I grabbed my brother's digital camera, jumped
on the Long Island Railroad and headed down to
the Javits Center. My brother's camera is a cheap model,
and I was in a hurry, so these pictures will not be that great. I thought I did a decent job running through the place... until I left. Just after I left I realized I missed three major displays. BMW, Mini (part of BMW?) and VW.
I realized I missed VW's display as soon as I got outside the Javits Center and I did not take a picture of the Eos. This is VW's new convertible that uses a
retractable hard top. It should compete directly with Pontiac's G6 convertible (also a
retractable hardtop), which I did get a picture of.
Due to the speed at which I was zooming through the show, and the quality of the camera, I got a few bad shots.
To account for the shots that I screwed up, or
missed entirely, here are some comments:
Audi A3 - I actually spent time climbing in this car. I sat in front, adjusted the seat to my liking and then sat behind the driver's seat to see if it would be comfortable for a 5' 10" person. It was. I am mildly thinking of this car for my next car. My son is
in Boy Scouts and they go camping every month with a big trip in the summer. I can see driving
this small luxury A3 as a daily driver that would make a decent camping vehicle. It should hold all of our stuff, even for a week long camping trip. I would get it with the 2.0T engine and a manual transmission. I have seen road tests that
put this combination in the 6.0 - 6.5 second range for 0 - 60. Neuspeed has an
engine management upgrade
for this car that adds approximately 50 horsepower and 90 ft. lbs., and it only costs $500.
So why did I have to go to Audi's web site for
this image? Because mine came
out like crap.
VW Eos - I didn't even see this at the
show, and it was one of the cars I wanted to see before I got there. I don't know what happened. This is Volkswagen's
retractable hardtop convertible. I really want to check out the back seat room in this car. I like convertibles, but I really want a
quiet, comfortable car when the top is up. I am going to
have to take a closer look at this car when it hits the dealers.
Mini
Traveler - I did not see a Mini "booth" at the show. I assume I just missed it... like VW. I would have liked to see the new "larger" Mini. It has been at other auto shows, and I would have liked to check out its size in person. Again, could this be a good vehicle for going camping with my boys.
From what I can tell of the web site this car
was not at the New York Auto Show. That's a
shame.
Scion
Fuse - I saw this cool looking concept car
just as I was leaving. I had to wait through a
presentation just to get a look inside... and
then I screwed up the pictures. So I have to
contend with showing you an image from the web. The headlights light up in different
colors during the day. Mood lighting. I love it.
Skip all the bells and whistles inside, and I
will line up to buy one.
Mustang
Shelby GT-H - This is exactly what I saw in
my mind the day I saw the production version of
the new Mustang. I would consider
getting my own Mustang in black and adding gold stripes and
GT-350 H lettering. As I understand it, Ford is
going to provide 500 of these to Hertz to use as
rental cars. After Hertz is done with them they
will auction them off. I will be these cars will
become serious collector pieces eventually. I
would love to see some people with the original
GT-350 H cars add them to their collection. They
would look cool together.
Enough about the cars I missed or screwed up. Let's get on with the cars I did see... and got a decent picture of.
