I went to the San Francisco Auto show yesterday one of the 1st in (meaning I beat the crowds big time), and just wanted to post a few observations from there.

Chevy SS concept:
This car should not be made as is. It looks too much like the Corvette. It's interior isn't as roomy as you'd expect by the car's size (much like the 4th gen). The car has plenty of styling cues that should be on a future Chevy (ie: the brushed alumunum panel in the rear is an excellent touch). You were able to get very close to the car, and could clearly see the interior. Having an accessible SSR 10 feet away and THREE Corvettes made the Chevy display one of the more popular.

Chevy SSR:
The interior is fantastic in style, but also seems to be very fragile. It was the very start of openining day, and the dash compartment over the tranny hump (I think it was the ash tray, since it had an outlet) was broken already.

Chevy Silverado SS:
HUGE mistake parking it 10 feet away from Ford's display of new F150s. The F150s seemed to steal the show as far as the 2 are concerned, and it's obvious why. The interior of the Ford trucks simply put the Chevy to shame. What made it worse was the $42,000 pricetag of the SS, while the short cab Ford was about $27,000 and the full on F150 AWD, complete with chromeed & brushed metal interior and counsole, with seemingly everything was just $37,000. It was just amazing the contrast between Ford & Chevy Trucks!

Chevy Equinox:
This crossover is going to be a WINNER!! It looks simply fantastic, inside & out! Don't go by the pictures, see this one yourself.

Chevy Malibu:
The exterior design of this falls under the "What were you thinking?!" catagory. The sides are full size van flat, the front is blocky, it simply isn't a good looking car. To be perfectly honest the Malibu Maxx looks better (it's fast sloped rear at least breaks up the rest of the car's looks). I don't feel Malibu will sell unless GM piles on incentives & loads it up with standard equiptment. No one's going to buy one on desire alone.

Cadillac SRX:
Great interior, less than great exterior, but in that area, it's just my opinion. People (older) seemed to like it. But there were 2 things that floored me about it. 1st, it cost over $53,000! 2nd, though it had just a 4.6 V8, and was based on a car, it only gets 15mpg city & 20mpg highway! I may be wrong, but a 6 liter 2500 gets better fuel mileage!

Ion Redline:
At least they get great looking seats, and loose the really dumb looking steering wheel.

Pontiac's display:
Pontiac may want to re-examine it's policy of putting it's money on hardware over appearence. The car at the Pontiac exibit that got the most attention was the GTO (all I heard was good comments), even though there was Bonneville, Sunfire, & Vibe GXPs, all seemed to be ignored. Other than the GTO, the Pontiac display seemed to be the 2nd most ignored next to Buick. Then again, having the SSR, SS, and 3 Vettes directly across didn't help.

Cadillac's display:
The Cien still attracts big crowds. The CTSv is flasher than pictures indicated. Especially when it's black. The XLR also was pretty popular.

Other Observations:
*The Chrysler 300C is one imposing car! It's not really huge (seems between CTS & DeVille in size) and it's profile isn't anything new, but that massive grille, the highly detailed headlights, and the massive wheelwell bulges pushed seemingly to the ends of the car, along with the high beltline is going to make this every bit of a intimidating ride as the jet black CTSv was.

*The new Durango is B-I-G ! It's probably as long as an extended Trailblazer, but it's taller & wider. It has a good interior (as did what I saw of the 300... it was on a pedastal), and seems Chrysler is on a winning streak in improving it's interiors. Even the Pacifica's interior materials were excellent.

*The SRT-10 Truck is just simply bad*ss. No other word can describe a Truck that has a large hoodscoop, 22" polished alumunum wheels, Parelli Scorpion tires that seem almost cartoonish in width, that bolt on spoiler, dual chrome tailpipes, and a very noticeable shifter sticking out of the floor. That "Viper Powered" label on the sides of the hood scoop drive home the message if someone still doesn't get it.

*The Mercury Messenger is a great looking ride. It looks as if it could compete with the Solstice coupe since it's just as wide, and not too much longer. If it was painted something other than pastel Blue, I'm sure it would have been a bigger smash last year at Detroit.

*Newer Detroit vehicles have reach (and in some cases, exceeded) parity with foreign brand's interiors. Malibu, CTS, Durango, & Pacifica all were every bit as good as the Mitsubishis, Toyotas, & Nissans I sat in. The Ford F150 by far was the best interior by feel & quality of materials & design of anything I sat in at the show that wasn't BMW or Mercedes. IMO, it's even better than the VW Phaeton.

 

I disagree. How many people buy a family car on desire alone anyway? To me its good looking compared to other midsizers out there, and way better looking than the old Malibu. This car looks a lot better on the street or in a dealership than it does in pictures I've found...Theres a couple in my neighborhood alreaddy. Which is funny because there are no brand new Corollas, Accords, or Galants around here. I think its exterior styling will catch on well w/ normal family people. Then when they sit inside of it? SOLD! Now the Maxx......I don't understand how anyone can think that looks good...

 

Did this SUV hav 18" rims? It had 18"s at the NY auto show back in April and looked great, I was told they were going to be on the production version, But I was also told the Malibu Maxx would get 17" rims like the show version had and If you check chevy.com you can see that they lied to me and only gave it 16" rims. very disappointing. Other than that the Maxx looks good. (looked better with 17"s)

I saw the final production SSR in person this past week. WOW it look just as good as the concept, Magazine pics do not do it justice.

 

I think Equinox is going to be Chevy's biggest hit in sometime as far as new vehicles go!

Cien still attracts attention, because, quite frankly, it's one of the best concept cars of all time!!

 

Im with Meccadeth on this one. The interior on the new Malibu is excellent IMO and the exterior is just plain jane just like the Accord and Camry exteriors. I think the swooping lines coming up from the front and rear wheel wells is kinda weird looking on the car but other than that its just an ordinary looking sedan, which is what most families seem to want anyway. And it seems they're selling well here in central florida, I've already seen more than a couple driving around the city and surrounding areas. Oh well, I guess we'll see.

Good stuff on the other vehicles Guion, I'm hoping they'll have the Ram SRT at the CF show this weekend and I'll finally get to see the GTO in person!

 

What did you think of the styling? I saw it on the road for the first time yesterday...and man those front fenders are fuuuuuugly! The design doesn't flow, it's like they wanted to keep the toughness of an SUV while throwing strange curves on it at the same time. Very muddled.

 

My visual impression of the new Durango is an "oversized mini-van with a chopped off truck front end" for whatever that is worth...

 

I saw several of those cars at the Dallas Auto Show earlier this year. I think it's best to go on the last day and plan to stay late. It's just damn cool to stand outside and watch one-off prototypes and megabuck supercars driving on the street to the trailers.

 

I just look at it as a Ram-looking SUV w/ squarish headlights...Doesn't look so ugly from that perspective...

 

I think the Durango needs it's front clip redone.....QUICKLY. The really sad part about it is the Dakota is going to look almost identical (check out it's camo spy pics, then compare with the Durango). The interior is pretty good though.

I'll mark this to a difference in taste, and just say to me it looks too much like a set of blocks on the outside, & looks good inside.

 

thier was a SSR parked down the street a few weeks ago and i found the interior likes like crap(for the price).

 

I bet some kind of sport package could work wonders on the Malibu. (and a few more hp, better suspension ect)

Equinox looks good--but whats with the joke of an engine? 185hp 3400! way to go GM! Eveyone else has much more power and you come out with less! Way to go! (my sarcasm at work)

If they won't put a 3500 V6 (at least its 200) go with the Honda 3.5L V6--if you can't beat them, join 'em!

 

No kidding! I wish they would have built it! I still think it would have a place at Cadillac. If Ford can have a super car why cant Caddy? I saw it at the Dallas Auto show. Wow what a car!

 

I agree, I would have liked to see the NEW 3.5L instead of the OLD 3.4L.

One thing to remember is that this is the base engine, every other small SUV has a 4 cyl for it's base motor. The Honda SUVs Only come with a 160HP I4, thats it. It blows away the competition as far as base HP goes. Maybe the 2006 will get an optional 240HP 3.9L V6

 

I saw some of those vehicles at the Greater New England car show a few weeks ago. Here's my quick take:

Malibu: styling is not very good. Needs less lines in the side and a less chunky front end. The interior is well done. Not crazy about the design, but the interior FEELS good sitting behind the wheel.

F-150: Outside looks good. Do not like the interior. Don't like the materials. Don't like the design of the interior. It's too gimmicky.

SRX: I really like this SUV. Well designed, well built.

XLR: Simply stunning.

CTSv: the new front end makes the car look great.

Solstice: What a cool little car. Although it's just a roadster, it brings something fresh to the genre.

Colorado: Very nice truck. SEEMS much bigger than the S-series. Could get lost in a line up of Silverados. Interior is well laid out and simple, but material in top of dash and door panels is a bit cheap. Nice feel from behind the wheel. Steering wheel felt great in hand.