2017 NY Auto Show 4/12/17: Ferris Bueler’s Day Off
Disclaimer: I have bought one new car in my life. My strategy to save the environment involves buying used cars and keeping older cars on the road (preferably pre-2000 Mercedes). With all that in mind, I headed to NY Auto show on Wednesday armed with DT press credentials to see what there was to offer. Here are a few ramblings and quite a few pictures from the day.
Trends:
- Accent striping found on wheels and body of cars
- Matte paint finishes
- Super fancy headlights
- Ipod-like screens mounted on dashboards
- Carbon fiber everywhere- front splitters, rear diffusers, vents, wings, and interior trim
- fake vents found all over front & rear bumpers and front fenders
Hits:
- Front seats in the Lincoln Continental
- Integration of the Nav screen in Volkswagen Golf R
- Dodge Viper- coolest car of the show
- Corvette C7 interior
- Mercedes C class AMG interior wood trim
- Alfa Romeo Guila/Stelvio design themes
- Camaro turned into a TransAm
- BMW i3 interior design despite having a Ipod-like screen
- Ford Fiesta/Focus ST Recaro seats- fit me perfectly
- Cadillac CT6 interior
Misses:
- Useless rear seats and lack of hatchback in Toyota 86
- Wood trim found in Cadillac Escalade interior
- Lack of outward visibility in nearly every car at the show
- Gigantic tires and brakes- didn’t see a 15″ tire in the house
- Manual gear boxes were few and far between
Honda Civic Si center mounted exhaust and fake vents in rear bumper.
Honda Civic Type R triple exhaust pipes, huge wing, fake vents, and accent striping.
Striping around Honda Civic Type R wheels and carbon fiber front splitter with red accent.
Mercedes GLA45 AMG with yellow wheels stripes and accents.
Maserati interior slathered in carbon fiber and blood red leather.
Cadillac CTS-V with carbon fiber hood vents & front splitter and fancy headlights.
Alfa Romeo Guila Quadrifolglio means twin turbo V-6!
Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio intricate wheels with massive brakes.
Front end of the Lincoln Continental. Expensive looking headlights and grill.
Yes please! Look at these front seats in the Lincoln Continental. They remind me of vintage Recaro Classic C seats.
Porsche 911 retro 1980’s targa roof.
Mercedes AMG-GT twofer- carbon fiber trim with Ipod-like dash screen.
Mercedes AMG-GT flat green paint and huge carbon fiber wing.
BMW i3 had the coolest interior design. Loved the contrasting colors and mix of cloth and leather.
BMW i3 dashboard shot with blonde wood and Ipod-like screen.
Kia Stinger fake shark gills behind front wheels.
The only thing rarer than a manual transmission was the amount of passenger car diesel engines. It was nice to see the Chevrolet Cruze having this torque monster engine as a available option.
Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport going for the trifecta of carbon fiber front splitter, fancy headlights, accent color on the fenders, and hood vents.
The Dodge Viper was my favorite car of the show. The interior was surprisingly nice and body was simply over the top in every possible way. It is a shame it is being put out to pasture this year.
Funky Lexus with led lighting all over it. The corporate grill is no more attractive in person.
Ford Mustang GT350 with matte colored stripes, front splitter, and hood vent.
Dodge Charger with matte carbon fiber stripes and multiple hood vents.
Mercedes C-class AMG interior wood trim done up right.
Cadillac Escalade wood trim done up wrong.
Mercedes C-class AMG door panel with real wood trim and quilted leather done up right.
Cadillac Escalade door panel with unconvincing wood trim.
Pretty convincing Chevrolet Camaro to Pontiac Trans Am transformation.
Screaming chicken in the house!
Cory is working on a fleet of needy Mercedes from the early 1990’s. He thoroughly enjoyed taking a day off from work to head into the big city to make this report.
Thanks for putting that together! I agree with your opinions on the interiors!
great overview Cory, sparing us a long flight and a lot of walking for a lot of 'me too' superficial design offerings, thanks, Retrogreg
That Farmbird-Camaro looks to have the roof chopped even more then 16 model.
Nice coverage, thanks!
The rear vents on the Civic remind me of those Village People butt chaps….
Cory,
That is some nice work. My thoughts: I love that Firebird. It's like the designer of each individual part in that Cadillac never met each other until after the car was assembled. After seeing those stripes, I want to sing that old Johnny Cash song.
Well done coverage!
-Vince
As the years pass it seems like new cars get more and more….I dont know whats the word..overdone. With the exception of the Porsche Targa roof whats the point of most of the geegaws and "flourishes" in the cars?. Its kind of a chicken and the egg problem. Are the cars more expensive (ridiculously so in my brokeass opinion) because of the geegaws or are there more geegaws because the cars are so expensive? Just imagine if they did a retro sixties style simply designed car with a relatively stripped down interior absent all the over engineered bs..I'll bet it would sell like crazy.
Maybe for us oddballs that frequent DT, but I'm not sure if that would really happen given that the typical consumer is now addicted to low lease payments on the latest and greatest that they will turn in in 3 years for the next latest and greatest. And continue to rinse and repeat. Although I could be wrong since I am the last person to ask about the typical consumer's preferences…
Bet those yellow wheel stripes on the Merc are only $6000 extra.
I… saw a newer civic driving around in ABQ a few weeks back and was aghast… I felt like I could only comment that it had done… something… new with its hair.
first one of those i spotted almost a year ago, i took photos and messaged to Vince – then, getting to my own car at the back of the parking lot, look what was parked next to me – omega and alpha, IMHO, and frankly it looks like they made it even worse with the fake vents and weird taillights – plus what i said to V at the time…
[image src=" i.imgur.com/ijeorEP.jpg" width="400px"/] [image src=" i.imgur.com/VUdCCoP.jpg" width="400px"/]
[image src=" i.imgur.com/aj5CVke.jpg" width="400px"/] [image src=" i.imgur.com/nPZtc3k.jpg" width="400px"/]
I was walking across the supermarket parking lot when I spied this monstrosity of a brand new Civic. OMFGJMOAP what an ugly mess. It looks exactly like the new Toyotas, yet more ugly. WTAF, Honda? And then, as I got to my car, what's this gem parked next to my silver blob but an 81 Citroen in a lovely shade of farmed salmon. Look at the shiny wheel covers. Can't see the one-spoke tiller, but it was there. Utterly cool. The photos don't convey just how bad the Honda is, nor how awesome the Citroen. I will do better next time.
I have driven the new Civic a few times just last week as a service loaner.I hate the high center console height.My 2016 Accord sport was in for the second time for heater issue little to no heat in floor mode (footwell) my 2013 previous lease had no such problem.The heater plumbing has changed and my 2016 SUCKS slow to heat up also.They said to run it around in sport mode and keep the rpm up to warm up quicker yeah screw the Mpg i need heat….does not work may turn in on lease early the Civic does not suffer with heater problem and has reg auto no CVT yet like my Accord prefer regular trans.
So nothing from Mazda fits the "over da top vents n gills, fendas flares n fins wit grills a plenty" motif?
I'm guessing not.
Thanks for covering this and the nice write up. Maybe I'm off base here, but wasn't the 80's Targa 911 about the worst 911 made? I don't understand why they would bother making a modern interpretation of it.