Thoughts on the DC Auto Show (Warning: Pictures)

"Axial" (axial)
01/25/2015 at 17:53 • Filed to: so shiny!, DC, DC Auto Show, Auto Show, cars, photo dump

There is a photo potato dump further down, but I'd like start this blurb with these things called words.

First, a list of the cars I sampled in detail. In order:

Buick Regal GS

GMC Yukon Denali

Chevrolet SS

Chevrolet Colorado

Chevrolet Impala LTZ

Chevrolet Malibu LTZ

Fiat 500 Abarth

Chrysler 200C

Jeep Cherokee

RAM 3500 TurboDiesel

Dodge Dart Rallye

Dodge Charger SRT

Chrysler 300

Ford Fiesta ST

Ford Edge Limited

Scion FR-S

Mercedes-Benz E400

Lexus RC 350 F

Volvo S60

BMW i3

Lincoln MKZ 2.0H

Lincoln MKZ V6 AWD

Lincoln MKX

Cadillac ATS Coupe 2.0T

General impresions? American manufacturers brought their A-game. You might notice that there's a lack of Toyota or Honda on here. I will tell you it's not because I didn't spend time with them; I was actually in the Toyota section longer than any other. The reason that there isn't anything from either of those makes on there is because I stuck my head in the window of each car and said "no fucking way." Seriously, those interiors look 20 years old, with cheap, leather-patterned, hard, black plastic bits comprising 90% of the whole thing. Even the lower end Malibus, Darts, and 200s were nicer-looking places. Combine with the most boring drive trains known to man, and you have the automotive equivalent to the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot. Credit where credit is due, though, Toyota had the liveliest display and they were trolling everybody by featuring otherwise unmodified Camry and Corolla and Avalon models that were stanced with hella-flush fitting and stretched tires. Way to own up, Toyota, mad props. Meanwhile, Honda was trying to look all dignified and proper...

Unfortunately, not all of the American makes were good. Ford, to my surprise, actually felt hugely underwhelming. They have this fetish for sparkly semi-gloss plastic that looks like it came off of a Wal-Mart toy from the early '00s, like the crap those toy lightsabers have their hilts made from. While other manufacturers use this same stuff, Ford is extremely liberal with it. And it gets worse when you start looking at Lincoln, who are even more liberal with the application of this material. As if that weren't egregious enough for a luxury car, there were a lot of rough-finished edges. For example, I can stick my fingers behind the MKX's center stack bezel because they neglected to close it off. Behind it. And it's not an access point because it wasn't even a smooth gap. I should not be able to do that on a base-model C-Max, let alone an MKX.

I do have some choice words I'd like to say about some of the cars mentioned above.

Fiesta ST : This is the only car I've ever sat in that had bad Recaro seats. I'm a small-framed person, only 130 lbs. and 5' 8" tall. They just didn't work; the hips sat funny and upper bolstering conspired with the general lack of shoulder room to make for a very uncomfortable car. The gear shift was also too low and too notchy, and the clutch had this odd tactile hump about mid-way through its travel. For all the praise this car has received, I was kind of disappointed.

FR-S : there's nowhere to put your right arm. At all. If the gear shift were lower, this wouldn't have been as much of an issue but it's at the same height that the gear shift is in my C4 Corvettes...only without an armrest. This is not a place I want to spend time. That gauge cluster was pretty, though.

Lexus RC 350 F : Best ergonomics of any of the luxury cars I sat in, period. Seating position, arm rests, the seats themselves, the controls. Nailed it. The styling, while quite polarizing, holds up much better in person than it does in photos. Good on you, Lexus, I am curious to see where you go in the next 5 years. Word of advice, though: cease that rebadged Prius you call the CT 200h. That thing is awful.

Volvo S60 : What a package. The seats were great, the controls were incredibly intuitive (man-shaped heating control buttons? Genius), and it had pretty great visibility. A little plain-looking, but that could be said for most of the cars on the luxury floor.

RAM 3500 : It was a 6-speed manual.

BMW i3 : budget interior designed for price-gouging. Basically, typical BMW.

Lincoln MKZ : The exterior is fine, the controls are fine, but seriously? They need a huge dose of aluminum in this car. Sparkly glitter plastic is absolutely unacceptable.

ATS Coupe : My right elbow falls into the cup holder and the gauges came out of an '80s pickup truck. Also, if you want an ATS-V, get it in sedan form; it is much prettier.

Chrysler 200C : punching way, way above its class. It's roomy in both the front and the back without feeling like a barge. The materials are very generous; even the paddle shifters are aluminum. There were luxury cars downstairs that still featured plastic paddle-shifters, which was extremely off-putting. But this car? I want to drive one. It's the only one I really wanted to drive at the whole show, to put that V6 through its paces and see how it handled in S mode. You can really tell they put a lot of effort into it in every facet. It's not as stylistically bold as Cadillac, but it's built just as well. This car: value buy of the year.

Anyway, if you've got questions about the cars in the bullet list above, or even of some others you might think of, I may be able to answer them.

P.S. I didn't get to the Mazda, Nissan, or VW sections. Ran out of time. :(

Have some potatoes:

DISCUSSION (35)

jvirgs drives a Subaru > Axial
01/25/2015 at 18:02

Kinja'd!!!

MY EYES!

jvirgs drives a Subaru > Axial
01/25/2015 at 18:02

Kinja'd!!!

looks like the 2012 Civic refresh. And we all know how that went

jvirgs drives a Subaru > Axial
01/25/2015 at 18:04

Kinja'd!!!

Axial > jvirgs drives a Subaru
01/25/2015 at 18:04

The front fascia is the worst part about the new Volt. I'm not a fan. The rest of the car, however, looks better than any Civic has in the last decade.

Axial > jvirgs drives a Subaru
01/25/2015 at 18:04

Green was certainly a controversial choice. :p

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > Axial
01/25/2015 at 18:05

Oh I've never seen the DC show. I built the Land Rover/Jag booth this year and set it up once in CA. It looks like DC gets a few turntables, platforms, freestanding stack signs and arches. I wish they were all like that, my life would be a lot easier. We ship different crates to different shows, the big shows get all of them and others get different set ups.

Axial > jvirgs drives a Subaru
01/25/2015 at 18:07

I photographed it for the hilarity. The whole Toyota section was kinda awesome, even if the cars weren't. The whole swag-and-stance rockin' was a dose of fresh air after all the tight-buttoned serious business that were the American sections and the entire downstairs luxury section. They had a tC that said "INTIMIDATE" across the windshield in a giant helping of irony.

To their credit, Toyota were also the only company to bring actual race cars to the show.

jvirgs drives a Subaru > Axial
01/25/2015 at 18:08

I will say that the new Camry racecar does look quite good.

ly2v8-Brian > Axial
01/25/2015 at 18:09

I'd say your overall summation is similar to what I think about interiors.

Axial > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°)
01/25/2015 at 18:13

Oh, that's pretty neat. Jag/LandRover had some tilted stands for the cars, with the Evoque and friends leaning to the left. Turn-table for the F-Type, of course. :p

That picture is just the bottom floor, too. The bottom floor was actually a bit haphazard in arrangement. I didn't even know there were Ferrari and Lamborghini sections in the back (to the far, far, far left of the photo) because you couldn't see all the way down once on the ground. Not that it mattered, because those cars were not open to sit in and stuff. Boo.

The top floor had a much better arrangement. It was a straight shot from entrance to the back with manufacturer booths to the left and right. GM was first, then FCA, then Toyota (they held the center of the room) with a tiny Honda section, and finally Ford in the very back.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > Axial
01/25/2015 at 18:20

Kinja'd!!!

Well to give you some idea of the hell it can be. We build this Hyundai booth in LA in 6 days with around the clock shifts. It has a corian floor in the whole booth (raised floors in LA mean it has a corian and stainless ramp all the way around the booth), an upstairs with three offices and a lounge with A/C, an elevator, so big it has to be plumbed for fire sprinklers for code, turntables, more LEDs than you can imagine....

Milky > Axial
01/25/2015 at 18:21

You shut your whore mouth about the i3 interior. One of the best interiors in …. ever.

Seriously looks like some with a architectural degree designed it. Not to mention he recycled/green materials in an EV.

Kinja'd!!!

and

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Axial > Milky
01/25/2015 at 18:33

That doesn't look at all like it was designed by somebody with an architectural degree. It looks like it was designed by somebody who's looked at the drawings of somebody who actually does have an architectural degree, but misinterpreted the reasons for why the lines were they way they were. AKA, a goddamn artiste .

That aside, the one they had on the floor was all black inside with the same wood floor paneling you see there.

Actually, here is the photo:

Kinja'd!!!

Maybe it is visually stimulating, but sitting in it? It was garbage. The wheel is too thin, the execution of the LCDs is beyond tacky, and the physical controls are old-Chrysler levels of chintzy.

I would not pay what they are asking for that car.

Axial > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°)
01/25/2015 at 18:38

Sheeyit, that's fancy. The DC show is a lot simpler than that. I think the most elaborate thing I saw was a four-post lift installed in the Lexus section so an on-hand tech could show viewers about certain facets of the GS.

More or less, the only real customization available to auto makers was number of turn-tables, which car to put on the tables, and what signage to use.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > Axial
01/25/2015 at 18:42

Yeah, they focus on LA and Detroit the most because of media. SF and NYC get booths too but not the really fancy one. That Hyundai booth was around 30 million to design and fabricate, they ordered it with three months to build it. They have used it for maybe four years with little changes.

hike > Axial
01/25/2015 at 18:43

Did you notice if they had any of the new Mazda's?

Also, pretty sweet Mercedes booth as well, between the AMG GT and S63 coupe. I'm hoping to get down there this week and check it out.

Milky > Axial
01/25/2015 at 18:45

I sat in one at the Detroit show and I liked it ….. and ya know ….

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Axial > Milky
01/25/2015 at 18:51

That means absolutely fuck all to me, just as it does for every other manufactured item. When a car as old, bland, boring, and washed out as the GTI also wins some kind "of the Year" award, you know it's a joke.

Axial > hike
01/25/2015 at 18:54

If by new Mazdas you mean the ND, 2, and the CX-3, I didn't see them when I briefly passed through. I didn't get to stop in their section because I was searching for somebody at that point.

Axial > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°)
01/25/2015 at 18:56

At 30 million, I'd use it for awhile, too.

I'm also surprised that the NYC show isn't so big. Detroit and LA cover central and western USA, but apparently there's nothing of equal import to the eastern side.

Milky > Axial
01/25/2015 at 19:06

That was an incredible side-jab there at the GTI.

But while looking more stuff up I came across this.

"The BMW i3 won the Car Design of the Year award for 2013 in the production category at the 2014 Geneva Auto Show . The i3 was selected by a panel of senior design directors. "

senior design directors > axial

Axial > Milky
01/25/2015 at 19:17

The GTI has changed about as much as the Camry has over a similar amount of time, and yet journalists everywhere trip over themselves to put it on a pedestal at the end of a year after spending vast amounts of time before-hand writing about how much better the competition is. And it always boils down to "because it's restrained but also knows how to have fun", possibly the most bullshit argument to ever grant a CotY award.

That out of the way, you make your appeal to (a heavily biased) authority as if it means anything in this conversation. The senior design directors are not buying this car. The senior design director probably drives something much more expensive and much nicer. People like me are who buy these cars, and I say that $42,000 for Tupperware is unacceptable. If I want Tupperware, I'll save $15,000 and go buy a Toyota.

Long Live the Longdoor > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°)
01/25/2015 at 19:57

Wow, that's a pretty elaborate setup for an autoshow. I've never really had much appreciation for the booth setups when I go to the autoshow every year. Very cool!

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > Long Live the Longdoor
01/25/2015 at 20:00

Yeah, sigh, nobody really thinks about it... Every piece is fabricated custom... graphics....lights.... sigh. We do a lot more than auto shows, like E3, all kinds of medical shows like hematology (cancer seems to make $$$). All major medical fields have a show, also all major science like optics and lasers etc...

Long Live the Longdoor > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°)
01/25/2015 at 20:03

That sounds interesting; I just make websites lol.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > Long Live the Longdoor
01/25/2015 at 20:06

Its like an insane international circus. We did the Americas Cup with Nescafe and we had a bunch of Hungarians who didn't speak English and made a campfire at lunch to boil eggs.

bobkustofawitshz > Axial
01/25/2015 at 20:35

Nice writeup and pics! I had to smile when I read this:

Ford, to my surprise, actually felt hugely underwhelming. They have this fetish for sparkly semi-gloss plastic that looks like it came off of a Wal-Mart toy from the early '00s, like the crap those toy lightsabers have their hilts made from. While other manufacturers use this same stuff, Ford is extremely liberal with it. And it gets worse when you start looking at Lincoln, who are even more liberal with the application of this material.

Because I knew exactly what you're talking about and I've been saying the same thing for years, about Lincoln in particular.

Kinja'd!!!

For those not familiar, pictured is the MKZ center console with the offending material. While this may be fine in a Focus or even a Mustang, it has NO place in a $45,000 "luxury" car. I do hope they don't swap in more "aluminum" either, as I hate that cheap chintzy shit that has spread across automotive interiors in the last 15 years, and Lincoln's track record with the stuff ...

Kinja'd!!!

...isn't particularly good.
IMHO, in a luxury car it ought to be leather, wood and metal, in that order. I do like what they've done with the MKC's interior - that's near top of my list to get a seat in when the show comes to town. The Chrysler 200 is also on the list (they didn't allow sitting in the lone 200 last year, but it looked really impressive) as is the Colorado/Canyon. I'm thrilled to see the Americans bringing their A-game.