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Philly auto show is a small one without big unveilings but I work about 40 minutes drive from Philly so left work early yesterday to take a look. So here few of my thoughts. Subaru Ascent - I have to say I was somewhat disappointed. Externally it looks more awkward than in pictures, it is like somebody took Forester and did a 150% copy. At the show they had Limited model, not sure if it is top of the line or not but interior looked just ok. Front seats felt pretty comfortable. Second row doesn’t have a lot of leg room, and third row is tight. My legs were crammed to the second row seat backs as bad as in MDX for example. The only thing due to a more square design third row has more headroom, so it fills a little roomier. Trunk is smallish when third row is up like all of them. I believe it is smaller than Pilot. Maybe on a positive side it will drive better, but turbo four and cvt doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence. Buick TourX - they had only one black Preferred trim model. It is a mid-level model, but they said they will not do base anyway. How the mid-level model of luxury automaker costing $32k doesn’t even have leather is beyond me! Overall I liked the car, it looks great, the interior is nice enough even on that more basic model and pretty spacious. Trunk is pretty good too. I think the biggest issue for me will be the price. The top trim Essence with options will be well above $40k. I checked on cars.com, the cheapest Essence on sale around me is almost $38k and going up. I think it is way too much for that car. I think it should cost about as much as loaded Outback, you trade ground clearance for better handling and maybe better looks. Otherwise it doesn’t have anything special that Outback doesn’t. The only thing is in a year or two if it will be part of excellent end of the year GM sales and you can get it for low to mid $30s than I think it will be great. Volvo - I sat in V90 and XC90. In pictures the interior look great but in reality I was somewhat disappointed, looks a bit rough and plasticy. Space wise V90 supposed to be bigger than Outback and Tour X but doesn’t really feel that way. I think they are too expensive for what they are. Mustang - they had GT premium with performance package. The seats were very comfortable with good driving position. The back seat looks small even for kids, especially behind the driver seat but the front is spacious and comfortable. The manual had nice short and smooth throws, I think they improved it compared to the previous transmission, I remember few years back when I sat in one at the show it didn’t feel that good. Bullitt looks great but for majority of people I think it is just will be a green Mustang. So not sure how much over regular Mustang it will be priced but probably will not really justify the higher price. Camaro – OMG, inside it is like you sit in a submarine with tiny windows, you read about it but you need to experience it. In the last comparison with Mustang Camaro kicked ass, but I would not be able to buy one just because of that. Corvette - they had gorgeous Z06. However, seating in one it is tight, almost as tight as in Miata. They had the roof off but I lowered the seat all the way down and it felt like I will be very close to the roof if it would be in place. For reference I am 6'1", 180lbs. The seats didn't fell very comfortable too. I was considering getting a used Vette (not Z06 but regular Stingray Z51) in a few years as an option but might need to reconsider it. Overall, pretty decent auto show, not as big as NYC but not bad at all. They had some interesting classic and modified cars from the local auto clubs as well. Being mid-week also there wasn't too many people and I could sit in and check out out all the cars easily.

Agreed. It is amazing that Camaro as fast or faster as cars two three times its price. I am a big Mustang fan and actually plan to purchase one in a few years. Camaro design outside and inside just doesn't do it for me, but boy do I wish Mustang would handle as good as the Camaro! Maybe, next generation Mustang will be better, one could hope...

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I was planning to go to NY Auto Show but tomorrow opens Philly Auto show which is relatively small without any unveilings but it has all major new cars I believe. https://www.phillyautoshow.com/ Since I work not too far from Philly (about 40 min) and since it will be more easily accessible than NY I probably will go next week.

SH-AWD might be a silly name but it is vastly superior than most AWD systems currently on the market.

Way to criticize car even before ANY details are announced besides the possible engine! Good job sir!

@dfelt Excellent article, thank you. It is a good point that there is very little information regarding the electrical motors companies are using. There is a lot of development going into them as well. It is especially interesting to me since I am an electrical engineer.

I like the new looks, except the over sized Acura badge on the front. Finally it will have the "good" awd system too and maybe some sportiness injected too.

Man, just as you think VW can't make their cars look more boring, they manage to prove everybody wrong. Now it is not only boring looking but also kind of ugly too. That's of course my purely personal opinion

+1

Absolutely. Unfortunately it seems it is the trend in the industry.

New MDX doesn't have many buttons anymore, but almost every function you have to go through the couple menu screens and that is a disaster. I test drove 2018 recently. Other than that it is a very nice, I would say even fun driving crossover.

Depends where, a little closer to the shore, we got over a foot yesterday.

My mother-in-law usually makes a family dinner, where all the closest family is present. Food wise nothing specially particular to that day, but food usually is good and in large variety. Other then that we just trying to relax after the New Year celebration.

Watched "The Last Jedi" yesterday. Not sure why it had rave reviews, it s@cks.

I agree with @ccap41 the Escalade is too blingy, too much chrome for my taste as well. Couple years ago some friends looked into getting a full size luxury SUV and I recommended to them to take a look at Escalade. The reply was: we are not rappers

Happy Holidays to you and everybody else!

Personally, I can see Corvette becoming pure electric or some kind of hybrid way before the Camaro. Maybe AWD too, however they will choose to do it. Vette has to compete in much higher bracket than Camaro, it needs the performance of electric motors, and it can afford to be more expensive with more technology.

Camaro is a muscle/sports car, maybe eventually it will become electric or hybrid but people are not buying it because of that. I am planning to buy a Mustang in a few years. Is it the fastest car? No . But I am not buying it to set records on a track, I want to buy it for my enjoyment and part of the enjoyment on the weekend drive is hearing the rumble and scream of the V8, to row my own gears, to have RWD handling. However, eventually I will consider electric or hybrid car as my daily driver.

Our friends have QX56 (now QX80), it is very nice for what it is. I think drives smaller then most similar vehicles in the segment, and pretty comfotable.

Ford Expedition / Navigator Nissan Armada / Infiniti twin Toyota Sequoia 2016 Acadia is close with 5200 Durango (probably not very cushy though)

So more and more manufacturers switching to turbo-four and turbo-six engines. We got a lot of new mainstream cars, crossovers and trucks coming out with turbo engines. Now we all know that NA four, six, and eight cylinder engines with regular oil changes can go easily 200k - 300k miles. What about turbo? How long do you think they will go without some major issues?

How the painted over camo is hindering aerodynamic???

You judge by one example of your aunt, awesome. I can counter it with my father-in-law that has 2011 RX350 and never had an issue with it. Anyway, there are statistics for that sort of thing.