Place: Don Pablo's
Lunch: Tex Mex Ribeye (medium well), beans, chips & salsa & queso, fresh tortillas, Coke
Smiling Server Girl brings hot tortillas (which they make on site) with my queso cup and suggests I try dipping the tortillas in the queso. Smiling Server Girl is wise.
Is it that time of year again? Why yes it is! You're SO excited, you just might puke.
We are at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Admission this year has been adjusted to be more "family friendly", which means singles like me are now paying TEN BUCKS. Not to mention NINE BUCKS for parking.
With the economy being what it is and all of the changes in the industry, the show's arranged a bit differently. Porsche and most of the extreme high-end car makers are nowhere to be seen. Mitsubishi is also a no-show, which is a bummer because I wanted to check out the new Outlander. Subaru moved into Porsche's spot. GM, who used to take up something like a fifth of the show floor, no longer needs that much space and has downsized a bit. Lexus and Nissan have moved into some of GM's traditional space. Nissan cleverly positioned their big trucks right next to the GMC display, which prompted GMC fans to mistaken them for GMC's and check them out.
The big 'new' stuff is the continuing evolution of lighting and gadgets. LED accent/DRL lighting. Intelligent keys that you can leave in your pocket, allowing push-button start. Sensors that prevent accidents. There's even heated/cooled cup holders out there. Jeepers.
The big focus by the manufacturers this year seems to be crossovers...little SUV's and/or tall station wagons. MY focus is pretty much on those and coupes, so apologies to you sedan and redneck pickup truck lovers.
You know what depresses me? The number of people who demand auto headlights and wipers. Seriously...You can't be bothered to turn those on yourself? Why...Are you too busy texting?
One of the interesting things I saw was a couple going through every crossover model on the floor with a tape measure and measuring them from dashboard to tailgate. Wonder what they're comparing them to.
So...What's new and noteworthy?
FORD - Ford has the best television advertising of any automaker out there today. Their focus (no pun intended) on technology being explained by car owners works really well to differentiate them.
Ford Flex - These things are so damn cool. It's way more vehicle than I'd ever need, but I really want to drive one. At night.
Lincoln MKT - Sort of a crossover or tall station wagon. It had the first power-adjustable height/telescoping steering wheel I've ever seen amongst its 'power everything' features. It also had dreadfully boring white instrument lighting.
VOLKSWAGEN - They had a loaded black Tiguan Wolfsburg Edition that had some sweet leather seats. Nothing really new here, though. The New Beetle "Final Edition" convertible was here. So does that mean they're done with the New Beetle? I still miss mine.
SUBARU - Subaru seems a lot fresher this year than last. The Tribeca had some interesting gauges that back-glowed slightly in red when I entered the car. Nothing else really stood out to me, though.
HYUNDAI - Why is there a Nissan Rogue in the Hyundai display? Oh...it's just the new Tucson. REAL original design, guys. Not exactly a head-turner, but a big improvement over the previous model. And it gets Hyundai's cool blue dash lighting (or as a friend of mine calls it, 'Tron-blue lighting'). And when did the Accent get up to over $17,000? Yikes. Some Guy looking at the sticker price exclaimed "$17,000? What'd they put in it? Oh...it's got an engine." The Genesis and Santa Fe were very nice.
KIA - Kia's old ladder-frame mid-size Sorento has been replaced with a smaller car-frame vehicle designed to compete with the Santa Fe/Equinox/Terrain/blah blah blah class. I like their TV commercial with the partying toys. They had a stand-up version of them displayed with the turntable model. The vehicle itself felt very nice. Needs HID headlights as an option, though.
CHRYSLER - Nobody cares. Except maybe for the Dodge Challenger. They had a purple one here. That was pretty sweet. Let's see what happens when they start re-badging Fiats for U.S. sale.
TOYOTA - HOLY CRAP! One of the Corollas on display had a MANUAL WINDOW ROLLER! A manual window roller so cheap feeling, I felt like I could break it off in my hand. Not even the Hyundai Accent had manual rollers.
They also had a $38,000 Highlander with an "XM-ready radio" that did NOT include the XM tuner. That's absurd.
Given their unintended acceleration problems, is it really wise for Toyota to continue to use "Moving Forward" as their advertising slogan?
Honda - Honda SERIOUSLY decreased the size of their display. Maybe they just wanted to show the really cool product. Nope...It's all still Hondas. Acura was here too, but I didn't bother.
Mazda - Yawn. Maybe Mazda should have skipped the show and Mitsubishi should have taken their place.
Nissan - Aside from the trucks they were trying to intermingle with the GMC product, Nissan enclosed their space and filled it with...Nissans. Nothing new and noteworthy this year at all. I played with the on-board nav system in the Murano and found it to be confusing. Yay. Supposedly we're getting an updated Rogue next year. I'm still in love with mine.
GM - The 'new GM' is the old GM with half the brands and a few new crossovers. Howie Long should be proud. Idiot.
GMC Terrain - Wow. This thing feels CRAMPED. More cramped than anything I've sat in all show. What's the deal? Not exactly in love with that center stack either. And the "manly" look of the front end just doesn't make sense on a vehicle of this size. If anything, I bet this gets a lot of people to bump up to the Acadia.
Chevrolet Equinox - This thing had some seriously freaking awesome leather seats. I would have liked to have adjusted them properly, but they were electronic and the battery was disconnected. But they were really nice. They've also supposedly improved the steering radius over the old model too. I'll believe it when I drive it. It's still freaking ugly, though.
Chevrolet Camaro - They had a metallic green one on the turntable that was just gorgeous. Not a dark green...mean green. They also had a red one on the floor. A blonde teenage girl was behind the wheel, hands fiercely grabbing the steering wheel, looking wide-eyed and hypnotized. This is every parents' worst nightmare.
Cadillac SRX - The oversized station wagon is replaced by a completely new Equinox-sized crossover that supposedly does NOT share the Equinox-Terrain platform. It's an all-new platform with a ridiculously smooth and quiet ride if you believe the Auto Week guys. Some Guy asked a Cadillac rep about the parts content. He read the label and said "55 percent Mexican."
WRONG answer for a premium GM buyer.
