OT: Talking Cars Tuesday - Auto Show Time

Submitted by JeepinBen on

Back after some travel it's your (non) favorite automotive discussion on a college sports website.

So, NAIAS just finished up at Cobo Hall and I'm looking forward to heading to the (world's largest!) Chicago Auto Show in a couple of weeks here. I'm excited in that my wife's lease is up later this year so we'll actually get to go as car shoppers. I find the auto show great for that because

  1. You can look at all the cars in one place. No going to 5 different dealers to look at 5 models
  2. Along those lines, you can see how the seats fit, how big the trunks are, etc. so that when you do go to a dealer you can worry about driving the car
  3. No sales people - no pressure to buy!
     

Anyone head to Cobo? Any new debuts have you all kinds of excited? I'm traveling for work next week, so this thread will be spotty at least until the "real" offseason

freelion

January 30th, 2018 at 1:37 PM ^

but just picked up the newly redesigned Jeep Wrangler Rubicon.  Ready for some serious offroading now!

LeadersAndBeasts

January 30th, 2018 at 1:45 PM ^

Over the weekend and was pleasantly surprised at how much time I spent enjoying the Alfa lineup. Both the Giulia and Stevio in Quadrifoglio trim are great looking, with amazing performance. I love that Alfa is making a comeback, and I expect to see more of them on the road going forward. We saw a few other cool things, but the Alfa’s were the surprise for me.

Wendyk5

January 30th, 2018 at 2:14 PM ^

I used to drive an Alfa Romeo Spider - the two seater convertible. I bought it new in 1988. I had no problems until they pulled out of North America and the dealer no longer serviced them. I then had to find someone to do routine maintenance. I found two different guys who ran their own shops, and they dissed each other and told me not to trust the other one. That's when I sold it. I still regret it. 

BlueMan80

January 30th, 2018 at 2:03 PM ^

and I'm also interested in the Giulia.  Looks great and the performance/driving experience sounds very good based on the auto mag reviews.  However, I have major concerns about reliability and cost of service, so that puts a big damper on my enthusiasm.  I'm going to go drive one, but I'm going to supress lust for a hot Italian car when making my buying decision.

Also interested in looking at the new Audi A5 Sportbacks.  I liked the previous A5.  It looked great, but two door coupes just aren't very practical and typically suffer in value.  I went to the Audi dealer and test drove the previous generation A5 and had to go through major contortions to get into the back seat.  So, the 4 door Sportback looks like a much better solution.

I try to avoid weekends when going to the auto show.  It gets crazy and kids climb all over the cars making it more difficult to check them out.  I'll head down in the afternoon on a week day.

Indiana Blue

January 30th, 2018 at 4:20 PM ^

as I've been to the Chicago show  the last 2 years.  Since I've never attended the Detroit show, I have heard that Detroit offers more concept cars than the Chicago show.  Is this true ?  Two years ago Chicago did have a number of concept cars, but last year that portion of the show was essentially non-existant.  For those that went to the Detroit show - were there many concept vehicles this year ?

Go Blue!

 

JFW

January 30th, 2018 at 2:12 PM ^

but saw a ton of pics. I'm the non standard guy. I love sitting in Accords, Chargers, Miatas, etc. instead of looking at the 120K G wagon I'll never afford. 

The Trackhawk looked neat. And I liked the Bullit. 

Kevin13

January 30th, 2018 at 4:14 PM ^

to the auto show in Denver in early April as I will be car shopping. I guess I am non standard, because I look at the practical vehicles I might buy.  It is a great way to compare all the vehicles next to each other and start narrowing down your search before driving some.