NY Auto Show 3/28/18: Who Let This Guy In?

, 15

Disclaimer: I have bought one new car in my life and drove to NYC in a new to me 2002 Honda Civic Si.  My strategy to save the environment involves buying used cars and keeping older cars on the road (preferably pre-2000 Mercedes).  With all this in mind, I headed to NY Auto show on Wednesday armed with DT press credentials to see what the auto industry had new to offer.  Here are a my unvarnished ramblings and many pictures from the day.


Trends:

  • If there was a lot of carbon fiber in 2017, there had to have been double the amount this year.  It was slathered on any car that had a hint of performance.
  • Busy exterior and interior design language is rampant- no chance of a Volvo 240 or W123 Benz being built today
  • Sinfully ugly grills
  • Better integration of the nav screens and tablets into dashes
  • Lots of diamond stitching or quilted patterns on seats 
  • Quite a few appealing full size wagons available
  • It seems like only a Euro thing with the matte paint
  • Tailpipe within a tailpipe thing- huge cutouts in the bumpers with small real pipes inside

Hits:

  • The interior of the $300k Range Rover SV coupe was sublime
  • Alfa Romeo Guila pushes all the right buttons
  • The Lexus RC500 coke bottle shape
  • Ford GT
  • Volvo V90 was superb in and out
  • The Lambo door mechanism for the BMW i8 was pretty cool 
  • The Cadillac twin turbo and Corvette ZR1 supercharged V8 engines are impressive efforts from GM
  • Dual side exit exhausts on the new Mercedes G-wagen 
  • Hatchback Toyota Corolla available with a 6 speed

Misses:

  • The Lexus corporate grill is straight out of a horror movie 
  • The Fiat 500 soldiers on with very little changes since US introduction
  • Honda Fit seems like a half baked effort compared to other cars from them
  • Toyota C-HR styling was busier than 5th Avenue
  • Prius Prime rear end
  • Visibility out of the Camaro was abysmal 

General comments:

  • The Honda Accord and Toyota Camry were both redesigned and are really damn nice cars
  • I could not believe my ears when Johan from Cadillac mentioned there was a “track mode” for the new CT6 V series.  It struck me as bizarre feature to have on a full size luxury sedan.   
  • I would love to take a Alfa Romeo 4C for a spin!

Volvo V90 wagon

Mercedes E class wagon

Buick Regal wagon

Jaguar XF wagon

Carbon fiber roof panel

Carbon fiber wheel

Carbon Fiber fender flares

Carbon fiber body shell

Carbon fiber hood scoop

Carbon fiber interior trim

Great looking coupe from Lexus

Lexus sedan front end looking decidedly not so good

Diamond stitch overload on this Mercedes Maybach

Mercedes G-wagen had these twin exhaust pipes on both sides of the car

BMW i3 had the most unusual dash and door panel trim material.  It could be recycled plastic….

Prius Prime- where to start???

The roof rack only adds more visual interest to the rear of the C-HR

This full size BMW might have had the most interesting exterior color of the show

The lack of view out the back of a Camaro

Ford GT- lots of carbon fiber on here

Classic Alpina BMW wheel

Cool Trans Am rear end treatment- notice no fake vents or strakes!

Rimac goes 0-60 faster than a person can count

Polaris Slingshot for those who don’t need four wheels or a roof

Huge plastic exhaust cutout with a smaller real exhaust pipe

Range Rover coupe door panel and interior was sublime

People were all over this new Lincoln Aviator SUV

Cadillac’s tidy and powerful twin turbo V8 engine

700+ hp Corvette ZR1 convertible

BMW i8 Lambo door hardware- get a load of that massive shock




More diamond stitching in this Jaguar coupe red interior

Alfa Romeo Giula interior with blond wood

Pumped up Jeep Grand Cherokee

Nice looking real wood trim in Cadillac CT6

Classic BMW M1 in livery colors above their display

Matte gray colored Mercedes AMG GT

Cory just towed home a neglected 1993 Porsche 968 this past weekend and is trying to figure out a game plan on how to resurrect it.