I took the day to look at the new cars and to satisfy my questions regarding the new GM cars.
Keeping my thoughts in line as I viewed the cars, I'll start off with Dodge's Concept Sling Shot. Earlier, I reported that I really liked the car from what I saw in a local paper. Well, the next time I want photographs of myself, I'm going to hire whoever took those shots. I'll surely look like a Mr Olympia if he does to me what he did to that car. The car in the photo looked like a Porsche/ Nissan Z competitor. In real life, it looked like someone sawed the ***-end off. Yes, 3 cylinders. It looked like a car for nobody. I finally found a job that I want- designing concept cars. Talk about making money turning out ugly cars with the theme that they are concepts. The sling shot was a disappointment.
Going through the Chrysler products, the Caravans were holding their own and I felt stronger about the SRT4.
Chevrolet had a Monte Carlo in that competition yellow. It was drawing a crowd as well as the Cobalt exhibit.
Of course, everybody wanted to sit in the vettes. All the young girls were getting pics of themselves by their beaus. A good sign for the vette-I would judge the vette as the most photographed car at the show.
The Cadillac CTS is a smash. The black beauty on display drew a crowd. I would say that CTS is going to play a large part of Cadillac's resurgence. And everybody was in line to sit in Cadillac's sportster.
Oldsmobile was there and I heard people muttering "Why are they getting rid of it". The Alero drew a crowd of younger people.
Pontiac was a disappointment in general.
The aging Grand Am was even less appealing as a sedan.
The Grand Prix gives you a supercharged motor with TapShift but a sedan style interior. It just hit me wrong.
Now, I stood off from judging the GTO until I saw one and sat in one. I was VERY disappointed in the styling. The "BIG CAVALIER" is all the more apparent in person. AND WHO PICKED THOSE WHEELS? THE FLAKY, BRUSHED SURFACE MADE THEM LOOK LIKE THE CHEAP PLASTIC ONES ON LOW END CARS. AND ALL THE GTO'S HAD THEM. THE REAR END LOOKED SLAB SIDED TO THE POINT THAT THE REAR WHEELS LOOKED TOO SMALL; I HAD TO CHECK TO SEE IF THEY WERE 17"-ERS. INTERIOR WAS NOT INSPIRING EITHER-THAT IS ONE CHEAP LOOKING STEERING WHEEL. so, all the new age GTO fans say whay you want now about hp's and roadability-I have been in the original GTO, I have drive the original GTO and this is no GTO. And adding a hood scoop won't cure the design weakness.
Now that I have riled up some people (don't really care because I promised to not give an opinion until I could really judge the car), I must point to the Mazda Miata convertibles. You must give the Japanese auto mfrs credit for knowing the good things about their vehicles and retaining it. Evidence is the Miata's style. It has not been compromised over the years. Everybody in our party liked the look of it as a convertible. What a little sportster should be.
It is odd how Honda can deliver cars that have styling as well as utility while the other big automaker, Toyota, offers ho-hum styling. The solara earns a big yawn.
Mercedes must be losing it (I hope that it doesn't spread to Chrysler). On display was a used car (certified-whoopee) for 30K. Not bad until one reads 48,000 miles. One could read everybody's face "What the ----?"Mercedes is getting to be an auto for the dead and dieing. The BMW's next door were saying "Want a life? Look at us!"
Rounding out with the VW's, German cars looked ill-inspired (excluding the Porsches, of course, which always look great).
Ford was showing off the GT and the crowd was so large, one could barely get a glimpse of it. A glimpse of it was worth the wait though. That is one tough motor vehicle. The Mustang was looking good with a screaming yellow one with a shaker hood attached model sitting on the floor. I am a little disappointed that a 4.6L V-8 is the biggest motor (at least in the brochure). But it felt good to sit in it. Looking beyond the windshield is that shaker hood meaning business. 305 Ponies is not bad but low rpm torque is what it needs. A silver model was on display but the crowd was so large that I couldn't get a good look at what it featured.
In between, we looked at the Minis and the Bentleys, etc. Nice cars but not of particular interest.
There was one GM goof though. Buick was raffling off a car and the usherettes were giving a free card at the entrance door. One goes to the Buick display and looks at the license on the diplayed car and matches it against the license plate on the car shown on the card. Well, it seemed that all the non-winners had the same plate "NXT BCK". My card had it as well as every other card. So, I stood by the Buick counter and looked at everybody card who broought one forward and told them "You Lost". What a crock of crap! All one need do is go through the pile of cards and get the odd ball. Since the Buick people were automatically entering everybody for a 2nd chance, it may be that there were no winners from any of those cards. You don't have to rub off anything; just lok on the back of the card.
Keeping my thoughts in line as I viewed the cars, I'll start off with Dodge's Concept Sling Shot. Earlier, I reported that I really liked the car from what I saw in a local paper. Well, the next time I want photographs of myself, I'm going to hire whoever took those shots. I'll surely look like a Mr Olympia if he does to me what he did to that car. The car in the photo looked like a Porsche/ Nissan Z competitor. In real life, it looked like someone sawed the ***-end off. Yes, 3 cylinders. It looked like a car for nobody. I finally found a job that I want- designing concept cars. Talk about making money turning out ugly cars with the theme that they are concepts. The sling shot was a disappointment.
Going through the Chrysler products, the Caravans were holding their own and I felt stronger about the SRT4.
Chevrolet had a Monte Carlo in that competition yellow. It was drawing a crowd as well as the Cobalt exhibit.
Of course, everybody wanted to sit in the vettes. All the young girls were getting pics of themselves by their beaus. A good sign for the vette-I would judge the vette as the most photographed car at the show.
The Cadillac CTS is a smash. The black beauty on display drew a crowd. I would say that CTS is going to play a large part of Cadillac's resurgence. And everybody was in line to sit in Cadillac's sportster.
Oldsmobile was there and I heard people muttering "Why are they getting rid of it". The Alero drew a crowd of younger people.
Pontiac was a disappointment in general.
The aging Grand Am was even less appealing as a sedan.
The Grand Prix gives you a supercharged motor with TapShift but a sedan style interior. It just hit me wrong.
Now, I stood off from judging the GTO until I saw one and sat in one. I was VERY disappointed in the styling. The "BIG CAVALIER" is all the more apparent in person. AND WHO PICKED THOSE WHEELS? THE FLAKY, BRUSHED SURFACE MADE THEM LOOK LIKE THE CHEAP PLASTIC ONES ON LOW END CARS. AND ALL THE GTO'S HAD THEM. THE REAR END LOOKED SLAB SIDED TO THE POINT THAT THE REAR WHEELS LOOKED TOO SMALL; I HAD TO CHECK TO SEE IF THEY WERE 17"-ERS. INTERIOR WAS NOT INSPIRING EITHER-THAT IS ONE CHEAP LOOKING STEERING WHEEL. so, all the new age GTO fans say whay you want now about hp's and roadability-I have been in the original GTO, I have drive the original GTO and this is no GTO. And adding a hood scoop won't cure the design weakness.
Now that I have riled up some people (don't really care because I promised to not give an opinion until I could really judge the car), I must point to the Mazda Miata convertibles. You must give the Japanese auto mfrs credit for knowing the good things about their vehicles and retaining it. Evidence is the Miata's style. It has not been compromised over the years. Everybody in our party liked the look of it as a convertible. What a little sportster should be.
It is odd how Honda can deliver cars that have styling as well as utility while the other big automaker, Toyota, offers ho-hum styling. The solara earns a big yawn.
Mercedes must be losing it (I hope that it doesn't spread to Chrysler). On display was a used car (certified-whoopee) for 30K. Not bad until one reads 48,000 miles. One could read everybody's face "What the ----?"Mercedes is getting to be an auto for the dead and dieing. The BMW's next door were saying "Want a life? Look at us!"
Rounding out with the VW's, German cars looked ill-inspired (excluding the Porsches, of course, which always look great).
Ford was showing off the GT and the crowd was so large, one could barely get a glimpse of it. A glimpse of it was worth the wait though. That is one tough motor vehicle. The Mustang was looking good with a screaming yellow one with a shaker hood attached model sitting on the floor. I am a little disappointed that a 4.6L V-8 is the biggest motor (at least in the brochure). But it felt good to sit in it. Looking beyond the windshield is that shaker hood meaning business. 305 Ponies is not bad but low rpm torque is what it needs. A silver model was on display but the crowd was so large that I couldn't get a good look at what it featured.
In between, we looked at the Minis and the Bentleys, etc. Nice cars but not of particular interest.
There was one GM goof though. Buick was raffling off a car and the usherettes were giving a free card at the entrance door. One goes to the Buick display and looks at the license on the diplayed car and matches it against the license plate on the car shown on the card. Well, it seemed that all the non-winners had the same plate "NXT BCK". My card had it as well as every other card. So, I stood by the Buick counter and looked at everybody card who broought one forward and told them "You Lost". What a crock of crap! All one need do is go through the pile of cards and get the odd ball. Since the Buick people were automatically entering everybody for a 2nd chance, it may be that there were no winners from any of those cards. You don't have to rub off anything; just lok on the back of the card.
