My STL Auto Show Experience

[ccap41]

Last weekend my closest group of friends drove downtown and went to the St. Louis Auto Show. It had been a handful of years since I last went so it was set up a little different not in a bad way just different. Well, first of all I volunteered to drive because there were 5 of us and we thought 2 cars and paying 2 cars to park was unnecessary so we all packed into my Escape. I am by far the smallest of the guys who went. Me: 5'8" 180lbs, Guy1: 6' 240lbs, Guys2-4: 5' 8-10" weighing from 250-290. Guys2-4 are twins and their dad.. I knew if I wasn't the driver I always get stuck sitting "bitch" with those guys so I volunteered to drive. I also knew where we were going the best as it was only a block from where I work. 

 

As I expected none of the big G3 were there. The "closest" was VW, which the friend of mine who also had a Mach1 at the same time I did is now some weird V-Dub fanboy. He bought a GTI(2012) and now VW makes the best cars on the market..weird, right? We'll see how true that is once it's in the shop and paying the stupid German prices for things.. anyway..that was quite of topic! Anywayyyyyy, of the Luxury automakers; Cadillac, Lexus, Acura, Lincoln..Probably another but I can't think of them.

 

FCA was the first up as you walk in. Right up front was a Ram 1500 3.0 in Ram's highest trim(it was like $65k). While none of my closest car-guy friends are as up to date on this stuff as I am they didn't know Ram offered a small diesel in their 1500 or in the Grand Cherokee as well. They had a few Scat Pack Challengers and Chargers(okay, one of each) and damn that is one good looking car. For the money, a Scat Pack Charger/Chally is one heck of a car.There off against the wall, on the ground, but roped off, was a Charger HELLCAT! Weird enough they had the front facing the wall to where the majority of people would only see the rear 3/4...I thought that was odd. ALFA! I didn't expect to see it so it was my first surprise of the day, they had an Alfa 4C Spider there, roped off, of course. Freakin' gorgeous car. There were too many people around it to really get a good look of it all the way around but it definitely had the body lines that I expected. 

 Then I moseyed over to Jeep where I knew I would do it but I love almost everything about the Grand Cherokee. The size, the interior(at least in higher trims), and of course they sport some nice powertrains as well. 

 

I got to check out the Titan XD and wow, while the exterior is kind of sketchy the truck as a whole as some serious presense if you ask me. Big, some-bitch. 

 

I checked out a very large majority of what was there, most of it wasn't note worthy but still awesome to see in person and get to sit in and feel some things. One of which was the new Tacoma and Colorado. I'm not sure what it is about the Tacoma but I love what they did with the new one. The interior looks great the exterior already looked pretty good so a little face lift was necessary and the small one did the trick for me. The Colorado seemed a little less impressive from the looks and interior department. Neither was bad by any means but I just like the set up of the center stack/console better in the Toyota. The one thing I wasn't crazy about in the Tacoma was the sitting position...you really do sit more stretched out than upright in it, it's kind of awkward. Come to think of it, it's actually more sporty because you're legs are stretched out but in a weird way.. I also didn't fiddle with the seat adjustments to see if it can go up any but if I recall the reviews said it doesn't go up. 

 

Camaro. Mustang.

Honestly, the first thing that I think of when I think of the two for a comparison is VISIBILITY. I couldn't drive the Camaro. The door went roughly 6 maybe even 8 inched over my shoulder before there was glass to see out of, the hood/dash still seem very "guessing" where the front end is. Checking your blind spots is impossible in the Camaro, not very good in the Mustang either but impossible without some nanny feature to tell me there is a car there. I don't know how much I would like it if I owned one but I thought the dial for the temperatures and vents was actually really cool. It had a good feel to it which I didn't expect. It didn't feel like a normal vent, it carried some weight to it which I liked. While I was stoked to see one in person and get to check it out there were a lot of people around so I didn't get to fiddle and oogle the body lines too much, but it definitely looked very 5th gen to me, which many people liked. I just was never a fan of it. It did look pretty good from the front but the back looks super-ultra bland to me. Whereas the Mustang's rear 1/3 looks like the best third of either vehicle hands down, imo. 

 

CT6, wasn't there.. I was quite annoyed with the vehicles that will be in production very soon(or already are) that weren't there. 

GT350. Also not there.

Raptor. Nope.

 

There was however..a Continental. Gorgeous car. Too bad it was up on a spinning pedestal so you could only see it so much. I will agree with the people who've said that it has a "presence" to it. The interior looked like it knows how to pamper with the best, will it? We will find out soon enough.

 

I was surprised to see a 2017 Escape there. Again, it was roped off but on the floor so I couldn't check out the updated interior. I was originally really liking the 2017 face lift but now I'm not 100%. It looked "okay". I did really like bits and pieces though. Like the new lights the "top" of them are tinted black(some people on the forums already paint them black or tint them themselves). There were other pieces that are usually chrome that were painted black that I thought looked good. 

 

2017 Fusion? Nope.

 

Focus RS? YES! You guys know how I like my cars, right?  Black on black. Exactly how this RS was. It was on the floor to oogle and oggle at but the doors were locked so no sitting in it. That was fine as they had an ST right next to it..same car from the driver's seat. The ST had the optional Recaro seats and so be honest I didn't know there was such a seat that could be too snug. Well, found it. The side bolstering was so high and so tight I honestly didn't like it. To be honest, it was borderline smashing my man parts and I'm not a hefty guy(5'8" - 180lbs). They seemed as if after 20-30k miles the seat would be showing wear because there is no way to get in and out without smashing the outside bolster on the bottom. 

 

Back to Cadillac. V-Series!

Mmmmmm There were actually 3 V's there. 1 CTS sedan, 1 ATS Sedan, and 1 ATS Coupe. I'll give it to the coupe, I haven't been a fan of how Cadillac makes their coupes but the ATS looked pretty sharp. I'd still go for the sedan but the coupe didn't look as awkward as I'd seen in pictures. Of course the CTS-V was gorgeous and gnarly all built in to one luxury mobile. 

 

They had one section of all roped off cars that was pretty cool to see. I believe they are all owned by a local dealer(s) but there were 2 Huracans(I wish one would have been an Aventador but I'm not a Lambo guy so it's no biggie), 2 Astons(they all look the same - gorgeous - but no clue what any of them are called), 2 Bentley's(also..all *almost* all look the same), and a Convertible Rolls Wraith. Holy $h! that car is massive. The hood is as tall as my Escape's. Talk about "presence", that car has it. 

 

Oh yeah, one of the best parts of the day was as we were walking to the convention center/dome we were stopped at an intersection when 20-25 guys on mini bikes/pit bikes/ super-motos and one guy on an R6 all rode past doing wheelies. It was hilarious. 9/10s of them were on the pit bikes going all slow and doing wheelies. So damn funny looking. 

 

Well that was my Saturday and why I missed the beginning of the Daytona 24. I'm sure I missed something and I'll come back to it later. 

Edited February 5, 2016 by ccap41

[David]

Sounds like a fun day and very cool show, to bad some of the want to see auto's were not there. Sucks that they focus only on a few shows and mostly blow off the rest. The Auto Industry really needs to show off everything at all the shows to drive interest.

[ccap41]

Sounds like a fun day and very cool show, to bad some of the want to see auto's were not there. Sucks that they focus only on a few shows and mostly blow off the rest. The Auto Industry really needs to show off everything at all the shows to drive interest.

Yeah I understand why they don't here. There just isn't a ton of space. I mean as it was it wasn't like they left gaps or anything. It was filled up. It's just annoying when I see 3 CTSs and no CT6. Why do they need 3 CTS? Oh that is in addition to the CTS-V, BTW. Things like that is what annoys me. 

 

So even had the G3 came there just wasn't space for them... 

 

Oh yeah, I forgot about the ILX. I really like that little car! In the lesser trims the seat felt "extra flat" but in the higher trim it felt good. I thought it looked good inside and out and knowing it has the 2.4 @ 201hp it would be adequate along with their 8spd auto. I think that would be a very enjoyable car to drive/own(on a realistic level).