Car Throttle

Sorry folks, but “The Biebs” is at it again. Obviously not content with his impossibly shiny Fisker Karma, Mr Bieber has only gone and bought himself a tiny-little smart fortwo. What a tool. Biebs, not the car. We’ve driven the smart fortwo here at CT, all be it a (only slightly) less ostentatious version. Adnan may have loathed the lazy auto' gearbox but overall he found it to be an entirely competent, if not debilitatingly expensive, city car. Of course living in LA means Bieber couldn’t just leave his “stock”. Perish the thought. That’d be like buying eggs without first checking to see if any’ve cracked.

Custom, custom, custom. Let me say that again, custom. I'm not just ripping off a catchy EA tagline when I say "It's in the name" because it really is - the smart BRABUS Tailor-Made is tailored to you and it's likely you won't find another one on the road quite like it. So when this fortwo Cabriolet rocked up on my doorstep, I ignored the annoying lack of capitalisation on smart and fortwo and took it for a test drive. The results? Well you can see the funky video on YouTube and in the embed above: 2011 smart BRABUS Tailor-Made ForTwo Review (phew that's a mouthful!) Not familiar with the badge? The chaps behind smart were the same ones behind the swatch customisable watches in the

Smart have came up with a little pick-up which claims to be the perfect car for young 'uns. The designers at Smart reckon this is because it's small on the outside, large on the inside, very safe and very comfortable. But what exactly is it and why will we love it? Firstly, it's a future proof fully electric city car which means that we need not worry about the rising petrol costs killing our wallets. The electric motor produces 74bhp, around the same as the higher powered 1.0L petrol engine in the VW Up!, and 96lb ft or torque leading to a top speed of 75mph. What if I run out of road and can't be bothered to walk? Fear not my friend because you

One thing I'd like to see more of here at CarThrottle is reader participation. It's great that we sit here at our laptops and pour our car-nerd minds into the articles we post up here, but a car site these days is nothing without two-way interaction.  I figure the best way to increase this is to ask you, dear reader, a question.  Hopefully, lively commentary and discussion will ensue.  Let's see how this goes, shall we? The first question that popped into my mind for this relates to the newly-debuted Audi A1 Supermini, which was revealed ahead of the 2010 Geneva Auto Show.  It's based on VAG's small-car architecture (which underpins the Polo and Skoda Fabia) but is retooled and glitzed up for a premium driving

I find that, for the most part, cars pretty much sound like what they look like. A Dodge Challenger has that offbeat, staccato dull roar of a huge high-compression V8.  A Honda CRX usually sounds like a weedwhacker on methamphetamines.  A Chrysler Minivan usually sounds like an iron lung patient struggling to jog.  A Ferrari sounds like an angel playing the high notes on a trumpet, yadda yadda etcetera.  It's true there's something of a "pecking order" when it comes to exhaust sound, and everyone loves an interloper.  Here's my top ten incongruous car exhaust notes - in other words, cars that if they pass by at wide open throttle, might confuse you into thinking it's something else entirely. 10) Oldsmobile Aurora Well, yes.  On the outside,

Many Americans would have you believe that this is the birthplace of hotrods, and that we're still at the cutting edge of creating overly powerful cars for no reason. While there is some truth to this - I mean, Hennessey will sell you a twin-turbocharged Viper with 1200bhp, you can't write off the rest of the world for being a bit crazy about their cars.  I've put together this compilation of videos to show what I'm talking about.  Europe knows their way around a hot-rod, there's no doubt in my mind. Let's start with some Volvos.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIzOHWyRWRs

Here's your typical 850 Turbo with a bit too much power to realistically put it all to the ground.  The highlight of this clip for me has to

If you're averse to car crash test carnage, look away. Interesting findings and information has come out courtesy of International Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). They've detailed a more "real" view on the safety of small cars in comparison to larger ones. Let's see how they fare.... The IIHS took  the Honda Fit, Toyota Yaris and the Smart cars, all vehicles that achieved the IIHS's rating of "Good" in the traditional 40-mph barrier test. In these tests though, each one drops from "Good" to "Poor. It doesn't take a genius to realize that a small, lower weight vehicle will be at a disadvantage in an accident with a larger, heavier one. So in that respect I think the IIHS testing is important, because it simply informs people better that there is more to the story then just a

So, apparently London has been "buried" under a "blizzard" recently - all 8" of it.  Regardless of my tactless American opinion on the relative pathetic-ness of 8" of snow crippling a city for a few days, and all the messages about "don't take any unnecessary trips!" one must remember that snow days are not all doom and gloom.

If your vehicle is relatively snow-capable (leave that Corvette Z06 at HOME, kids) and you know what you're doing, snow driving is three and a half barrels of fun.  I've assembled a collection of what I consider to be the greatest YouTube snow driving videos below.  Hopefully you enjoy it!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V48LsEjiFJ4

The smart ForTwo Coupe sticks out in the traffic around Cary, NC like the mole on Cindy Crawford's face. Cary is the location of the Raleigh area's only smart (no caps) dealership, and it makes perfect sense for it to be here.  Affectionately known to the locals of the Triangle area (Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill North Carolina) as the "Containment Area for Relocated Yankees," Cary is the swanky, hip upper class locale that people who get good jobs in Research Triangle move to.  They then buy their wives an Escalade while they drive around in their Porsche Cayenne/ Lexus GX470/ Range Rover. Among these massive mastodons on wheels, the smart car is... rather noticeable.  Even in my test car's non-metallic black, the ForTwo pretty much goes