almost added to that list more than once, until an unlikely bid came from Spyker that saved the brand. Now, the car that everyone hopes will save the brand - the 9-5, is getting official pricing for the United States market. It is good to be talking product again! The 9-5 a product many thought would never get to see the light of day. Autoblog attended the opening of Saab's new U.S headquarters in Royal Oak, Michigan and while they were there,