Going To The Auto Show

Dad and I paid our annual visit to the auto show Tuesday. At least this year we didn't have to fight a blizzard, though fighting downtown parking was almost as bad. All that shiny sparkly sheet metal. Ummmmm. For me it is usually about dreams because I can't afford the good stuff. The past few years I've been using the show as a forum to inspect potential vehicle purchases. The Mighty Green Ranger can't last forever. It is only a question of falling into a thousand pieces two weeks before graduation or can I get the MGR to last until Fall 2006 to maybe Spring 2007 (down payment money for both car and house will be a pain to scrape up while making student loan payments). Here are my thoughts and observations on the auto show.

• Money, money, money: Don't forget your dollar off coupons from the Indianapolis Star. Hey a buck is a buck.
• This handy carrying case: Grab a bag to carry brochures from Saturnland. Just hang a left and go to the end. The bags from Toyotaland and Mitsubishiland are much farther and I didn't want to walk that far.
• Not Fresh Enough: Our show sucks because it is among the earliest in the circuit! The manufacturers save the big debuts for either Detroit, L.A., or Chicago which are early next year. Indy gets the lame duck cars that are already in the process of being replaced or the show cars from last year. No new Hyundai Sonata, no new Gen V VW Jetta & Golf, no Dodge Charger, and we barely got the new Chevy Cobalt. It is hard to get excited about sheetmetal that isn't going to be around in a few months and I want to see new stuff.
• Is GM learning yet: I won't be able to say until I've heard the driving reports, but it appears GM has learned from the Saturn Ion fiasco when they created a new stablemate in the Chevy Cobalt for entry-level small car. The Cobalt appears much more refined than the Ion though both are off the Delta platform. Perhaps the sacrificial dissection of a Jetta to figure out suspension tweaking will carry over to the performance dynamics of the Cobalt. I would at least test drive a Cobalt and I would never have said that about a Cavalier.
• The Polite Car: The new Acura RL actually greets a driver by displaying "Welcome" on the dashboard. That was trick.
• The Need for F&B: I like to perform the Front & Back (F&B) Test when getting into sedans. I put the driver's seat where I like it (if manually operated), then I get in the rear seat to see if my knees have any room. As I'm 5'10" I figure this is a decent measure for passenger room in a vehicle. My really tall friends may have to suffer, but I can't accommodate everyone in my life. BTW: most subcompact vehicles will fail this test. Those cars are simply too small to carry adults in both sets of seats.
• Shorty Saabaru: The Saab 9-2X (nicknamed Saabaru as it is a modified Subaru Impreza) sorta failed the F&B test. I got out of the driver's seat as this nice couple wanted to take a look (hey I'll yield for pregnant ladies). Dude was 6'1" and jacked the seat back as far as it would go. After they left I hopped in the rear seat and couldn't get out! My legs were so jammed against the back of the front seat that I couldn't twist it enough to get out! For a second I thought I would have to ask someone wandering by if they could adjust the front seat a few inches. I've been LOCKED in the back of cars before because of child safety locks so though embarrassing, it isn't uncommon at these shows for me to ask for help out of odd situations. Luckily I could reach up to the ski rack on top and managed to lift myself up enough that my leg had clearance to get out! I love the car, but it is a little too small for comfort.
• Why do they keep coming out with new Mustangs every time I'm ready to graduate: Saw the new 'Stang up close. Nice. Rear seat supposedly has more room. It didn't look much more roomy than my old one. If only I were 1o years younger so I wouldn't care about the possibility of children within the lifetime of the vehicle. I deserve 300 horsepower with retro styling.
• Look But Don't Touch: You could look at the Bentleys, from behind a velvet rope. A quarter mil for a sedan, sure why not?
• 3 For Me: If asked what would be a great small car to look at the first three I would recommend now are Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, and Mazda 3. The first two are the best selling small cars in the U.S. for good reason. Civic/Corolla are well built, fuel efficient, reliable, have high value for the price paid, but I find them to lack personality. Because Honda and Toyota sell so many of them, they get conservative on the design so as to not offend people. Honda and Toyota desire lots of sales so they design for a lowest-common denominator. Good business strategy and I can't fault them for it. I wouldn't have a problem owning either Civic/Corrola, but they just lack passion and soul. Mazda, being a smaller company, tries to be scrappy in order to get attention in the small car market dominated by Honda/Toyota (GM with Cadaver and DiamlerChrysler with Neon just aren't in the same league to be honest). The scrappy Zoom-Zoom company came out with the 3 sedan and hatchback last year and I'm still impressed with it. 3 sedan has baby-BMW 3ish styling overtones (no bad thing) and the hatch just has that "In Your Face, Kickin' Sand in Corrola/Civic Grills Attitude" that it needs to get noticed. Mazda knows how to tune a suspension for curvy roads. The optional 2.3liter makes 160 horsepower well in excess of the competition. Only downside to the 3 compared with Corrola/Civic is the latter get better mileage. 3 is rated at 32 mpg highway while Corrola/Civic get nearly 40 mpg on the highway. Still I like the hatch configuration, the muscular taut styling, and the passion in the machine. Top candidate so far for my next purchase is Mazda 3. If you're in the market, take it for a test drive.
• Would you like to buy this deathtrap: Over in Kialand a local salesperson was curious if I would be interesting in test driving the Kia Spectra when I'm not in the market. I explained it had good styling, was surprisingly room (it passed the F&B Test), had great warranty, and was an interesting small car. I didn't have to heart to ask him, "Hey isn't is the car that just failed the governments frontal crash test?"
• Pass: we didn't even bother with Suzukiland. Motorcycles sure...automobiles I'll pass on.
• Plush With A Comfortable Ride: My dad was thrilled with the new Ford 500. Big, very roomy (extremely easily passes the F&B Test), seems to have good build quality, and interesting interior design that he had no qualms about. Not my cup of tea, but he was thrilled with it. First really big car he seemed thrilled with. Buickland bored him, Caddys are too damned expensive, most of Mercury and Lincoln previous big cars are boring, and Chrysler 300 was nice but too pricey for his tastes (too be honest Dad is a cheapskate).
• Parliament Needs To Take Action: All Jaguars should be in British Racing Green. Nuff said.
• The Budweiser Sedan: My dad's summation of the upscale Hyundai XG350 sedan, "You see that black car over there? It'll fold like a beer can in a crash, but it's really got all the bells and whistles in there."