Car Throttle

Once the Megane range gets a mid-life face lift in April, we will be saying bye-bye to the 250 and a big hello to the new 265. It's Renault's latest record breaking hot hatch to hit our roads with a lap time of 8 minutes and 8 seconds around the Nurburgring which makes it the fastest front-wheel drive car ever to go round the famous German track. Thanks to the new 'Renaultsport Dynamic Management' system, the new 265's 2.0L Turbo will produce 261bhp and 265lb ft of torque meaning a 0-60mph time of around six seconds and a top speed of 160mph. All that is available once you've pushed the 'Sport' button, with the car acting calm and civilised, "ish", in normal mode. Renault have

We've prayed, we've hoped and Honda have responded. You can buy your very own CR-Z Mugen, one very quick hybrid, from next year. Car Throttle had the opportunity to take the CR-Z Mugen prototype for a quick test drive at the SMMT test day back in October as well other test cars (which you can check out here) and it was the most fun Adnan had that day. This little Honda coupe is fast. It can go from 0-62mph in 6.1 seconds thanks to a rebuilt 1.5L IMA engine from Mugen which pumps out 200hp and 158lb-ft of torque. This is much better than the standard car and you can check out our review of that here. Mugen also changed the suspension to improve

Mini Cooper SD, watch out! Your not alone in the hot diesel premium supermini market anymore as Audi has spiced up the diesel A1. Originally the only diesel engine available for the A1 was a 1.6L TDI  with 103bhp and 136 lb ft of torque. Now you have a choice between this and a 2.0L TDI that produces 141bhp and 236 lb ft of torque, less horsepower yet more torque than the Cooper SD but the differences are minute. Unlike the smaller 1.6L TDI A1 the bigger 2 litre comes with a 6th gear ratio for the manual 'box. Speed wise it's a similar situation, stationary to 62mph takes 8.2 seconds in the A1 with a top speed of 135mph whilst the manual Cooper SD gets

At CarThrottle, we like to cover renderings from designers that offer their impressions of a future vehicle or their own fantasy creation. Cars like the Ferrari 4- Door, Audi R7, and the toy-car like Porsche supercar are a few we've done in the past. This new one is a modern take on the Volkswagen Corrado, a hatchback performance VW introduced in 1998 and missed by enthusiasts. The design has been produced by Patrick Moczarsky, a professional designer and graphic artist at a company called Miranda Media. Unlike some rendered designs, his interpretation is quite tame. He didn't mess with the Corrado formula too much, creating a smoother, more modern hatchback design that has a similar look up front to recent VWs. The new look VW is doing

More and more automakers are realizing the power of the internet and the influence it has in creating positive publicity surrounding a product. This realization is leading to more videos being produced specifically for the internet. Unlike television, the cost of getting a video up on YouTube is nothing, other than the production. Besides, what better way to reach the younger demographic? VW has a new video out showing track footage of its two coolest cars - the Scirocco R and Golf R. The Scirocco unfortunately isn't available in any form in the United States, but the Golf R is and it shares the same mechanicals. The Golf R was just recently introduced, and is the replacement for the former performance Golf, the R32. The video is a German

The VW Scirocco is an amazing hatchback and has gotten many VW fans begging for the car to be sold in the United States. It's introduction was critically acclaimed in magazines across the world. Out of that has sprung an active aftermarket for the car. Sometimes cars come along that provide a great canvas for tuners do work on; the Scirocco is one of those cars. Unfortunately, we still aren't getting it in the United States. Something about exchange rates and competition with the GTI I guess. Too bad, because it's a seriously desirable car. I think we'll end up seeing it here someday though. JE Design has a package for the gasoline-powered Scirocco as well as the diesel version. Their latest work is on the Scirocco TDI models however, working to

Not to sound like a broken record, but some of the cars for sale in Europe that we as Americans don't get a chance at is mildly sickening. Now there's one more to add to the list: the piping-hot Volkswagen Scirocco R. The Scirocco R debuted at the 24 hours of Nurburgring today (rather than at Worthersee, where it was expected).  The Scirocco R the high performance variant of the Golf-based Coupe, using bits and pieces from the corporate parts bin to put together one exciting overall package. The engine comes courtesy of the Audi TT-S and S3, an updated and uprated version of the 2.0L direct injection turbo 4 that VW uses for everything.  The main difference is the change from a Borg-Warner K03 to a

For a while there, it looked like Volkswagen was about to make a decision on when to introduce the new Scirocco to the US, though there wasn't any word from corporate yet. That all changed, as Autoblog broke the story on Monday, and it's not good news for the rabid VW enthusiast here in the States. Accordingly, Volkswagen of America's own public relations coordinator, Tom Wegehaupt, gave an on-the-record confirmation that the Scirocco is not destined for these shores. There are fears that this car will cannibalize any future sales of the new GTI, and that the US market will deteriorate further. So it looks like there isn't a suitable business case for this particular model. This seems to be a case of very