Car Throttle

Even though the recent recession fatally wounded parts of the industry and fossil fuels running dry will threaten its future, the world of cars is still very much alive and kicking. There is such a variety of new products coming out this year ranging from affordable city cars you'll actually want to own, to ridiculously expensive supercars you'll lust after, old school coupes to revolutionary family cars, petrol engines to plug-in electric motors. The list is almost endless. So to help fellow car lovers and "new kids on the block" out, here's a round-up of 33 cars we can't wait to see in 2012 in order of release date. January 2012 Kia Optima It's been available around the world for a while but the Kia Optima

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

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 of the best niche body styles out there has to be the four-door coupe. First invented by Mercedes back in 2004, the idea was to make a car that looks as elegant as the CL but gives it the practicality and comfort of the E-Class and the resulting car was dubbed the CLS. There have been others since from Team Germany such as the Audi A7 and the up and coming BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe. They're great if you have executive car money but what if you're bored of your humble Passat? The people's car manufacturer had this problem in mind when they created the Passat CC back in 2008 and now there's a new one. This time they've ditched the 'P' word for us

What's green, potentially venomous and loves to slide? Okay, so your Car Throttle correspondent still hasn't mastered the set-up of a good one-liner, but the answer as you probably guessed isn't your back-garden adder. No. It is instead Skoda's 2011 Fabia vRS and whilst you might laugh that off from merely glancing at the car, let me explain why you'd be foolish to cast this off as a poor man's Polo GTI. Please allow me to firstly guide you to our video review which is embedded above. If you've been watching enough television, you will have seen Skoda's new attempt to re-market the sweet, made-out-of-cake Fabia using the dulcet tones of one Julie Andrews. The time has come however, for the Fabia to be rebuffed as

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

Volkswagen has been touting the Beetle in the United States, but it has yet to make a push in the United Kingdom. That is because the Beetle isn't slated to go on sale in the UK until next Spring. Today the company gets one step closer to that launch with a pricing announcement and opening of the order book. Orders, for a vehicle people have yet to drive? Yes, it does happen, surprisingly. The car's base price starts at £16,490, which in USD at current exchange rates comes out to around $26,000! Startling. The new Beetle will launch with two-engines at first. The base model gets a 1.2-liter TSI making 105 horsepower, mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. It includes standard keyless entry, air conditioning

A local VW/Audi performance and maintenance shop, Black Forest Industries, celebrated their 10th anniversary this past weekend with a fall show for Wolfsburg and Ingolstadt's finest.  Not only were there tons of slammed VW's and Audi's, but also great beer from the local Aviator Brewing Company.  Win-win. Black Forest Industries is a shopped based in Cary, North Carolina who's primary purpose is modifying VW's.  They also do maintenance work, but they sell a lot of aftermarket parts.  I went there back in the day to get Neuspeed lowering springs installed on my Jetta, because spring compressors scare me.  That was three cars ago, and since then BFI has moved to a bigger shop in an easier-to-reach location with more space. Over the years, BFI

Everyone who loves summer will be miserable just now, me being one of them, because summer is pretty much over and today, up here in Scotland, it is very cold and wet. The weather forecasters are saying that this year winter will probably be as harsh as the last two years which is fantastic news(!) Instead of moaning about it though we should think about the precautions we should take when it comes to driving in the forthcoming harsh conditions. There are the usual ones like make sure you have blankets and flasks full of hot drinks in the car with you as well as taking some extra snacks just in case you get stranded and that you should allow extra time for your journeys