bobo

The L.A. Auto Show has come and gone. As is my tradition, I went opening day. I just haven’t had the chance to post some of my observations, but here are a few. Some of the constants of the L.A. Auto Show are the huge, packed Porsche area near the front, the vast Ford display with lots of freebies, crowded BMW and Benz displays, throngs around Cadillac Escalades and concept vehicles, and gleaming pearl white Maseratis. Well, this year it was largely as expected except there weren’t any Ford freebies, Cadillac didn’t bring any concepts, and Maserati sat out the show, along with Ferrari. Porsche: I spent about 5 hours at the show, the last couple hours at the ride and drives. I drove the Kia Soul! (fun), Mitsubishi i-Miev (torquey and it actually drives like a real car), Toyota Prius c (slow, the regular Prius is a much better car), and Genesis R-Spec sedan (nice, but not quite at the level of a BMW, Benz, or Lexus). I wish I had more time. I wanted to try out a Chevy Spark and some of the Chrysler offerings. The updated Honda Civic is a slight improvement in interior materials and styling. The more substantial improvements are supposed to be found in the driving experience with a quieter interior. The last Civic I drove was a 2011 model, and I wasn’t impressed. The big deal at the Chevy display was the Chevy Spark EV. There were lots of pin on buttons alongside the brochures extolling the electric drivetrains, and there was also a button making station where you could make a couple of buttons using Crayola markers. Fun. GMC was showcasing the 2013 Acadia. Buick had the updated Enclave. Cadillac didn’t have any concepts but displayed the new XTS, ATS, and a racing version of the CTS. This one’s for Balthazar: And one for ocnblu, the Fisker Karma. The interior is tight and reminded me of the Mazda RX-8 in packaging. Outside, huge panel gaps. This car, the Bentley Mulsanne, had the best presence: The new Nissan GT-R: The new Toyota RAV4 looks a lot like the old one from the side. The front bears an unfortunate resemblance to the Toyota Corolla. The rear loses the outside spare tire, which is instead placed below the rear cargo area. The Chinese-made Coda electric car, which had a fairly large exhibit area at last year’s show, was nowhere to be found.

I like the Kia Rondo too! RIP, poor Rondo. I took a short drive in the Ford C-Max, and I liked that a lot too. As for the Prius, it's been crossed off the shopping list because the wife doesn't like the visibility out back, just from sitting in the car on the dealer lot. I would be curious to Mr. Monster's observations regarding visibility in day-to-day driving. The Prius is still on my mom's shopping list, and my parents live in a hilly area. If Mr. Monster is able to drive any hills, I'd like to know how it performs. I'm assuming from your "November 9, 2012" update that it would require a foot to the floor to keep up with traffic on a hill.

Congrats on the new job in a difficult job market.

ligaments

shoulders

Happy birthday BV!

Congrats on the new job!

con

I admit being a fan of the Prius. The hard plastics are an obvious cost cutting measure. The seats are synthetic leather.

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Handsome. Will be another hit for Hyundai.

Goofy front end, though better than the current angry chipmunk look.

It sounds impressive, like an ideal city car.

Happy birthday, big guy!

ocular

I took a brief drive in a new Malibu Eco, and it is an upgrade from the current car. However, the lack of room in the back is almost inexcusable. The rear of the Buick Regal feels bigger, though on paper it's only slightly bigger. I find the rear of the Regal to be habitable, and the back of the Verano to be entirely too tight. The next generation of GM vehicles needs to have wider large cars and more legroom in the midsizers.

Buick has been using the tri-color logo in China for several years now, if not forever, and it was the North American logo that changed to all chrome. I could see having a uniform logo worldwide, if for nothing else, manufacturing uniformity, and it would seem logical to have the red, white, and blue back in North America. I don't know what value there would be in changing the Chinese logo. Buick China site: http://www.buick.com.cn/

This doesn't sound like it would have a happy ending, and the salvage title would worry me, but what do I know. The Gen 3 cars just seemed like rattletraps to me, but they do have an undeniably clean style.

Happy birthday!

chocolate

rule

I picked up at Galaxy Note 2 yesterday to replace my two-year old HTC phone. I was planning to get the Galaxy S3, but the Note 2 has some compelling features. I also thought about waiting a few months for the GS4. I was apprehensive about the huge size of the Note 2, but I'll see how it goes. So far, battery life is great, unlike that of the GS3. I also use a BlackBerry Bold for work. Its only redeeming quality is long battery life. I can't see RIM being around much longer.

No immediate plans by me. My '05 Silverado is now my daily driver, and it has only 24k miles, and my '01 IS300 has only 55k miles. When I was younger, I wanted to get a new car every two or three years, but now I see that as just throwing money away. I don't find anything out there to be that compelling, though the Scion FR-S still interests me, and there's a new Lexus IS and Infiniti G about to be released. A new Accord EX-L in a year or two is the most likely new family vehicle to replace the '02 Accord.