Car Throttle

The Chicago auto show is upon is, which means... well, some facelifts, some new models, but not huge news like Detroit or Geneva.  Still, new stuff!   Inside: Two new Acuras, perhaps the world's most powerful 4-seat production convertible, minor facelifts for a Datsun, a big ol' GMC, and a sweet new Kia they need to make pronto.  Oh, and some bad news on Fisker. Acura officially debuted two new production cars - the ILX (pictured above) and the new RDX.  The ILX takes over for both the Canadian-market CSX sedan (Civic based), and will replace the US-market TSX sedan (Euro Accord-based) as Acura's entry-level model.  Why don't they call it the Integra?  Dunno.  Power comes from three sources.  The base model has a 2.0L I4

Every car lover's calender starts with a new batch of machines on show in Motor City. I'm talking, of course, about the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan. The city is famous for being the beating heart of the American motor industry and at the start of every year all the world's manufacturers congregate and show off their new products to see what our stateside friends think of their latest offerings. Here's a half-time round-up of the motors on show for 2012 from each stand from the day so far. Bentley Two new Continentals broke free from the covers at the Bentley stand; the V8 coupe and V8 GTC Cabriolet. Little differences to tell these from the bigger W12 on the outside include a gloss black

Right across the street from Charles Agapiou Bentley/Rolls Royce on Santa Monica Blvd is the kind of dealership you could just stand and drool in for a while.  Heritage Classics is exactly what it says on the label: a purveyor of high-end desirable classics parked wall to wall.  Unlike a lot of classic dealers, this one didn't seem to specialize in one marque or even genre: there was everything from a classic Porsche 356 to a Cadillac Eldorado.  But what lured me in the door first was this... A Ferrari 330GTC, what I think is probably the prettiest front-engine V12 Ferrari ever made.  Styling by Pininfarina, a 4.0L Colombo V12 breathing through six carbs up front, a five-speed, two seats and independent suspension.  The

If I were to make a list compiling the positive and negative things about the Mustang Shelby GT500, it'd go a little like this.  On the plus side:  Enough power to pull an entire trailer park.  Enough power to eclipse the sun with tire smoke on accident.  Enough power to win a tug-of-war with a Panzer tank.  Enough power to stand up at the United Nations and bang it's shoe on the table screaming "we will bury you!" and everyone takes it seriously. On the negative side:  it's heavy, it's got most of it's weight on the nose so it's either understeering or killing you, it's expensive, it gets 0.3 miles to the gallon, it's slathered in Shelby stickers, and most of all:  with the 412bhp

I just never knew. I was unaware we had a large population of classic British vehicles in the Raleigh area; I suppose there are people nostalgic for the 60's and 70's everywhere, and Raleigh is a pretty affluent area, but wow!  Triumphs, MG's, Jaguars, and Mini's of all sorts congregated today upon the North Hills shopping center, an upscale outdoor mall in the North Raleigh area.  With cars ranging from MG TF's all the way to a brand-new Mini Crossman, there were a wide range of British vehicles to gaze upon.  Here are some of the more interesting ones. At any British car show, chances are the most common vehicle you'll see there will be the ubiquitous MGB.  It was the car that really

I've been bad about getting out to Cars & Coffee. It's always held relatively early on Saturdays, and to be honest I'm not a fan of waking up early on Saturdays.  It's always worth it, of course.  This week I was determined to make it out there, and the IV drip of coffee was totally worth seeing exotics stacked like cordwood in the Brier Creek parking lot at 9:30 in the morning.  There were some really interesting vehicles to be seen, along with about 30 late model Corvettes.  You know you're in rare company when 30 Corvettes look mundane. I'm fairly certain they never made Fiero convertibles.  A little research on Google shows there were conversion kits for these back in the day,

Let me pose two questions to you all, dear readers. First of all: how much power is too much? And second of all, what is it that makes a car a sleeper? Well, I'd venture that a Shelby GT500 has too much power.  550 horsepower from a huge supercharged V8 is excessive.  It's enough power to light the tires up clear through third gear.  It's enough power that if you buy one, you should automatically have a pending felony conviction for gross display of horsepower.  Or wreckless driving.  Or attempted manslaughter. Now, what's a sleeper?  Well, a sleeper is a car that looks stock, but is a lot faster than stock.  So is it possible for a car like a Shelby GT500, which has 550 horsepower, to

Muscle trucks are one of life's gloriously pointless indulgences. They make absolutely no sense in any traditional regard.  If you wanted functionality and utility, you'd get a pickup truck.  If you wanted to drag race off stop lights and burn rubber like it was going out of style, you'd get a muscle car.  Why would you want both in the same vehicle if it would seemingly do neither task very well? Well, because it's a ton of fun, that's why.  It's a distinctly American product, a huge engine stuffed somewhere it really doesn't belong, the only benefit being the smile it puts on your face when you stomp the gas pedal.  Sure, some of these trucks would manage single-digit fuel consumption if you enjoyed the loud pedal

Ford's Shelby GT500 Mustang derivative has always been sort of polar. As in, people either love it or hate it.  There's a lot to love about the GT500, mainly under the hood: a huge 5.4L 32v V8 that's topped with a big old supercharger, cranking out loads of weapons-grade horsepower: 540bhp and enough torque to unseat an entire trailer park.  It'll burn the tires down to cords faster than you can say "clutch dump," it sounds like a NASCAR on crack, and it's as American as... well, as a Ford Mustang. On the other hand, the GT500 was a big step back technically from it's predecessor in a lot of ways.  The '03-'04 SVT Cobra was  not long on posh refinement, but it was capable in

Hey, do you remember that one special edition Mustang? You know, the one with the vinyl stripes and stickers and the loud exhaust that was really rare? ...yeah, that doesn't narrow it down.  I know, I know, they all look the same.  But ol' Carroll himself picked this year's Barrett-Jackson auction as the place to debut his latest tape-and-stickers-and-go-faster-goodies Mustang special, and it actually seems like it's gonna rock.  Called the GT350 (original!), it's a faster and harder version of the 2011 Mustang GT, retuned for a little more face-punching power and grip. Starting with the brand new 5.0L Ti-VCT 32v V8, Shelby decided that 412bhp wasn't enough, and the GT350 is fitted with a Ford Racing supercharger setup, with a claimed output of 500+bhp.  This is