Went to the Central Florida Int'l Auto Show this weekend and while nothing new to this crew was there, figured I'd share my thoughts on a few products there.

GM
-Absolutely HUGE display! All their brands took up more than a one third of the show floor. Had a very cool Displacement on Demand Display where they showed a motor running and the cylinders deactivating, very cool to see. Also had a few concepts there, only manufacturer to display concept cars at this show. They brought the Cheyenne, Bel-Air, Solstice, and some hybrid powered car.
-Cadillac's XLR was absolutely stunning! Very cool looking car and that retractable hardtop= . Other than that, just a slew of regular production CTS's, Escalades, etc. were displayed.
-Pontiac's GTO=AWESOME CAR. You really do have to see this in person to appreciate it. They had a torch red one there and it looked HOTT. Def. gonna be a real hit, many people were around it during most of the show. Also the GXP Bonneville was there, amazing what a few slight subtle changes can do to a car! Then theres the addition of the V8, which is my favorite change.
-Chevrolet had mostly all production bound cars there. Sat in the new Malibu and the car is WORLDS better than the last car. Nothing really exciting about it, but certainly a very good Camry and Accord fighter. Also sat in the Colorado and this is another vehicle that is world's better than its predecessor. Very handsome looking truck. Should be a big seller IMO. Also saw the supercharged Impala SS, very intimidating looking car on the outside with the black on black treatment.
-Even Oldsmobile had a display with a 100 years timeline and replica of a early 1900's Oldsmobile. Had displays of "Own the final ones built" with the production cars shown, very sad to see. One cool thing was on the headrests of the Alero, they had the old school Oldsmobile logo (circa 1930ish) stiched into it instead of the new logo they use.

Ford
-Had a slew of Lincoln-Mercury production bound cars there, nothing really exciting in that group, just the normal stuff.
-Sat in the new F150 and def. a very refined truck, should sell very well. My minor gripes were a little overuse of chrome trim in the interior and the wood grain finish on the dash looked a little cheesy but those were only minor. Overall a very worthy replacement.
-Only a few Mustangs were present, nothing new, not even a Cobra was there, only a few GT's and a Mach 1.
-The Ford GT was there and that is one kicka$$ car. It was up on a rotating display so the interior wasnt able to be seen but the exterior of the car looks awesome! Also very informative display showing the history of the GT40 and the Ford, Ferrari rivalry of the 60's.

Ok this is getting long so I'll cut the rest short. Chrysler's most exciting thing there was the Viper of course and the two door droptop PT Cruiser. Def. an odd looking car, dont thing the PT was made for the coupe market.

Also a quick note on the Japanese cars. Seems like the only Japanese car I would ever consider buying would be the vehicles out of Nissan. Very smooth, sexy lines on the exterior and their interiors are also very good. Also the 350z is really not that bad of a car, very supportive seats and very driver oriented.

Acuras and Toyotas are starting to do what Pontiac has started, all models looking alike. Walking through the Acura and Toyota displays, I felt like I was looking at the same car throughout the entire display, just different variations of it. In the Toyota display, the Celica truly looks like an outcast to the bland, blend-in offerings they have. Oh well, must be working since Toyota seems to be on a roll!

There were others there but I'll shut it off here since this has gotten kinda long. My first real show I've been to and it was a very cool experience. Def. gonna do it again next year!

 

Thanks for the review! Sounds like a lot of cool stuff there. I went to the NY show this year and there was a lot to see. Problem was that there were soooo many people there you couldn't see much at all! Left a little dissappointed....I hate crowds.

 

Great report.

I'll be posting a report from the 1st major auto show of the season, The Los Angeles International Auto Show (about 5 days before Detroit) on December 30th.