2013 KC Auto Show Observations

[Minidave]

We went to the car show last night, and while the KC show is not a high end one like LA or Detroit, it has it's share of cool stuff.

To wit:

Saw the new Lincoln, with the new highly touted sunroof.....what makes this diffferent is that it covers the whole roof, and slides back down over the rear window in one big piece, opening up the whole roof. Very interesting (although Porsche did this over a decade ago) and pretty car in a lot of ways. Very Jaguar-esque.....

The new Fiat 500L - their version of a Countryman - and even uglier! Yes, I'm no fan of either the C-Man or the new Pac-Man's looks, but this thing just sucks completely - $25K cost, estimated.

Also, I thought it interesting that a 500 Cabrio was $10K more than a plain jane 500. That's a lot of dough for a fabric roll back roof.

Ford - a real winner here. We really like the new Aston Martin front ended Fusion, and it was really nice inside as well....solid construction and not bad on the price, a lot of car for the money in a sedan. They also had the new locally built Transits there, I think those are going to do well for the company too! We have no interest in the trucks or big SUVs, so we didn't even look at them.....

Subarota/Toybaru....This car is getting rave reviews by every mag or tester that drives it, but it just does nothing for me - and it's $30 grand!
man cars are getting expensive!

Cadillac ATS - the new baby Caddy has a ways to go, we felt the quality fo the interior such as seats and interior materials themselves were not up the the price of the car and it's competitors. Also the rear seat room is tiny, and the front edge of the seat doesn't reach the edge of the pedestal it sits on, so there's this fairly unattractive roll of cheap looking carpet in front of it.

One overriding thought, after walking around the whole show, it seems to me that most cars - especially in that $30K sedan range - have just gotten SO generic, I could not tell you what brand of car I was sitting in, and many times I had to look at the badge to tell from the outside too! I do not thing this is a good, thing, do you? I grew up when cars were very distinctive.....I miss that. Maybe that's part of why we drive MINIs? One attempt at differentiating the cars, all the craxy led's on the fronts of the Hyundais - crazy!

Other interesting things I saw - a Tesla Model S, a full sized electric sedan with a range of over 200 miles on a charge. This car was owned by someone here in town (I'm told there are two of them in KC now) so it was locked, but it was interesting to see it up close. Wish I could hae talked to the owner....$20K for the battery upgrade from 140 miles to 200+, that was difficult to swallow!

There also was a Fisker Karma, I've not been a fan of the looks of this car ever, but it was cool to be able to see one up close. I'm seeing these $110K + when new cars for sale on Ebay for as little as $60K, I wonder about their future?

The Detroit electric was very cool too. A look at how it was done almost 100 years ago, and the same problems and successes still hold true today, range, recharge places and cost, while it can be the perfect answer for someone who's driving is limited to town errands. However, the Tesla shows the improvements that 100 years can make, and maybe in only a few more years we'll have electric cars that have inductive charging while you drive?

We were done in only 2 hours, my feet hurt so we called it a night and went to the Westport Flea Market for a burger....

[GrayGuy]

Great write-up. And I agree about the generic look of so many new cars. At least MINI's have a distinctive look.

[mcconned]

Dave, was the Detroit Electric in "original un-restored" condition? I'd be willing to bet that belongs to Marshall Miller, the creator od Art of the Car Concours. It has the original, 100+ year old battery.

There has been a Tesla in Kansas City for a year or so. Marshall tried to get the owner to display it at AotCC but there was some hang up.

Re. generic looking cars, the SUVs look like they come off the same production line. Unless I walk directly yp to some, I can't tell if it's a Nissan, Hyundai, Kia, etc.

EDIT: Ooops, I called you by the wrong name Dave. I, for some reason, thought Greg made the post.

[Zack]

Greg, was the Detroit Electric in "original un-restored" condition? I'd be willing to bet that belongs to Marshall Miller, the creator od Art of the Car Concours. It has the original, 100+ year old battery.

There has been a Tesla in Kansas City for a year or so. Marshall tried to get the owner to display it at AotCC but there was some hang up.

Re. generic looking cars, the SUVs look like they come off the same production line. Unless I walk directly yp to some, I can't tell if it's a Nissan, Hyundai, Kia, etc.

Maybe it's just the younger generation, but I can always seem to tell the different between Nissan, Hyundai, Kia, etc.

[IowaM1N1]

for some reason, thought Greg made the post.

I went to the show on Wed night, but couldn't think of a think to add to Dave's post.

[Minidave]

I think the Detroit Electric was restored, if not it was in exceptional condition! They had it cordoned off so you couldn't get real close to it...

It's interesting to think how that car was a real boon to people living in that era, especially women. Gasoline or steam engined cars at the turn of the century were oily, smelly and dirty and required a lot of effort to start. Contrast that to the electric, where all a lady had to do was get in, push a button and drive away, almost silently, compared to setting the spark and thottle, pumping up fuel pressure, and cranking a recalcitrant gas engine into life, then keeping it running while it warmed up and so on.

The downside was the same as it is today, range and the need to be able to plug it in. Electrical outlets were not as ubiquitous as today, and the range was limited, but then, so was the size of the town, and how far you could even go before running out of roads.

Once gasoline engines got electric self-starters, it was all over for the electric and steam powered cars.