Car Throttle

Ahahaha, oh my. An "entry level" supercar - right, that makes sense.  It used to be there were sports cars that normal people could afford (Mustang, Corvette, Porsche 944, etc), and Supercars that only oil barons and filthy rich Enron executives could afford (F512M, Countach, Cizeta Moroder, EB110.)  As the industry moves along, though, we've actually developed upper and lower echelons of the supercar.  It's funny to think of something costing nearly a quarter-million dollars as being "entry level," but despite all the insanity of the Ferrari 458 Italia, it's not the craziest thing they make. There didn't used to be a lot of choice here, either - you could pretty much get an F355 or an Esprit, and a few others have crept in here

Porsche's moves that have antagonized brand purists are well-chronicled; the Cayenne and Panamera both have not been well-received by those enthusiasts. To us, the Panamera is definitely more of a Porsche than the Cayenne is. Regardless, the market has taken eagerly to both models, powering Porsche to new sales and profit heights. People like their four-hour Porsches! The car was born out of Porsche's realization that BMW and Mercedes-Benzes were parked next to their owners Cayennes in the driveway, leaving a huge untapped potential for the company. With that type of clientele, you wouldn't expect manual transmissions to be the most popular option. And they aren't - the take rate is so low in fact that Car and Driver reports the next-generation car will be losing

You never know what'll show up at Cars & Coffee in Raleigh. Sometimes it's about 50 late-model Corvettes, sometimes it's a bunch of British cars, but this month there was a good amount of variety. A quite rare mid-80's SVO Mustang.  I've already done a retrospective on the SVO on CarThrottle here before, so if you want the details you can take a look.  These were basically the more sophisticated cousin of the GT 5.0, replacing the heavy 302ci Windsor V8 with a 2.3L overhead-cam I4, a turbocharger, and a top mount intercooler.  There was also better suspension, brakes, and a few tweaks on the outside to differentiate it from the regular model.  The huge jump in price over the (almost as fast, and

Sports cars come in all shapes and sizes. The question of "what constitutes a sports car?" is not one with an easy answer.  Some people would say "Well, it's got to have two seats, and a folding roof."  So, the Mitsubishi Evo isn't a sports car?  "Well, it's got to be really fast."  So the Mazda Miata isn't a sports car?  "Well, it has to be rear-wheel-drive."  So the Honda CRX isn't a sports car? The definition of a sports car is an ethereal, ever-changing thing.  30 years ago, there were no such things as sports sedans.  Sedans for were for boring people, sports cars were for exciting people with rockstar lives.  The original BMW M5 punched a solid hole through that theory, and today we've

The slow-selling Porsche Cayman remains an enthusiast favorite, offering the performance of the mid-engined Boxster with a fixed roof. The Cayman is the latest Porsche model to received the "Black Edition" treatment, following the Boxster S and 911 Black Edition. The Cayman S Black Edition follows in the footsteps of its siblings, and lives up to its title. It truly is black, all over. The exterior is finished in black (of course) and is monochrome, with trim pieces such as the air intake grilles, twin exhaust pipes and badging finished in black. This carries through to the 19-inch Boxster Spyder wheels. Black remains the only color in the interior, but time aluminum and stainless steel accents are there to break up the monotony. Here it makes

I do like the Porsche Panamera. It may look like a very large toad and if you parked it beside an Aston Martin Rapide, a Maserati Quattroporte or a Mercedes Benz CLS you would find that it is actually very ugly in that sort of company. But that hasn’t stopped Porsche from selling a whole lot of them. The reason for this is presence. It has bus-loads of road presence and if one suddenly pulled up right behind you, you’d be slightly intimidated and move over in an instant. Unless you’re in something as equally rapid, that is. And with that little thought out of the way I’d like to introduce the new Porsche Panamera Diesel. The oil burning Panamera Diesel is obviously catered to those

Continuing along with the rest of the new stuff at NYIAS this year, welcome to Part 2 of our "best of the rest" coverage, a sort of all-at-once splurt of information to keep you up to date on the latest developments, without boring you to death with new paint colors for the Kia Optima.  Here we go. 2012 Subaru Impreza Sedan/Hatchback Subaru has finally come to their senses with the Impreza.  While it's always been a relatively fun-to-drive car even in non-turbocharged form, it hasn't really experienced great sales in the economy-car market compared to more conventional rivals.  The biggest reason would be the big-car fuel economy in a small, unrefined package.  The current Impreza 2.5i makes a fairly impressive 173bhp from it's single-cam 2.5L horizontally

Hybrids.  Blech.  Sick of hearin' about em. I don't know if you are too.  Electric motors, like CVT's, don't do a whole lot for me.  I like gasoline engines, the sound of a working valvetrain, the ticking of injectors, the blare of quad exhaust pipes on the back of a Carrera S as it pulls off of a stoplight.  I doubt Porsche really likes hybrids either, which is why it's been doing them it's own way.  In the past few days, details have snuck out regarding two Porsches with electric motors, and both are interesting from an enthusiast perspective. First up is the Boxster E.  Oh, lord - an Electric Boxster?  That's just what we need.  Take the flat six out of the world's most

In late November, the Porsche board officially approved production of a small Porsche crossover. The new crossover is to be called Cajun, as it has been consistently referred to by the automotive press. There have been various reports about the crossover, but most peg it as sharing underpinnings with the Audi Q5. There have been some noises about it being a three-door only model, but it is all just conjecture. What is clear is that Porsche has seen the success of the Cayenne and is looking to replicate it with a smaller model designed to attract younger buyers. We could see the Cajun doing battle against vehicles like the Land Rover Evoque. With a new model inevitable, Team Speed member Wild-Speed has created an artists

Rumours have been building about Porsche's latest unveil at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, and finally we can reveal exactly what the German manufacturer is bringing to the table. Dubbed the 918 RSR, this hard-top racing version of the 918 Spyder concept looks set to hit the racetrack with an "unusual-for-a-Porsche" roaring V8 engine. The engine setup alone is expected to produce 563 horsepower at a staggering 10,300 rpm. What's more interesting is that the car introduces a hybrid setup akin to its GT3 R Hybrid kin to deliver a finale of 767 bhp (and in case you were wondering, the electric motors on the two front wheels each contribute 75 kW, i.e. a total of 150 kW). So, to conclude, this is the