South Florida Auto-Show Impressions

[rammstein]

Its not that great of a show- mostly just dealer showcases, with a few concept cars. But it is a great time to compare whats out from all the manufacturers. Here is a ramdom and disorganized smattering of what I saw.

Ford's new interiors look great at 50 feet, but fall short when seated inside. Who decided on having the mold-line on THE TOP of the plastic covering the hand-brake? And who decided that the fake-aluminum trim was a good idea? I've seen toys with better fake metals. And honestly, how much $ was saved by doing this? Its a shame to look at it. This was the Ford Fusion. I can SEE what the designers intended. The basic layout and ideas looked great. I bet they were really upset when the materials and switches were chosen. It ruined a good design with crummy materials. Looking at what Ford gave for $23,000, and then walking over and seeing what Hyundai gives for $23,000 should have been enough for Ford to reassess their final product. Really too bad, because I felt like they were CLOSE. I really want to root for Ford and GM, but they have to give me more. More on GM in a bit.

Another interesting car was the new Accord. I currently drive my wife's Accord. The new one is pretty similar in most respects, which is a good thing because it already does what it is supposed to. The big exception is the new center console- it a step in the wrong direction IMO. The new Accord has a long, wide line of buttons in semi-disarray. Maybe it was supposed to look dramatic and pleasing, adding some character to the car, but IMO all that it does is make it harder to do things. Accords excel at being cold, calculated driving appliances, and they should not mess with that.

The Mitsubishi Lancer was there. For whatever reason, they didn't have the Evolution there. Perhaps they just hate me, or want to be sure not to sell any cars. Sitting inside the regular Lancer, the interior was OK. The painful part was the climate controls- the printed part in the middle of the three knobs (temperature, fan speed, etc) looked to be about the same quality level as a sticker from a cheap boardgame. The knobs themselves turned with a horrible clicky sound that would be an embarassment to turn in front of people. There was a Mitsubishi SUV of some kind there, and it was really really nice inside, except it had those same climate control knobs. Someone shot get shot for those. One thing the Lancer DID have was gas struts to hold open then trunk. Why do so many manufacturers use those huge stupid trunk hinges that cut into the cargo space? Does the gas-strut setup seriously cost that must more? Maybe someone here can tell me why this is...

Subaru did not have an STI on hand either. What is wrong with these guys? The WRX is confounding in some ways. The exterior has become shockingly pedestrian, although its been moving that direction for a few years now so I shouldn't be suprised. It almost could pass for a Cavalier, especially from behind. The very first WRX looked great IMO, because it was so darn ugly. Now its nothing. The interior is a different story though- its become VERY nice. Super simple contols, good gauges, good seats, good pastics. The only flaw was the stupid trunk hinges. I was hoping to see the STI in person, to see if the outside was a bit more appealing. Oh well...

GM seems to have some strong stuff coming out. The new Malibu interior is quite nice. The plastics are decent, and the overall feel is good. Hopefully GM is going to spread this across the line. The G8 was there, but they had it on the rotating stand thingy and I couldn't get close enough to assess the quality of the interior. From a distance it looks good. The new Corvette is fantastic. I can only imagine what that engine feels like. The inside is WAY nicer than the past.

The big problem that I think a lot of manufacturers are going to have is coming from Hyundai. Their cars are shockingly nice. The insides are bordering on pretty in some of them. $23,000 gets you one heck of a car. I don't know how they can afford to sell so much more for the $, maybe if I drove one it drives like crap or something, or maybe they make the seats out of date-rape drugs. If I had to outright buy a sedan to drive for 5 years for around $20k new, I would be at a Hyundai dealership testing a Sonata. I hope Hyundai comes out with a sports car. A real sports car, not a sports car like an Eclipse or a Camry Solara or something like that. I bet a $30,000 Hyundai sports-car would be awesome. Parhaps something to compete against the WRX...

The new 2-door Volvo is a pretty cool looking car inside and out. The glass one-piece hatch is a nice touch. The metal center console s made out of actual metal, which begs the question why Ford didn't do something similar with the Fusion's horrible fake metal.

Saab had a concept car there that looked super cool. Its not the kind of thing that makes it to production unfortunately, but hopefully some design elements will make it someday.

Porsche had a GT3 there, but it was behind ropes. That was pretty dumb- this is Miami Beach, and I can walk up to a GT3 anytime I want to right on the street! They annoyed me with that. They also had all of their cars locked and you would have to get some pain-in-the-butt salesman to open it for you, and then you'd be stuck with him there instead of just oogling and talking with your wife about cars. Uncool. The Cayman is the prettiest car Porsche has out IMO.



In general, as far as fuel efficiency goes most manufacturers seemed to be pushing their various hybrid-plans. I was hoping to see more diesel emphasis. There were a large number of larger SUVs on display, proudly getting better then expected mileage. If gas gets to $5/gallon, I think people will realize that just because their Expedition says 'Hybrid' on it and gets 22mpg instead of 18, it doesn't mean squat. It looks like manufacturers are banking on people buying into the word 'hybrid', and not into the real MPG numbers they could be getting by driving something more aerodynamic, lighter, and maybe diesel powered. That will change if gas gets too expensive.