While everyone gave reviews of the cars they've seen at NAIAS and LAIAS or elsewhere, I am just going to highlight the points that stood out to me about some vehicles in this year's Canadian International Auto Show:

1. Solstice: beautiful car and very good seating position. Excellent feel of the pedals and the shifter. My complaint? The plastic dash cover and the four-way flashers button. Those could be replaced with more appealing material.


2. H3 - although I was very skeptical about this car and its price tag, it has quite an appeal. Its sunroof it probably one of the best out there. Why? Because the driver can easily look up without raising the head. The sunroof starts further ahead from the driver's head, it provides great visibility for something like cruising downtown and watching the skyscrapers. It has an excellent shifter (manual transmission) - very comfortable, easy to shift and precise. OVerall, a neat vehicle, a vehicle that would benefit a LOT from optional 5.3 V8. Even with its wimpy 5-cyl, it gets poor gas milage.

3. Saturn Aura - while not very impressed in pictures, this car is stellar! Everything about this "concept" is well executed. I did not have a chance to see the interior since the car was fenced off.

Do we know if Aura is approved, and if so, for which model year?

4. Camaro... Ours was red in color. Although it is 79 inches wide, it doesn't feel that big. It has beautiful, beautiful proportions and shape. I'm sure we won't get those wheels in production vehicle, but as far as the body is concerned - wow. What I liked? Standing at the front of the vehicle - it looks very, VERY mean. You don't want to see that in your rear view mirror at a stop light . Low roofline, high belt line - as much as I like the Mustang, this car takes the edge in style and design. The fact that the exhaust tips are integrated in the bumper is also nice - the car feel finished, complete, as if attention was paid to every detail. Unlike the Mustang, this car looks good from every angle.

5. Buick Velite... Another stellar vehicle. Beautiful proportions, extremely short overhangs! This car takes the style away from the Lexus Convertible, and it is such a gorgeous car. If Buick were to build any RWD car (coupe, performance coupe, covertible), this is the first car they should consider.

6. Tahoe - nicely redesigned/redone truck, my only gripe is that rear door does not appear to fit in with the rest of the shape - particularly the rounding of the lower rear window corner on that door. It is supposed to be edgy - not rounded. Round does not complement the vehicle. I must also admit that its interior is better, IMO, than VW - probably something that they benchmarked from. VW had such interiors in early 2000's, but their newer models look and feel cheaper.

7. VW SUV - this SUV shares its platform with Porsche Cayenne, but in my opinion, Cayenne looks outdated. There was a nice concept - lowered VW with nice, large wheels and 3.2L TT V6 producing 500 HP. This would cost the price of Cayenne Turbo, except this would be a much bigger head turner and would have more modern style.

8. Hyundai Azera? WTH? The base price on this vehicle (although "well-equipped") is $34,900 CDN!?!?!? There is only 1 I see on the road - somebody in our office tower bought one. I am speechless... While its dashboard is "OK", its cloth seat material, and the plastics on the doorstep are just horrible. The style of this car belongs in the 90's - jellybean is so passe. There are a number of cars that one could consider (and MUST consider) before this vehicle:

a. BMW 3-series
b. Acura TSX
c. Audi A3 or FWD A4
d. Buick Lucerne or Buick Allure (and they're even cheaper! and much, much better looking and with world ahead finish)
e. <insert any other car here>

I am in disbelief that such vehicle could be priced so high. Their other vehicle, Sonata (competition to Camry/Accord) is also missing something. While having a nice exterior, it has a horrible dashboard, especially the radio console.

Long story short - would not even consider a Hyundai for ANY of my needs.

That's all for this review .

 

Mervz what did you think of the Bel Air next to the Camaro and in comparison to the Velite?