Part 1.

My brother and I took in GM’s Auto Show In Motion yesterday. This was my first time at the event so I really didn’t know what to expect. I came away with some strong impressions and some tips for my next visit. (More on that later.) But first; to the cars/trucks.

Let me first start off by saying my brother is a truck guy. Sure he has a Subaru WRX and he is a Camaro fan like I am (used to drive a 68 RS), but he mainly wanted to go for the trucks and then the performance cars. If you’ve never been before, they make you drive a truck/SUV before they’ll let you do the Hummer Off-Road course. Same thing with the C6 and CTS-V, you have to drive a passenger car or luxury car first.

Since we came in near the trucks, they were first on the list. Everyone was standing 20-30 deep waiting for the Silverado SS and SSR. We decided, why not just get this over with so since no one was waiting in the next line, we went for the GMC Sierra Denali Crew Cab first:

GMC Sierra Denali. First let me say we initially just got in this truck to qualify for the Hummer off-road course. But now I’m glad I test drove it. What a cool truck. The luxury trim is not too over done. I was also surprised at how well it handled being a crew cab. I am actually considering buying a truck soon, and before this wouldn’t have considered a crew cab, but to be honest, I’d buy this before I’d buy an Avalanche, which I had also considered at one time. Still one thing was a little annoying. After completing the little loop of the truck test track (which I would soon learn was the longest and best track at the event); I couldn’t get over the fact that the onboard was telling me my average fuel mileage for the trip was 7.0 mpg! Loved the climate control layout btw.

Toyota Tacoma Crew. The cool thing about Auto Show In Motion is they have competitors’ vehicles for you also to try out. My brother has been considering replacing his old Tacoma and wanted to test this out; so my impressions were only as a passenger. However neither of us liked the styling of new Tacoma and we both commented on how the Colorado looks more like the old Tacoma than the new Tacoma. Still it wasn’t a bad little truck although I though the center console section around the stereo looked cheap.

Pontiac GTO. The lines were long. There was and hour and a half wait for the Solstice. So we got in the shortest line of a car we wanted to drive. (Heck there was no wait for the Malibu and Malibu Maxx. Can you believe there was actually a line for the Aveo?) So we lined-up for the GTO… automatic. (The line was about 20-30 minutes shorter). They must’ve had six GTOs there ( 3 manual, 3 autos) so the wait wasn’t that bad. I’m now glad I didn’t wait for the stick, because you could traverse the course in 1st and 2nd gears. It was much shorter than the Truck course and there were no straights like on the truck course where you could really punch it. Impressions. The cockpit is small. We’re talking SN95 Mustang small. However unlike the Mustang I could move the seat down and back enough to stretch out like I wanted to. Also let me say, anyone that says the GTO isn’t a ponycar, has never driven one (or rode in one for that matter) and doesn’t know a ponycar from a grapefruit. If it had a bowtie on it instead, I’d seriously consider it, although it didn’t necessarily give me the impression that my 10 year old Z28 was obsolete. I’d need a longer test drive to determine that much. Still the seats were really comfortable and I could get used to the smaller cockpit. (Sure it’s small, it’s a ponycar!) My brother got it a little squirrelly with the traction control disabled, but we didn’t push it as at this track they were telling folks 25 mph max and actually threw a couple guys out. (Oops we went much faster than 25 on the truck course.)

By the time we were done with the GTO, we headed over to the Hummer course. The lines were long, so we decided to head down to the performance track which was at the far end of the old abandoned runway. (Great views of the City btw.)

Here’s where we had to make a tough decision. You can only choose one, and you only get one drive. C6 manual, C6 automatic, or Cadillac CTS-V manual. As much as I wanted to try the caddy, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to drive a Corvette.

Corvette C6 (6M). First let me say, this is the first time I have driven a Corvette since I drove a friend’s C4 years ago. What a fabulous car! Under $45K MSPR, are you freaking kidding me? Anyway, it was a base 6 speed in Daytona Sunset Orange Metallic (gorgeous color btw). They put a pro driver in the passenger seat with you. He tells you when to shift and when to gas it. My guy was a bit pissed off because the gal before me (a pro auto crosser she claimed) kept trying to down shift in the turns and he kept grabbing the shifter from her. Maybe I would’ve had more fun in the automatic as I imagine it would have been less restrictive. “Don’t burn rubber. Shift at 4000 rpm. Get it up to 3rd on the front straight, and leave it there.” Pretty restrictive, huh? Anyway, even though it was a short 30-40 second drive, I came away wanting one. Really forgiving and easy clutch, superb handling, massive power. So this is why Corvette fans are the way they are. This is easily the best V8 sports car under $50k. I mean really, unless you’re going to race it, who needs the Z06? Give me a Z51 and slap a Procharger on it and you’ve got a pretty unbeatable combination for under $60k. I’d probably even get the 6-speed auto so my wife could drive it.

Chevy HHR. Since the Small SUVs were near the Performance track and there was only 3 people in line for the HHR we went there next. I really love the looks of the HHR. I had a 1951 Chevy 3100 pickup once. It was a family heirloom handed down to me by my uncle and was like the first truck I knew from the age of five. Both the HHR and SSR have heavy 1948-54 Chevy Advanced Cab design styling influences, that’s why they appeal to me. Still the HHR looks bigger on the outside that it is on the inside. What a disappointment. I’ve driven a PT Cruiser. The HHR felt like it was much peppier than the PT. But the cockpit? What a joke. The windshield reminds me of an old Volkswagen Beetle. Short, flat. The rearview mirror actually blocks some of your visibility. I had the seat all the way back and down and my head still hit the roof. I am only 5-9! I kept complaining about this… that and the idiot in front of me that was driving 5 mph in the Lexus. (People if you go to these things expecting to take a leisurely Sunday drive… DON’T GO!) Now it was my brother’s turn. He’s a little bigger than me, 5-11 and he now got to feel what I felt. The passenger seat is much lower than the driver’s seat. I must’ve had a good 4 inches of headroom and the visibility was much better from the passenger side. However I did like the pep of the Ecotec four enough to want to try the Cobalt and Solstice out at some point. (Just not today, the lines were way to long.) The HHR is a great concept that fails miserably in execution. I am really disappointed. I wanted to love everything about this car, and now I can’t even recommend it. Bummer. Big time.

My brother needed to get something to eat so we headed to the Café. Word of advice here for next time. Plan on spending the whole day here. They give you an apple, a soda, a couple cookies and a bag of chips. Bring a thermal back pack and a couple sandwiches from home or the deli and you have a nice meal.

 

Part 2.

After a quick break we were running short on time. My brother needed to get home to pack for a trip to Florida on Monday. (Yeah, that’s what he thinks.) And I had a kid coming over to buy the sport bike I was selling. (And he did, for what I was asking, so it was worth it.) We got in line for the Hummer off-road course. Neither of us would consider the H2 or H2T for the trails around here, so the smaller H3 was the ticket. We stood in line for about 15-20 minutes. We could see the course had a couple berms and a small hill, and again they were sticking a professional driver in the vehicle with you. Would we really enjoy this? We decided it wasn’t worth what looked to be another 30-45 minutes of waiting. Next time we go, it’ll be Thursday morning at 8 am when they first open. Off to the truck course again. I just had to try the SSR before I left.

Chevy SSR. Is it a car? Is it a truck? Let me first say, it’s a truck! The ride height is simply too high for this to ever be considered anything but a truck. (Think small SUV/truck height.) Very similar to my son’s ‘96 Blazer in ride height. I love the layout and styling in the cockpit. Very retro, yet functional at the same time. Both my brother and I agreed it was the perfect California weekend getaway vehicle for two. (Hey when you’re 30 minutes from the Napa Valley, you think of these things.) Still I’m not sure I’d actually use it like a truck. The bed is too pretty, especially with the optional carpet kit and Velcro attached plastic wood strips as they had in the show model. (Very cheap looking IMO.) And what’s this? Now they were telling us to keep it under 25mph. “Yeah, sure”. Hey if I don’t look at the speedometer I wouldn’t be lying right? What a fun little truck with plenty of power. I could see myself buying one, especially in the Pacific Blue Metallic shade I test drove. If it were available with the Vette’s 6-speed automatic, I’d probably buy one today. Yes it made that big of an impression on me. My only negative on the truck is that the tail end looks weird. It just doesn’t seem to fit. Perhaps if they had made the bed more like a true stepside, I’d have liked it better. But I like everything else enough to put this little truck on my wish list.

Chevy Avalanche. It was there; so were we. There was no line. I drive a 2002 Tahoe LS everyday. There’s not much difference although again, I love the individual climate controls. After driving the Denali though, I have now taken the Avalanche off my list. A crew cab is just more practical for truck duty.

Recap on the cars.
Pontiac GTO. It’s a ponycar. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
Chevy Corvette C6. Awesome. Simply awesome.
Chevy HHR. Pass.
Chevy SSR. Home run.

Still this was a great event, and I’ll definitely go next time. In future I’ll plan on spending the day, bring some sandwiches, (meds for my brother), etc and plan on going during the week when it’s less crowded.


http://www.autoshowinmotion.com

 

They brought a Tacoma for you to compare with a Sierra Denali?

Where do these apples to oranges people think they're going with this stuff? Or was the Taco there to compare with the Colorado and you just happened to not drive the Colorado?

The center stack seemed cheap? It's not mind blowingly nice looking but I don't see how you could find it to be that cheap looking for a compact truck?
http://www.toyota.com/images/vehicle...ge/photo_1.jpg

http://media.automotive.com/evox/sti...5/4pu-c/59.jpg

 

When I went to the show in San Diego, they had Tacomas and Frontiers, and Titans and Tundras. They made sure there was a balance to the competition.

The C6 was the highlight of the entire day. After the C6 I went straight home to **** off.

 

JG, what did you think of the cockpit of the SSR? For some reason, I think I might have sat in one, or just looked at it somewhere (Indy drag nationals?) and it seemed really crunched.

 

I enjoyed the Auto Show in Motion when I went back in the spring. The only thing that sucks about the Auto Show in Motion, is the tracks are way to small, to really get a good feel of the car IMO. Then again its a safety/liablity issue for GM since not everyone knows how to really drive, and they don't want anybody to get hurt. I really enjoyed the GM Police Drive event a lot better, even though the car selection wasn't as great as the Auto Show in Motion but since it was closed to the general public and the track was open you could really do some driving.

 

Of course the Tacoma was to compare with Colorado. They also had a Tundra, an F150 crew, a Dodge Ram and Dakota. The center stack looked similar to one in the picture but much cheaper. I'm guessing it was a 2005 stripper as my brother made a comment that it was probably intentional as well. My brother is a Tacoma owner and likes the center stack.

 

I don't know how you didn't have enough headroom in the HHR. Perhaps the seat was a power seat and was adjusted all the way up? I'm 6'2" with a tall torso and I've never notice a lack of headroom in the HHR. Hell, IIRC, I can sit in the back seat and not have much trouble.

As for the vertical windshield, what did you expect, based on the styling? (BTW, if it bothered you in the HHR, and H2 or H3 would drive you nuts!).

Thanks for the write up, though. I agree about the Vette; simply an amazing vehicle.

 

Much bigger than the HHR. Seemed bigger than the Vette as well. I actually liked it and felt it was rather roomy for what it was.

 

I am glad that you liked the GTO. Most people either love it or hate it. Most that I have personally talked to that hated the car, said that they never even once looked at the car up close, rode in one, or drove one. They are going by hear say, or pictures of the car on the internet.

 

It was a power seat and I did adjust it all the way back and all the way down. Either the seat was broken or you must have a short torso, because my brother and I both found it cramped.

It wasn't so much that the windshield was vertical. It was more that the rearview mirror blocked out much of the vision. I could live with the vertical part.

 

Agreed 100%. You really could not get a good impression because of it. Except on the truck track they had set-up at Alameda. It was longer than any other and had a sequence of a straight away with two lane changes. You could really punch it there. I think I got the SSR up to 60+ mph.

Other than that, the tracks were way too short to get good impressions. There was no way I was waiting 2 hours to drive the Solstice on that track.

 

That sounds really restrictive. When I first heard of autoshow in motion I was really excited. They advertised "tracks" for their upper end vehicles, like the gto, cts, cts-v, corevette, etc. I knew they would never use a real track and would probably just be autocross courses. But after reading the reviews of it before it came to Houston, I decided not to go. I would probably leave with negative-GM-opinions and be frustrated if I was told I had to take the GTO around a "track" and drive it like a school bus. I know you it would be dumb to have people going all out, but to have a guy sitting next to me in a vette, with his hand on the shifter, telling me what gear to go to...

 

It does, in the middle east:
Lumina SS

 

It's not all that bad. Nobody goes with you in anything but the Vette, CTS-V and H2. The GTO you're all alone, and yes - the "track" (autoX course with cones) is short, but you get to take the GTO out twice if you want. You won't leave frustrated. Well, unless you've got emotional issues already and are off your medication.

Oh, and the guy in the Vette with you is just to make sure you don't get killed. He isn't tellng you what gear to go to. When I asked what the ground rules were the guy I was with replied "crashing is not allowed, otherwise the car is yours, have fun"

I romped it before coming out of the straight so I could get a little sideways, and then took it up to about 100. I was sold on that car, that's for sure. Being able to buy it was another issue.