Car Throttle

We've thought all along that what the Honda CR-Z needs is an injection of excitement. The aftermarket, like usual, is happy to oblige. Mugen is a Honda tuner that has close official ties with the manufacturer though. From the very beginning it seemed intent on offering a solution for enthusiasts that turned the car into an exciting drive. Very soon after the CR-Z production debut there was word of a sportier Mugen-tuned model coming. That effort came to fruition at this year's Goodwood Festival of Speed in July. There was two models, in fact - a Mugen CR-Z Concept and a CR-Z RR. The RR is racing-focused and more extreme than the aforementioned Mugen CR-Z Concept. There wasn't any word about production of either

It seems like opinions on the stanced car scene fall into two categories.  It's sort of polarizing.  Either "low is a lifestyle, and I enjoy scraping my sump on speedbumps because dammit, it looks good" - or something more along the lines of "All that camber reduces your contact patch, riding so close to the bump stops compromises handling, I hope you like changing wheel bearings, and why make a car look like a race car when it can't handle?"  It's the battle of form versus function, and it's not really new at all. Regardless of where you stand on that issue, it's hard to argue they make great show cars.  Two big stance groups - Stance:Nation from the west coast and ISO (Insane Stance &

What is beauty? Can a car be beautiful? That's a question many of us car folk torment ourselves with night after sleepless night. The quick answer to that is yes, achieving a stunning facade can be created and the 2011 Honda CR-Z may have just completed that achievement. The slightly more lengthy answer is that "it depends". Depends on whether the exterior styling delivers emotion, depends on whether the inside has more guts than a Bear Grylls camel, and depends on whether the car as a whole package has got - as much as I hate to use the phrase - The X Factor. The Honda CR-Z is a mark of the future with its 1.5-litre petrol engine mated to an electric motor which produces upto 57 lb-ft

The Ariel Atom is already the purest distillation of a sports car you can get your hands on in the US.  I suppose with the exception of the kit-form-only Cateram 7 and the soon-to-be-imported KTM X-Bow, anyway.  It doesn't even have body panels.  It looks like an alien probing device with an engine, wheels, and a license plate. A regular Ariel Atom weighs in at 1,350lbs(!) and the weakest engine is a Honda K20 drive-by-wire motor out of the RSX Type-S, an aluminum 2.0L 16v motor with VTEC, 200bhp, and an 8,000+rpm redline.  There's also the option of a tweaked naturally aspirated 245bhp K20, and a supercharged 300 horsepower K20.  300 horsepower in a "normal" car is pretty intense.  300bhp in a 1,350lb car gives it a

Times are tough.  Credit used to flow like water, getting a job after securing a bachelor's degree in English was a sure thing, and the world was a lot easier place to live in.  Not so any more: those who once figured "Hell, I have a job and a pulse, I can get a new car" are now realizing that no, they can't.  They don't have a credit score of 700 and a 10,000 down payment sitting around.  What's a car enthusiast to do? If you're handy with wrenches and know a fuel injector from an EGR valve, you don't have to plunk down 40 grand for a car that will both plaster a smile on your face 95% of the time and not leave you

Last month, I started up a night-time car show with the help of some local friends. The first few meetings were in an outdoor parking lot, but another location became available, so we jumped on it: a well-lit underground parking deck.  This has some benefits, and some downsides.  On the upside, you can hold a carshow underground whether it's raining or snowing or whatever.  The downside: it gets hot in there. For a fledgling car show, a turnout of 50+ cars on short notice is (especially in Raleigh!) is nothing short of astounding.  Without any specific brand associations, the variety of stuff that turns up for a show is pretty satisfying as well. This Lexus IS350 is well known in the NC area; it was

The Goodwood Festival of Speed is held in England every July, and while full-scale automotive launches don't take place at the event, many tuners come and announce their latest wares. Mugen is a Honda tuner, and has been showing off its CR-Z Concept for a while. The CR-Z has been a big disappointment to enthusiasts, mainly in the performance arena given its hybrid drivetrain. Mugen aims to tap into the car's potential and in doing so, to change its character completely. That's the CR-Z Concept's goal. But the CR-Z Concept isn't the only introduction by Mugen at the show though. The company has also announced a more track-focused concept called the CR-Z RR. Mugen calls the CR-Z RR Concept a "study model" that is

The longer I hang around Raleigh, the more I realize we've got a vibrant car culture. There are groups and enthusiasts everywhere; it's just a matter of knowing where to look.  A friend of mine (with one of the most sleeper Civics ever) let me know about a car meet that occurs every Friday night at the Sonic Drive-In in Cary, near NC State.  I'd never even heard there was a meet there, but figured I'd give it a shot.  According to regulars, it was a pretty small turn-out.  I wasn't disappointed; the meet filled up the entire Sonic parking lot and overflowed into the grocery store lot next to it; and this was at 10:30 at night!  Check out some of the stuff that

No car clubs, no sponsors, no vendor tents - just car people standing in a parking lot. A few years ago, that's how it used to be in Raleigh.  Of course, the downside to that was it was the prelude to a whole bunch of illegal street racing, a meetup spot where people popped hoods and talked cars, oogled girls, then rolled out to the highway in a big group, doing 3rd gear rolls to absurd speeds until the cops showed up. Then came the crackdown; RPD got sick of it, and the street racing - the bad stuff - along with the impromptu, unorganized night time car shows - were basically eradicated.  You used to be able to roll up to a number of different

Dank: it's a noun, an urban-ism, with a lot of meanings. It can refer to food ("that burrito was dank!"), music ("this house DJ is dank!") or a number of other things.  In the car world, Dank is usually used to describe stanced/hellaflush cars.  So Dank-Fest seems like a proper title for a show devoted to the Stance & Offset crowd.  The show - which was the first - was organized and put together by StancedLyfe, Wilkseboro Crew, and Hoodstatus, and was supported or sponsored by ISO, TeamRPM, NOS Energy, Firestone (locally), GoGirl Entertainment, and SOHO Motorsports. So... what the hell is Stance & Offset?  In mechanical terms, it's a car that's slammed to the ground, cambered out, stretched tires and rolled fenders with the wheels