Date:         Fri, 31 Dec 2004 21:36:23 -0500
Reply-To:     Kim Brennan <kimbrennan@MAC.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Kim Brennan <kimbrennan@MAC.COM>
Subject:      On cars (NVC)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed

A friend and I went to the Washington DC Auto Show (hey, it's local).
Of course, this is probably the worst show to go to as it is the very
LAST auto show of the year (the North American Auto Show in Detroit,
where a lot of new stuff is introduced is the first show of the
year...2 weeks from now.)

It was my and my friend's opinion that the automotive designers (for
the most part) have lost their collective minds. There are a lot of
ugly cars out there.

Of the super luxo cruisers, the VW Phaeton seems to be the nicest to my
eye. The Audi A8 (in North America trim) is just not as nice on the
inside, and the outside is uglier. The Audi A8 (in European trim) looks
to have a nicer interior, but was up on a pedestal, and hence we
couldn't sit in it. Lexus and Acura don't really have anything in this
category. Cadillac is going somewhere else. Mercedes look ugly on the
outside.

The Maybach. What ugliness unlimited money will buy. Or is that Rolls
Royce? Ugly has many flavors.

The Bentley. What were they thinking? Performance at the sacrifice of
comfort?

On the lower end, the Hyundai's are very nice. Decent looking,
surprisingly well appointed, and very low prices.

Mitsubishi used to have some nicely looking cars. I think their designs
have been watching too much japanimae.

VW did not have the VR32 on display, nor for that matter a vr6 GTI
(only the 1.8T GTI). They also didn't display the 5th generation Golf
(fortunately in my opinion, as I feel future sales will suffer on that
design.)

Mercedes S class had the nicest seats. Most of the other Mercedes have
very good seats, it was just that the S class was noticably better in
that department.

The Saab 9-2x does not have as good seats as it's kissing cousin the
Subaru WRX.

The lower end Volvos (V40?) have very swedish interiors. Clean
functional, and a little IKEAish. The higher end ones seem to have been
infected with North Americanism and their interiors looks like any iron
out of Detroit. That's a pity.

The Ford GT40 (new) was on display, but untouchable (up on a pedestal).
The new Mustang had a few people around it....(it was in the middle of
a corridor between the GT40 and the Mercedes Mclaren SLR). Ho Hum.

The SLR. Nifty. SLK 350 was right next to it. You could see the
influences. Very nice little roadster (with a hard top convertible).

Land Rover SR3(?) their new SUV has a lot of weird layouts in the
cockpit. Except you quickly realize it's all very very functional. I
liked it a lot. Not sure the 3rd row of seating would be good for long
drives (not the middle seat in the 2nd row), but overall, a pretty cool
vehicle.

Jeep had their concept lunar buggy (that's what it reminds me of). 2
electric motors driving all 4 wheels. No engine out front. Bizarre
looking. I think it is pretty cool. Never see the light of day.

Speaking of electric motors...My friend was gathering info (for his
wife) on the Hybrid vehicles. Ford Escape hybrid was on a pedestal and
unavailable for inspection. Sucks.
Honda Civic and Accord hybrids were very available, but no Insight.
Toyota Prius looks weird, but is pretty practical.