"718Rogue" (562siast)
11/23/2014 at 16:41 • Filed to: None
1
2|
"718Rogue" (562siast)
11/23/2014 at 16:41 • Filed to: None | 1
| 2 |
Yesterday, Saturday, November 22, I attended the L.A. Autoshow. I only have the time and money to attend one day a year, so I try to see everything good in that day. Naturally, I went straight for the test drives as soon as I got there.
Test Drives
"As you can see, the new Durango R/T has these LED racetrack taillights, which encircle the entire back end and give it undeniable character." "The new Dart GT has active grille shutters, which help us bring the EPA mileage ratings up to 22 city / 31 highway." "The Chrysler 200's backup camera shows its actual bumper in the screen." "The Durango has these new digital gauges, which means that you can actually customize what kind of information shows up on the screen" "The Fiat 500E gets up to 108 MPGe on the highway and 122 in the city".
After a while, all of the information starts to blur together. Chrysler group (Dodge, Chrysler, Fiat, and Jeep) had the most persistent spokespeople of all. Or maybe it was just that I got to them first, before they had been worn down by repeating the same information countless times. I drove a total of 9 cars yesterday, from the all-electric glorified golf cart that is the 500e to the 485-horsepower, 6.4L Challenger R/T Scat Pack. These are my impressions:
Durango R/T
It's fast. Like, actually fast. The loud V8 rumble is intoxicating, and the height above most traffic is commanding. The 5.7L Hemi delivers only 360 hp and 390 lb/ft, but if I had to guess, I probably would've guessed 400. Although the 0-60 time, as tested by Car & Driver, is 7.4 seconds, it certainly feels faster in such a big car. The gear selector is a round dial, which the spokesperson seemed to think was revolutionary although other manufacturers have been doing it for years. However, there are paddles by the steering wheel to engage fake-manual mode. Modern transmissions have improved by leaps and bounds, and although the paddle shifters don't command instant shifts like in more sporty models, they definitely work much better than the ones on my friend's 2009 BMW M6 or my parents' 2006 Mazda 3. The truck feels stable and planted, even at high speed (I got it up to 60) and around corners. It shares the same unibody construction as the new Grand Cherokee, which helps it feel almost like a big sports sedan more than a truck. I still don't like the all-digital gauge cluster, but being able to change the main display to show music, tire pressure, gas mileage, or whatever else, is certainly useful. And interior room is what you would expect from something this huge.
Chrysler 200
The new Chrysler 200's styling is hate it or love it. Sometimes I hate it, sometimes I love it. Either way, you can't deny that it looks like nothing else on the market; at least from the front. The model they had for test drives was the 3.6L V6, which delivers 295 hp and 262 lb/ft, with an all-wheel-drive option. Interior was actually pretty nice, but all I really remember is that I managed to spin all four tires for half a second, supposedly with the traction control on. Despite that, it was not extraordinarily fast, but power was certainly more than adequate.
Dodge Dart GT
The little Dart was perhaps my favorite test drive of the show. Honestly, I don't remember the ride being overly harsh. What I do remember is a nice looking and quality interior, a great sounding exhaust note from the dual tailpipes, and an eager little engine.
Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack
The first thing I noticed was the Hurst-style shifter - a nice touch and great homage to the Challengers of the '70s. Obviously, the entire car is retro-styled, but with modern technology and finish, and the interior is the same way. The Earth-shattering Hemi V8 is addicting, but my main issue with this car is its huge size. It doesn't feel like a pony car, but a huge muscle car cruiser. It felt even bigger than the CTS-V coupe or Camaro SS that I drove last year, and although it handled its weight deftly, I felt like it was too big to be called a Challenger. I even ended up driving in automatic mode after a minute or two in the car, simply because it felt more suited to pointing the steering wheel and stomping on the gas pedal than getting more involved and commanding shifts myself.
Fiat 500E
The 500E was probably the smallest and best-handling car I drove. I also loved the cute styling and fresh, modern interior, and it was certainly peppy enough to keep up with traffic, but the under 100 mile maximum range is a bit disappointing. By the time I was in it, which was only about 2 and a half hours after test drives had started, it was already down to 24% battery life, which dropped to 22% by the time I was done.
Mazda 6
The Mazda 6 currently is only offered with the same 2.5L I-4 as in the Mazda 3, which delivers a low 184 hp. How is this possible? Does Mazda have any sort of plan to release more powerful engines in the 6? It felt slow - not agonizingly so, but noticeably slower than the Chrysler 200 or even the Dart, and slower than my parents' 160 hp 2006 Mazda 3 2.3. Aside from that, it's a good, comfortable car, and the chassis and handling does feel better than the 200, but Mazda seriously needs to get at least 250 hp in the 6 to be competitive.
Mazda 3
Honestly, I didn't feel like the 3 was any less sporty than the previous generations. It even felt a little more powerful and sounded better, with the 2.5's extra roughly 20 hp over the first gen's 2.3. The 3 is still one of the best-looking, best-driving, and best-equipped compacts for sale. But the Dart comes pretty close…
Chevy Volt
Felt slow and outdated, with an unremarkable interior. Made me wonder if the ELR, which reportedly drives the same but has a much nicer interior and styling, is worth it. However, the 380 mile range is pretty amazing.
Cadillac ATS Coupe (V6)
Handsome little car, although something seems off somehow about the proportions… But it drove great, and the spokesperson made a point to tell me about how the musical-sounding engine noise was all natural, unlike some companies. Felt a lot tighter and more planted around corners than the ATS 2.0 turbo sedan I drove last year, and was decently fast as well.
Razor Crazy Cart
The Razor Crazy Cart has the least horsepower of probably any other vehicle here. It also has the lowest range and top speed. Despite this it was definitely the most fun test drive of the entire show, although I feel like if they had let me loose on a track with the Challenger, it might have topped it. The thing is a little harder to control than it looks, but once I got the hang of it, I was doing drifts all over the tiny clearing they had, clipping cones and scraping barriers. "Getting the hang of it", though, didn't stop me from slamming into a giant plastic barrier sideways at near full speed and knocking it almost 2 feet back. I have no idea how fast it goes, but it certainly feels fast enough when you're literally inches from the ground with barely any protection. Literally my only real complaint is that it's tiny and uncomfortable, but hopefully the new, faster, larger Crazy Cart XL will remedy that.
Virtual Reality
As always, there were multiple racing simulators and games, mostly showing off new cars. Chevy had their Chaparral 2X Vision Concept, which they let people drive on a massive oval test track in Gran Turismo 6. The two straightaways seemed longer than the runway in Fast 6, and I eventually got so bored that I just let go of the wheel, letting the car fishtail out of control around 300 mph. Kia had their Optima Touring Car available for showgoers to drive in iRacing. Lexus had the new RC-F in some kind of PC-operated racing simulation with virtual reality goggles and headphones, which was kind of cool and generated a pretty long line, but wasn't that fun or easy to drive. At least Lexus let you use paddle shifters, unlike most of the other games which were automatic-only. Hyundai had a Genesis Coupe in Gran Turismo 6, which was one of the more fun ones without a huge line. State Farm had Corvette C6s that you could race 3 of your friends with (unfortunately, brake assist was on, which made the whole experience a bit infuriating). And finally, Pirelli had a virtual garage, which was actually really cool. It wasn't a game and you didn't get to really control anything, but it was pretty trippy to see a bunch of cars in front of you that aren't really there.
Toyota had the FT-1 Concept Car in Gran Turismo 6, which I tried out after this adorable old lady who couldn't for the life of her keep the car pointed straight.
Indeed, it was harder than it looks. The steering was way too sensitive. I still posted the best time of the day so far (though it was still very early in the day).
Mazda, unfortunately, did not have the giant moving MX-5 simulator which i enjoyed so much last year.
But Dodge made up for it by having this awesome setup, consisting of a real Charger and Challenger Hellcat, letting you and a friend race each other.
The actual car's gauges showed how fast you were going in game, and the actual pedals and steering wheel were the controls. Even cooler, they let you seat as many passengers as there were seats. The families in front of me with their kids riding alongside and screaming with the car's movements were adorable.
Everything Else
Mitsubishi 's display this year was even more depressing than Acura's last year. The only modern-looking car they had was this pointy crossover, which had a name that the spokesman stumbled over trying to announce, and said a bunch of embarrassing things about with a sense of false enthusiasm, like "the Mitsubishi ABCDE emphasizes our future design direction", and "the styling looks like a runner about to take off, which gives a sports car feel with a crossover's utility".
They did have an i-MiEV, which apparently they're trying to release in the U.S. as a 2014 model or something, never mind the fact that it's the same car that's been out for 5 years and in development for almost 10. Sitting in it, it literally felt like I was in some kind of Mahindra or something, and the golf-cart-size wheels and cheap styling and materials give the same impression.
The Mirage, on the other hand, at least felt like a fresh, new entry level crapcan. If I had to choose, it would be Mirage every time.
Toyota was not as sleep-inducing this year as it was last year, mostly due to the FT-1 concept.
Besides the FT-1, they had this ridiculous Sienna,
This beautiful 2000GT (and a Land Cruiser and LeMans car) which was back-to-back with the MINI Roadster,
And this hideous thing, which seemed to be hiding in shame near a wall at the corner of the Toyota display:
There was nobody around to give me any information about it, but if you haven't already read about it online, it's pretty much the next-gen Prius or something. If I had to drive one, it would definitely be in white to embrace the Stormtrooper-helmet styling.
They also had these two personal mobility concepts,
which to me are utterly pointless, and is something which Toyota has been doing since like 2006.
Sadder than both Mitsubishi and Acura combined was Mullen . They had, I think, two 700es on display, as well as the kit-car-looking atrocity, and I almost laughed out loud reading their brochure:
Neither of the representatives present could tell me what exactly was "all new" that would make this more than a rebadged Coda, or what exactly Porsche Design contributed.
Some guy walking by started asking them if it was hydrogen powered, but quickly lost interest and walked away when they explained that it was just a regular electric car.
Everything else at the show was pretty much standard autoshow fare; I didn't get stunning pictures of anything so I won't upload anymore… Just know that the AMG GT looks even better in person.
Pabuuu, JDM car enthusiast & Italian parts hoarder
> 718Rogue
11/23/2014 at 17:19 |
|
Scat pack? Really?
Why do they name a car after poo porn?
|
718Rogue
> Pabuuu, JDM car enthusiast & Italian parts hoarder
11/23/2014 at 18:44 |
|
History.