Went To The Dc Auto Show Today...

[SW03ES]

Hey everybody.

Well I took the afternoon off today and a buddy of mine and I went downtown to the Auto show. First time I've been on a weekday and it was great, very few people there and we were able to spend a lot of time with a lot of new cars.

I thought I'd share some of my thoughts on some cars that stood out to me.

Lexus

Of course I spent most of my time there ;)

IS convertible

I was very impressed with the new IS convertible. It was on a turnstile so I couldn't sit in it but it its a very good looking vehicle and I'm sure it will sell well. A smart replacement for the SC430 I think, which is outgoing this year.

RX350 & RX450h

I was more lukewarm about this vehicle. I like the changes they made to the exterior, less minivanish much like the new Highlander was too. However, I was dissapointed in the interior. My opinion was similar to the reaction I had when I first saw the ES350. The new RX has more wood trim than the ES which is good, but I am continually dissapointed in their decisions to use thinner and cheaper feeling plastics and materials. The new mouse controller works really well, which is an upside.

Toyota

One the whole, one thing I've noticed is Toyota has decided to use new and weird textures on their interior materials and their leather seats. Wavy lines, leaf textures etc. Very strange and makes the leather surfaces look unnatural. Its all over their new models.

Venza

I really like this vehicle. Its kind of like a big Matrix, very comfortable, well laid out controls and this I've actually driven and its very nice. Very reasonably priced too fully loaded around $35k. I'd say this is a very good competitor for the Ford Edge which I also like.

Prius

The new 2010 Prius was on display. And shockingly...I actually LIKE the way it looks! Its much lower and leaner looking than the current Prius with some nice bodywork lines. The interior has a more normal driving postion too. This Prius may actually be purchased by people because of its styling...not despite it. Solar panel in the roof adds to the air conditioning. Well done.

I would choose to drive this Prius, whereas ours I only drive when I have to.

Hyundai

Genesis

I'm continually impressed by how much car this is for the money. Very well made, excellent materials, great seats, awesome stereo. Great car...I'd like to test drive one.

I was impressed by all the models, and I really feel that on the whole these cars feel higher quality than the current crop of Toyotas. I was surprised by how cheap the current Camry feels when compared to the Acccord and Sonata. I still say, we need to watch Hyundai.

BMW

7 Series

They had the new 7 on display. Nice car, however I wasn't blown away by it. Its an improvement over the current 7, but the front kidney grills are huge, and they whole front clip feels less substantial than the current car. Very nice interior, typical great BMW seats and layout. The dashboard had a kind of retro BMW feel to it which my friend actually noticed but he's right, not sure how I feel about it...

1 Series

I've seen these on the road but haven't sat in one. Its a weird looking little car, looks like a scruched up 3 series...

Audi

A5

Nice luxury coupe a'la BMW 6.

A8

I'm continually impressed by how well this car has held up. It still feels fresh and desirable, beautiful interior. Hard to believe this body style has been around since 2004.

Buick

Lacrosse

The all new Lacrosse was there, on a turntable. I was very, very impressed with this car. The whole goal of this car isaimes squarely at the ES350, and I gotta say I was impressed. Its a very good looking car, very nice interior. They literally reverse engineered an ES350 and made this car smoother, quieter, more powerful, more luxurious etc. A ride and drive will tell but its a looker.

Ford

Taurus

New Taurus was there on a turntable. VERY impressive! Great looking car, great looking interior. Its a considerable car, if you can believe it it looks bigger than the current Taurus/FiveHundred. I'll have to sit in one and drive one before I pass final judgement, but I'd definately drive one of these cars before a Camry.

Fusion

Very impressed with this car too.

I'm so impressed by Ford, its very obvious they're several steps ahead of GM and definately Chrysler.

Lincoln

MKS

I've said before how much I like this car, well built, pretty good looking (a little awkward from a couple angles).

MKZ

New body style for this Fusion variant. BIG difference from the previous car which was hideous. Nice interior, they're ditching the weird flat retro looking interiors which is great.

MKT

This was on a turntable. Very nice new crossover-SUV. Like the styling inside and out, much more attractive than the Navigator.

I'm also very impressed with Lincoln. All the new cars were very fresh and young feeling with great features like Sync and adjustable color cabin lighting. Very exciting. Not a Town Car in sight!

Nissan

Maxima

The new Maxima, on top of being a beautiful car IMHO, has a great interior and is a lot of car for the money, again, I'd much rather be driving this than a Camry.

Mazda

3

I've always liked the Mazda 3. In fact before we bought the Prius I wanted a little 3 5 door hatchback. The new 3 is a slightly bigger car with a great interior, excellent quality. Front end is a little odd, but distinctive. If I were buying an economy car I would buy this car, no question.

It was a good show, lots of new product from all the different carmakers. All in all I was impressed by the quality of EVERYTHING. Everybody has really stepped up their game.

[BillyShaft]

Nice overview!

You say you liked the mousy thing they have for the RX...is it like the nightmare I-drive thing they have for BMW or different? I always likeed the intuitive touchscreen :(

Also, the pictures of the new RX make it look kinda chubby: did you get that impression?

Did they have a price on the Prius listed?

[smooth1]

Nice review. In general I mostly agree with your observations. Hyundai is coming along, Nissan's line up looks good, (what the heck is going on over at Mitsubishi?). And the new Toyota Venza is nice. It caught my wifes eye when we went to the show here in Orlando over the New Years break. And I completely agree with you about Ford. We also like the Volvo S60 alot. She has the S40 now, and it's been a good car.

[RX in NC]

The annual auto show is also running this weekend down at the new convention center here in Raleigh. The local news media heavily promotes this show every year, but the big noise they are making this time centers around what is missing: no red carpets, no cars up on turntables, no fancy food and drink, no sparkle and flash, no models in evening gowns or bikinis, and most importantly, no GM or Ford anywhere to be seen. Chrysler is participating, but only with the Jeep line-up. Even the admission price has been downsized to just five bucks. A true sign of the times....

[Randy&Bonnie]

..

[blake918]

Thanks for the overview, Steve! I love the MKS too. I sat in one the other day, and I was really impressed! It's stylish and well built. I like car models who dare to be different like the MKS, new Maxima, and TL (it's surely a love it or hate it car, and I love it!). I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks the current Camry is crummy--picking the Accord or Sonata would be an easy choice! LOL The interior is a just awful, in looks and quality, and that's a shame since the exterior looks great.

[SW03ES]

You say you liked the mousy thing they have for the RX...is it like the nightmare I-drive thing they have for BMW or different? I always likeed the intuitive touchscreen :(

Also, the pictures of the new RX make it look kinda chubby: did you get that impression?

Its MUCH better than iDrive. Easily the best mouse system I've used. The new iDrive is actually much better than it used to be too.

I liked the exterior styling of the new RX personally. Lexus and Toyota vehicles always look better in person.

No pricing on the Prius yet. They have a fully loaded platinum edition that has LED headlights like the LS600hL, I bet that model is $35k. We paid $26,500 for ours in 2004 fully loaded, and they are almost $29k fully loaded now (they added a package above ours with leather and a touring package).

On the Venza, seen it on TV. I kinda like the looks, but you said $35K fully loaded!!

Sounds like a lot on the surface, but these midmarket cars are eating up into near-luxury territory fast.

You know what a loaded Rav4 costs now? $33k

Loaded Nissan Maxima? $38.5k

Fully loaded Highlander Hybrid Limited? $48k

Just compared to the Rav4 I thought the Venza was well priced, the Rav is ugly, cheap feeling inside and the Venza isn't, and its still AWD and has enough ground clearance as long as you aren't offroading it'll do country roads and snow just fine.

This is another reason I think Hyundais are so attractive...

[smooth1]

This is another reason I think Hyundais are so attractive...

Which is......?

[RX in NC]

Hyundai will kick !Removed! and take names with its new Genesis. Combine how much car it is for the money with how lousy the U.S. economy is and there is no question that Hyundai is poised to take significant business away that would previously have gone to Lexus, Infiniti, BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Jaguar, and others typically associated with the luxury segment. Hyundai quality is nearing world-class in its top-end models, it offers some of the best warranties in the business, and it probably represents the best bang-for-the-buck in the industry right now. If you still laugh at the mention of Hyundai, you don't understand the revolution they have gone through. I guarantee you that Honda and Toyota aren't laughing....

[Lexusfreak]

Hey everybody.

Well I took the afternoon off today and a buddy of mine and I went downtown to the Auto show. First time I've been on a weekday and it was great, very few people there and we were able to spend a lot of time with a lot of new cars.

I thought I'd share some of my thoughts on some cars that stood out to me.

Toyota

One the whole, one thing I've noticed is Toyota has decided to use new and weird textures on their interior materials and their leather seats. Wavy lines, leaf textures etc. Very strange and makes the leather surfaces look unnatural. Its all over their new models.

Venza

I really like this vehicle. Its kind of like a big Matrix, very comfortable, well laid out controls and this I've actually driven and its very nice. Very reasonably priced too fully loaded around $35k. I'd say this is a very good competitor for the Ford Edge which I also like.

Very good overall write-up's Steve......I do have to respectfully disagree with you about the Venza however (although I agree with some of the points you make). I recently spent quite a bit of time with this vehicle (took both the 4 & 6 cyl models for lengthy test drives) & looked it over very carefully inside & out....I was left somewhat disappointed. They call the Venza a 'crossover' but I found it to be pretty much a Camry wagon if I am honest & absolutely nothing wrong with that (but shhhh.....don't tell Toyota!). The big laugh here is Toyota (Canada at least) declaired this a 'Segment Buster' lol They are apparently marketing this at aging 'baby boomers' & younger buyers with growing families.....fair enough.

Some Pro's: Decent styling (except for the grill), good power from the V6, ease of entry & exit with pretty good storage & cubbies in the front & rear seating areas with well laid out controls (was not a fan of the gearshift though). Love the wiper de-icer feature.....which should be standard across the board on the Canadian equipped models (you have to pony up the equipment package to get it though & it's not a stand alone option). Subi's have had this for years however. I was also impressed with the visibility.

Con's: Base models come with 19" wheels standard with optional 20's When tire replacement time comes, I think folks are going to get 'sticker shock'....this imo is overkill for this type of vehicle....17's standard & 18's optional would have been more than adequate...this also causes a rather large turning circle compared to similar vehicles in this segment.

The overall ride was pleasant, but rough roads remind you about those low profile tires you have. I'm on the fence about the electric power steering.

The AWD system is an 'on demand' or 'too late' system (the Sienna's is full time). Considering the size of the Venza, I was not overly impressed with the rear cargo capacity - only 70.1 cu ft....the new Forester has 68.3 (and is considered a compact CUV) & the Tribeca is 74.4 for example with a loaded Forester being about 600 lbs lighter. In the Venza, I would have to go with the V6 personally.....as I found the 4 cyl to be okay for most situations with just 2 people & no cargo on board.....load it full of stuff & people & she will be laboring.....base curb weight is pushing 2 tons for the 4 cyl AWD model.

Overall I'd give it 2.75 stars out of 5.....base prices were perhaps slightly better than average, but climb quick when you want certain features, and again have to get an entire package.....so that brings prices only about par for the course.

A very decent effort by Toyota & it's a welcome site to see wagons making a comback ;) .....but I think Toyota better give their marketing department a shake....this was hardly segment busting. Do intelligent consumers actually buy that jargon? Just my 2 cents. B)

[SW03ES]

This is another reason I think Hyundais are so attractive...

Which is......?

Cost, they're much cheaper than their Japanese competition

I agree the Venza isn't segment busting, but I did like the vehicle overall.

[Lexusfreak]

One thing I do agree with Steve....the new 2010 Ford Taurus is VERY sharp! Very impressed with it's looks.....and apparently they are bringing back the SHO model with 365 HP, 350 lb ft of torque with AWD! The 'regular' model should get them back in the game to.....in a big way. B) Here's the photo gallery of the SHO...

http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/sedans...k/photo_01.html