[The_Virginian]

Never having attended these CARnivals of Iron and Plastics when I was younger...AND knowing that it is possible these things may not be here in 10-20 years...I finnaly gave in and went to go see what next years vehicles will be....

One thing you notice....FUEL ECONOMY is not as stressed in the line up as one might expect. In US and even most foreign vehicles, fuel economy STANK. Technologicaly, cars should be better by now... a further note BIG TRUCKS/SUV's DOMINATED the show...


Most impressive:

Lotus (light and decent fuel econlomy when not speeding, I'd still rather crash in an MR2, or better yet not crash at all...)

Corvette (thats me in one, free promo piture from chevy...ruined by the Huyundi sign! Big bang for the buck, 400 HP for 44,000... I did not like the pressure switches for door handles though...just more to break)

Least Impressive:

Chevy Sliverado Hybred.

-The gain was maybe 2-4 MPG over standard. Not an effective use of money or Gasoline over standard.

Best Values:

Saab 9-3 Wagon. 25,000 for base model with 2.0 liter 4 banger...

Subaru 4wd for those with snow in the climate...Impreza is the best value in the sub's.

Biggest "Oh Shiesse what a waste":

A flex fuel Tahoe on display, will be produced for 2007. the prototype will be scraped...not sold. Was it that bad? Or is this a bean counter Snafu?

The Ladies who stood by some of the more "look but do not touch" vehicles were not as Nekkid as I was expecting...tho' most were younger an had their hair (at least dyed) in the Blonde...

And the award for the most Bull Shiesse?

The GM "Live Green Go Yellow" E-85 campaign.

While the man who worked the large wall devoted to it was a real beleiver, his numbers did not add up:

"E-85" Pete (who boasted doing vioce overs for many of the GM Commercials)

From the Chevy Flyer:

"In the USA, there is a total of 39 million acres of cropland.

This Can produce 16 billion Gallons worth of Ethanol.

E-85 is a cleaner burning, RENEWABLE fuel source. (riiiight)

E85 provides a higher octane rating, better horsepower, better tourque, boots your engines performance etc. etc."
(i'm looking at the flyer while I summerize and paraphrase it)

When I Asked E-85 Pete: "How Many Millions of gallons does the US of A use in a year, he answered "156 Billion gallons of gasoline"

So I said "So that means we will have to bring in much more cropland into production"

E-85 Pete: "Yep, isn't it great...."

E-85 pete felt the US was blessed with water like the Great lakes, unlike greek islands that need water more than fuel...the USA can do it...

(working on a calculator with these rough figures, we would need 10-11 times the current production of cropland if we used CORN. I say up to 11, because add one for the crops that humans eat directly like Sweet potatoes, carrots tec.)

E-85 Pete: "And Corn is not even the best crop, suger is"

On this we agreed...spiking my curiosity I asked:

" Are you aware of any GM projects to make Suger cane adaptable to colder climates"

E-85 Pete "Sure! they got a bunch of scientists working on that right now...and like anything in the begining it's slow and later as things ramp up it becomes feasable...."

When I mentioned that Ethanol is only 70% as useful as Gasoline, he said " Well you have they Hybreds now, and it's cheaper, so its actualy a wash" (riiight)

Well Assured of GM future in bankrupcy court, I gleefuly took the free T-shits and flyers on this Wonder Fuel.




All in all I had a Blast. I highly reccomend you all get up and attend an Auto Show while they still exist... [fade][/fade]

[eastbay]

Yeah Virginian,

Just getting home from work at 0600 and reading the Saturday morning paper I see large vehicles are still dominating and splashed on all the pages of the auto section. But I get a sense, a feeling, that there's an underlying current that the party is coming to a close.

Focusing all their creative energy on wastefulness I can't imagine how GM and the other two will survive to the end of the year the way things are going. They're acting like the last drunk at the party trying so hard to desperately shake the final drops out of a wine bottle at 3am.

[Novus]

Chevy an American Revolution. LOL what a joke.

More like an American Convolution.

[The_Virginian]

Eastbay,

Ford and Chevy/GMC had an large array of trucks, F-150 "Harley Davidson" edition, f-150 "King Ranch Edition, the Lincon version of the pick up...

Chevy had more SUV's on display than Ford Yukon, Cadalac's , Hummers 1,2,3 etc.

The most fuel efficient cars on display were the Lotus (shares a Toyota drive train) and the little fugly Chevy Aveo (really a Korean car).

GM is spending LOTS of money on the E-85 campain....it's their only hope to convince folks that life will go on...so buy our cars...we're "flex-fuel" and green.