The Tampico Tamaulipas Auto Show Recap

"Vicente Esteve" (vicente-esteve) 11/15/2014 at 13:22 • Filed to: Auto-Show

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Tampico Tamaulipas. The shining jewel in the blood-stained collar that is the north of Mexico. Every year in this rugged little town there is a car show I love to attend, not because any major debuts, but because its my excuse to sit in every new car currently for sale. But this has been by far the most interesting year. My first time ever in a Miata, the 2015 Mustang, an attempt to steal a Chevy Malibu at nighttime, my chance to fake being a Nissan Salesman and the opportunity to see if I made the right choice by choosing a MK7 Volkswagen Golf over my other options. The Auto-show lasted for a weekend and I went on Saturday alone and, as every year since 2007 when the event first began, I went with my father on Sunday. This is how it went.

I read in the newspapers about the event, heard it on the radio and saw it in magazines. I wanted to go alone at first because it gave me time to talk to myself about each car, and it would keep some of the salesman off me since there wasn't any adult that actually could buy a car from them. Before leaving I decided to properly dress for an automotive event, so I put on my Volkswagen Motorsports shirt that my girlfriend gifted me for my second anniversary. Accompanied with black pants and a jacket I was ready to see some cars.

The place for this event is where all concerts, plays, and basketball games take place, the local convention center. I adore coming here, its besides the gorgeous Metro theatre in front of a majestic lake and I can assure you they are the best thing ever built in my city. Hell, I can go as far as saying they are the best structures built in my whole state. As I arrived to the gigantic parking lot (Lots of hooning will be done here) I went to the underground parking because, well, my car deserves it.

Pictured is my car in the convention center

This is where the first surprise of the event arrived, my Golf's brother!

I went inside the marvellous building that filled me with good memories, and as every year, I registered in the booth. I went in and was greeted by the cars, the publicity, latin skin and I felt right at home.

I decided to walk by all the stands to get a sense of what was there. A quick turn to the right, and I was hooked. My first stare at the 2015 Mustang. I decided to go and check it out, and then take the lap of the autoshow. I have to be honest, I was sort of disappointed since it was the base model with horrid wheels, a not very hot yellow, and a V6 mated to an automatic. Still, I stepped inside and the salesman turned it on for me. A crowd gathered, and were somewhat hypnotised by the LED's up front, but after feeling the interior I got out and kept on walking.

I started with the Dodge, Jeep, Chrysler stand and was inclined to go see the 200s Detroit City outlining in the mat Easter Egg. It was pretty cool. Then, my attention went to the Cherokee Trailhawk at back and oh boy was I disgusted by it. The exterior is only "acceptable" in my opinion but the interior is just a horrid mess. The seats are so unsupportive I feel like I am was being tucked by whale grease, the color of the leather was a poo-ey brown, there were astoundingly fake wood inserts, the buttons felt woeful compared to the Golf's, and to top it off there was red stitching everywhere. Now, why the hell would they mix the sportiness of the red-stitching with the brown "classiness" of the leather and the wood?! And, it the damn off-road version so neither sporty or luxury touches should be here! I just got annoyed, but thankfully there was a red Durango R/T besides it which was as refreshening as brushing your teeth after eating indian food.

I then walked to the Renault stand at the side and oogled at the refreshed Fluence, which is a Sentra underneath. It had this pretty odd screen in the instruments I thought you might like to see. You can take it as a Frenchs' version of the Civic's dash. Thankfully, they had a lot of Duster's which I just love to sit in, but I couldn't stay much time since there was the salesman that wanted to sell me one after going for a test drive.

Pictures is the R rebadged Nissan enault instrument panel

Next was the BMW stand which had a new 4 series which I was indiferent of, and a truly special car. A 220i! Unfortunately it was automatic, but sitting in it just felt right. If this was a manual, I would've felt buyers remorse right away, even though I couldn't have been able to afford it anyways.

After that, I went to the Volkswagen stand to see the refreshened Jetta. I must say, it was the biggest disappointment of the day. I have seen the interior in Europe and the U.S. but never for the Mexican market which includes a lot of cocaine-white inserts that look absolutely horrid. Bad materials, and just not nice at all, but in fairness it was not the best equipped model. Fun fact, they still sell the Jetta here with the 2.5 Inline 5!

I then arrived at one of my favourite stands, Seat. I had feelings I would instantly regret not buying a Leon, but that wasn't the case. The interior of the Golf was much better, and the looks without the LED headlamps are not too great. What I also saw here was an epic Ibiza Cupra 2 door which weirdly smelt like rotten fruit inside. Besides it were i-Tech special edition Seats, which include blue seats and other features.

This is the i-Tech logo on the special edition. Blue Seats, blue Key cover, blue paint are also part of the package for the Leon and Ibiza.

Stunning Little Car. It's already been sold.

I then went to the Mazda stand and was greeted by a huge screen with an N/A Miata dancing around a racetrack. Then, pretty much the polar opposite sitting under said movie. It was a white Miata with an Automatic, brown leather seats, and a hardtop. About the most anti- Miata of the Miatas, but it was the first I could sit in so I took the chance. It feels extremely chucable and rascalish, and now yearn to have a go in a proper one.

Miata Films showed here.

The Miata Anti-christ.

Then I went to see the Mazda 3, thinking of it as the clearest competitor to my Golf. It's safe to say, this car can't hold a candle to the Volkswagens interior. Driving dynamics were NOT considered, so I can't say anything about that, but the gear changes felt pretty bad which was odd reading all the good press it received. I also want to drive this, but know that I made the right choice with the Golf.

I then went to the Mitsubishi stand, which had all the usual mediocrity we love to hate. And then, there was the L2000. A brutish Pickup thats so spartan it smelled like facial hair and felt as luxurious as a lumberjacks cabin. I don't know how you would feel about it, so I took a photo.

Besides was the Honda stand which was not even worth going (ALL cars were silver base models). Then there was the GMC stand which had a cool looking Sierra. I stepped in, and was greeted by a young salesman who taught me everything there is to know about Onstar and let me fire up the truck. My god have they moved on in terms or luxury, these are as usable for cruising as any other Buick they had besides. I checked out the new Suburban which felt enormous around me, and honestly I wouldn't like to drive it in Mexican roads. To put it to perspective, my mothers Expedition EL felt agile just by sitting in it.

Also, at this Chevrolet stand I saw a Malibu Turbo sitting right at the back with someone carefully close to the doors as if taking care of that sole car. When I neared the passenger side I noticed it both the front and rear windows were shattered and all the glass was inside the car. The night before, someone tried to steal it but obviously couldn't. Around my town, Turbo LTZ Malibu's are very common with drug-dealers, so this didn't surprise me that much.

Then I was immediately struck in the heart with a knife of cuteness. 3 Fiat 500's, and one of them being the cutesiest of them all. The 1957 edition. This is as cool as 500's get in my opinion without counting the Abarth. Now that I think about it, an Abarth engine swap would be EPIC. And there was also the GQ edition which was tragic.

I later stepped to the Nissan stand, and this is when things got the most interesting. I saw a 370Z Gran Turismo Livery'd that was used in the GT Academy, sadly and rather stupidly it was an automatic. Then I saw for the first time a Leaf and had to get behind the wheel. As I was checking out the interior I got the exact same smell as my aunt's 8 year old Nissan Quest. It was amazing, this 2 year old Leaf smelled just like that quest that was used for road trips and as a family napkin. Then, things got interesting.

A 50 year old man sits besides me in the passenger seat, and notices that my shirt was the same color than the one every other Nissan salesman was wearing (He couldn't see the VW Logo underneath the Jacket) and told me how did the gearstick worked. I followed the pattern and told him each gear and what the car would do. Then, he told me to explain a bit more about the car and at this point I had to make a decision. Do I tell this good man that I am not in charge of selling Nissan's nor I am authorised to show him the car, OR try to keep this salesman character for the most time I could. Let's say I gave him a nice tour around the interior, just a Nissan salesman would.

"I'd Like to see under the hood"

"Absolutely sir, no problem. Follow me here"

As I went to the hood and lifted it I tries to look for the stick that kept it up. For anyone who is not a Leaf owner here, that stick is on the actual hood, not on the engine bay. Unfortunately I couldn't find it at first, so I had to answer the guys questions whilst looking professional and not like a fool who didn't know how the keep the damn hood up. I finally found it and kept on answering in a reassuring, serious tone

"How much time of charging does this need? Where can I get spare parts? How many Kilometers can I get on a tank? Is it really all electric? Does it break down?"

All of these questions were answered by sole knowledge of the car backed up by some very well engineered hand motions that assured the man that I was the real deal. After the short suspense silence, he stretched his hand and told me he would think about it.

" Absolutely sir, we will be waiting for you here at Nissan. Have a nice day"

As the man left form the Nissan stand, and as I tried to find my escape I was extremely happy that for once my car knowledge could be used in the real world. I felt like all this that I have in my head has a use and that someone found it helpful.

After that, I had already passed through all the stands and returned to the Volkswagen place to say hello to the man that sold me my car. A quick goodbye since he was in a sale and I left for home. This is the thing about local Auto-show's. They may not be the showcase of everything cutting edge, or be of great magnitude, but it does bring people together to see cars. To appreciate the technology and advancements. Even if I know all the specs and seen photos of every car here, I wanted to experience them first hand, and that's the reason why all these years I have returned and will keep coming back.

PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power > Vicente Esteve 11/15/2014 at 13:29

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You know me too well Vicente... :P

TwinCharged - Is Now UK Opponaut > Vicente Esteve 11/15/2014 at 13:37

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I went to the Macau Autoshow before. There were two floors - one for Chinese and commercial vehicles, one for European manufacturers. Those two were for poor people. The rich people section was a roped off, invite only, Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Lamborghini and Pagani filled section of the expo centre.

EL_ULY > Vicente Esteve 11/15/2014 at 14:22

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my phone is bigger than this lol

Vicente Esteve > TwinCharged - Is Now UK Opponaut 11/15/2014 at 20:17

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That is so unfair. I mean, if both shows were at the same time it would be sad for anyone who wasn't invited to the "luxury" section.

Vicente Esteve > EL_ULY 11/15/2014 at 20:18

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And its supposed to be the place where the rear-view camera shows...

EL_ULY > Vicente Esteve 11/15/2014 at 20:20

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really? Didn't know that. So odd

Ferguson, Turd Ferguson. > Vicente Esteve 11/16/2014 at 10:58

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Right, there is some new US legislation that all new cars must have backup cameras, so I think we should expect to see a bunch of these mini LCD screens in new base-model cars.

It blows my mind that I can buy a killer 80 inch Vizio HDTV for a ~1k USD, but the 6 inch NAV screen is a 3-5k option in new cars. LOL, wut?

Ferguson, Turd Ferguson. > Vicente Esteve 11/16/2014 at 11:03

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Vicente-Esteve, I'm enjoying your articles, thanks for writing! It's interesting to get a perspective on the Mexican auto happenings.

Can you tell me more about the mustang's interior? You said you were disappointed, was it a base model?

Also, why are Malibus popular among narcos? Low profile?

Cheers!

Vicente Esteve > Ferguson, Turd Ferguson. 11/16/2014 at 11:18

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Thanks a lot! I appreciate it and will keep doing more.

The Mustangs interior is very well designed, but fails when you take close looks. The touch points are good, but the quality is just ok. Nothing wrong with that IMHO, because it still is the best Mustang interior ever. You have to get the higher trims for the interior to be as nice as it should. It was a very basic model that looked wrong with such small wheels.

Malibu's are weirdly popular with Narcos! I have no clue, but my guess is the looks and Turbo engine. In fact, the Malibu is pretty crappy to drive, but crims seem to be fond of its "American Luxury" feel. If I was a Narco and had to get a Mid-sizer i'd have a V6 Passat.

Cheers as well!

Vicente Esteve > Ferguson, Turd Ferguson. 11/16/2014 at 11:19

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Thats a very good way of putting how wrong automakers are.

You know the price of 2 iPad Minis in a Ferrari FF? (They go behind the front seats). $5,000 Dollars.