Streak broken, had to take a Crown Vic back from the Javits Convention Center. It took videographer Seth Compton dragging me along kicking and screaming, but I finally relented. Bugger.
Now, as I sit here on the 30th floor of my hotel looking out over the Hudson Tidal Estuary, the U.S.S. Intrepid and New Jersey (New York gets better the higher you go), here are some of my highlights from Day 1 of the 2010 New York Auto Show.
1. New Scions!
Normally, the Scion stand is only showing crazy modded versions of its cars with Japanese barbecues in the trunk and fold-down speakers the size of a Exxon oil drum. In New York, though, we got two (kinda) new Scions. The Scion iQ city car and the all-new Scion tC. I thought the iQ was pretty cool (I fit in it surprisingly well) and the tC was also a nice evolution of the rather attractive current car.
Scion also had its own hall for its press conference, where it put on a light show and played the same god-awful techno jibberish for a good 20 minutes. I thought I'd share my misery with you all (though forgive the photos I took while shooting the video. I didn't know my camera did that).
2. Little SUVs
A new wave of small SUVs showed up in New York. If a Hyundai Tucson is a compact, I suppose these would be sub-compact SUVs. The Mini Cooper Countryman is the obvious one, and it indeed lives up to its name. I was quite surprised by how small it is. There are also a lot of little details that I'll have to showcase at a later date (a sneak peak: No more separated volume knob!)
Then there was the Nissan Juke (which is just as ugly in person) and the new Mitsubishi Outlander Sport, which is the first Mitsu (to my knowledge) to get a telescoping steering wheel. It's about freakin' time, the VW Beetle only had that 12 years ago.
3. 2011 Porsche Cayenne
It may not be little, but the Cayenne sure looks smaller now. Credit some visual tricks like the sloping hatch and the suitably Porsche-like rear haunches, but Porsche engineers actually sliced 400 pounds off the Cayenne's curb weight. 400! That's like taking off two deer strapped to the hood, or asking Kirstie Alley to vacate the back seat.
4. 2011 Infiniti QX56 Hood Vent
Enough.
5. The Best Way to Get Killed While in Boston ...
James Riswick, Automotive Editor
By 06scooby
on March 31, 2010
02:49 PM
Supprised the Hyundais weren't on your highlight reel... everything else cracks me up! Thanks for the imagery on the Porsche. Thanks to you I now understand what a difference trimming 400 lbs from a porsche makes!
By firstwagon
on March 31, 2010
03:52 PM
Nice to see the highlights and too bad about the Crown Vic.
Seems odd but I can't remember the last time I saw a Crown Vic cab. Older taxies are mostly Buick Centurys here and most of the new ones are Prius.
It would be a nice memory lane trip to ride in a Crown Vic again.
I'll have to take a trip to New York.
By 06scooby
on March 31, 2010
04:52 PM
We have a lot of Scion xB cabs here in Reno and Minivans and explorers (4x4). Not too many crown vics...
By 1487
on April 1, 2010
08:33 AM
you can always walk or take public trans in NY. Hopefully I will be at the show Sunday.