Culture|Garage

The Denver Auto Show is one of a few events for gearheads that arrive in the relatively snowbound, largely outdoorsey state of Colorado. Typically, conventions such as outdoor expositions, camping shows and Democratic powwows rule the calendar, but the Auto show provides a nice (and much needed) respite for the more “vehicularly-inclined” residents of the state. Tons of coverage after the jump.

This year’s Denver Auto Show has been one of the better ones put together in recent memory. The entrance line moved swiftly, staff activity was efficient and the venue, the Denver Convention Center, was great. The layout of the show was particularly accommodating for everyone, including the handicapped, which is an element sorely lacking from most vehicle shows. This year, it was clear that the Detroit Three were going to do their best to upstage each other, with pony cars from each make being trotted out in grand fashion. Upon entering the show from the front doors, visitors are immediately flanked by Ford and GM booths.

To the right, ford had a lineup of a sampling of different Mustangs, including the Shelby GT 500 KR. Alongside were the Bullitt and California Special Mustangs, which each drew quite a crowd. To the left, GM had erected a sort of wall, with a plastic display case full of model GM cars and memorabilia.

Continuing deeper into the show, Dodge had staked its claim behind the Ford camp, with a rotating Hemi Challenger in the center of the display, ringed semi-circularly by other classic Mopars, including a ‘70 Challenger and a Dodge Daytona, among others.

Further on, Scion had a humongous display of several modified versions of their cars in a sort of life-sized Hot Wheels collector case. On the floor were stock versions of their vehicles, and the booth was full to capacity all day.

Towards the back of the main drag, booths representing local businesses were arrayed to the right, and Mitsubishi sat to the left, appearing sparsely populated by both products and visitors. That may have been more an issue of a lack of floor space v. a lack of interesting products. The Evo was present, however, although the restyled Eclipse was a no-show, in its place were two current-year models, both full of kids with hats with flat bills and baggy trousers. The Colorado Concours D’Elegance also had a display-more on that later.

Taking a u-turn at the Mitsubishi booth, one swung around to face an interesting dichotemy, as Subaru and GM stared each other down from both sides of the aisle. Shouts of “Lookout! Flying retro-inspired-PT-Cruiser copy!” could be heard in the general vicinity, as indeed there was an HHR suspended from the ceiling. Over at Subaru, things were a bit more grounded, as the Impreza WRX STI was on display, all hatches, doors, portholes and scoops open, and had a cluster of visitors around it all day. Saab took up an innocuous residence in this part of the show as well-but I didn’t see anything particularly revolutionary parked there, nor did I witness any jets giving birth. (I somehow doubt that a Viggen could mate, what’s more spawn a four-wheeled child. How ridiculous. Maybe a Cessna could be the end result of such aeronautic breeding- let’s be realistic here, folks!) In actuality, Chris nailed the Saab coverage pretty well in N.Y., so I won’t move in on his kool-aid. The Pontiac G8 (sorry, no ST) was also shown on a rotating platform, as if in a giant microwave. Oh, and the award for best-looking booth presenter of the day goes to the representative who was speaking on Pontiac’s behalf. Wowza.

Pontiac also brought out a couple of Solstices-suffice it to say that the impression left by the roadster was not one of joy. From the inside, it feels more like a cruiser than a sports car, the seats feel as if they are made of nothing and the car just seemed huge when tucked into the somehow irritating interior. I really wanted to like the Solstice, but I just don’t. Biggest disappointment of the show, period. Sorry, Poncho!

Further on, Cadillac had a few models carelessly strewn about their beige-carpeted piece of heaven. I say carelessly, as one of the Caddys had it’s hazards flashing continuously, and no Cadillac representatives could be found. Across the aisle sat the “Bumblebee” Camaro, which had not only a GM representative at its side all day, but was ogled by eager gawkers for the duration of the show(guess nobody told them it’s really a GTO underneath, huh?) There was a flying HHR above (born from weird-looking jets?) but it did little to bolster interest in the HHR SS, which sat forlornly in all its redness, alone. Apparently, an “SS” badge isn’t enough to drum up interest these days.

The Corvette ZR-1 was trotted out at the show, and to me, it looked like just another ‘Vette, plastic hole in the hood or not. It is an impressive performer to be sure, but with all the scoops, it ought to be in the next “Transformers” movie as some sort of robotic dust-buster or something. On the track, though, this thing’ll be a monster- but for the (assumingly) high price tag, you probably won’t see one at your local autocross.

Continuing over to the Ford booth, the aforementioned Mustangs were thronged with admirers, but the real centerpiece was awkwardly tucked away between an info desk manned by disheveled, uninterested hosts and light scaffolding-the Ford Flex. It actually looked really good, and to my surprise, a tow hitch was present on the show vehicle, indicating possible drag-car towing potential. As mentioned before, the staff in the booth was less than helpful, but according to them, there WILL, I repeat, WILL be both Boss and Mach 1 Mustangs in the near future. Watch for ‘em.

Mercury and Lincoln were shoehorned in between Dodge and the backside of the Ford booth (indicators of intra-company politics methinks) but this was a minor issue, as the new Lincoln MKS, which is absolutely stunning in person, was on display. Mercury had little to offer, but their cars sure were, uh, clean? I guess no-one wants to “try on” a new Mercury, and I can’t say I blame them. This is a brand that will take a ground-up rebuilding to be successful again, and I fear Ford may not have the scratch to accomplish such a task at this time.

The Dodge display was probably the most overstuffed booth at the show, but the technique for selling new product was certainly innovative. Mopars of every stripe populated much of the space, including a Pro Street Hemicuda, a 440 Dart and other assorted machines, all in the pursuit of supporting the star of the show, the new Challenger. Seeing this car in pictures does not do it justice-it is a beauty. It isn’t as chunky in the flesh as it is in pictures, so I was impressed, to say the least. Other Mopar muscle was in attendance, in the form of *cough* 4-door *cough* Charger Super Bees. Elsewhere in the booth, Chrysler products were present, including the Dodge Demon roadster, and a Jeep golf-cart-ish thingy. Moving on!

Volkswagen represented the Teutonic empire’s finest in budget motoring through a quirky booth that offered VW stuff via counter, something not done at other booths. The old VW “fast” character was present and flocks of children were attracted to it-not bad for an ad campaign not seen for about a year. Although VW had some very nice cars there (including a Passat with some dynamite exhaust tips) the centerpiece was an old Rabbit. A tan Rabbit. In all honesty, compared to the ‘70 Challenger R/T that was sitting mere yards away, I was, how you say, underwhelmed? Oh well, I still enjoyed staring at the Vee Dub stuff anyway.

Further on, Volvo had a very Swedish booth, with wood floors underneath some of their cars, however one of the PR reps ambushed me and a friend as we walked around the base C30 (version I) in a very UN-Swedish manner. Although I knew a lot about the car going into the show, the rep was quite knowledgeable and enthusiastic, if not a bit pushy, as he asked us if we wanted to sign up for more info a couple of minutes into his schpiel. We ran. Once we shook the PR guy, we proceeded to the Audi booth, which had an (as usual) impressive array of vehicles present, including the R8. It was entertaining to wander around (my buddy spent close to half an hour in that booth) and fiddle with this and that in each car, but it was especially enlightening when I “broke” a cargo hatch in one of the Audi SUVs. Let me explain: I lifted this hatch thingy that appeared to be askew in the back of the truck, when the whole assembly came up and out of it’s moorings. Although my first instinct was to make a break for it with my “prize,” I was ambushed in a clear abuse of Volvo tactics by an Audi rep who informed me, jokingly, that I had broken the hatch. As he strolled over and began to repair the breakage, he explained how innovative the hatch and stowage space was, and how wet ski boots could be stored in the cubbyhole. I nodded and thought to myself, “That thing is too shallow for ski boots. Maybe I could fit a notepad in there… or two?” When I came back into consciousness, the rep was snapping the hinges back into place and sayng (this is a DIRECT quote), “So, it’s not flimsy…it’s different.” I bit my lip and looked at my friend, who seemed genuinely interested (I think he’s a better actor than I am) and we left the booth, only to enter Bimmerland.

Let me preface this by saying that I used to be a Mercedes guy (at least in the world of the Silver arrow v. the Bavarian propeller) but BMW really sold me on the new 1-series. With a basketball colored and textured interior, pocket-rocket size and a reasonable pricetag, the 1 is sure to be a hit, even with enthusiasts who otherwise wouldn’t give BMW any consideration. Cops dig the 1 too, as shown above. I was also impressed with what was a (5-series? Help me out Bart!) wagon, which looked the part, and appeared to be both practical and fun. My favorite feature of the car, besides the controversial Bangle styling, was the retractable sunshade in each window, which clipped in over the windows inside to protect grandma, the kiddies and groceries from outside heat. Of all the features I saw during the show, the BMW retractable sunshade gets my seal of approval as the coolest thing in attendance. Simple, effective, utilitarian, it is old-school engineering. Nicely done, BMW. The X6 was, well, a disappointment, but then again, any faux-SUV is a disappointment in my eyes, new styling or not. This was probably the best booth at the show, personally speaking, however, as the 1-series attracted a lot of attention, and the vehicles that Bimmer included in their display were well presented, and appealed to many different demographics. Bravo, BMW.

Mercedes was next door to its rival, and offered a lot of examples of their vehicles, however, the booth seemed a bit, well, cold when compared to the BMW booth. I say this because the cars were parked in a ramshackle manner, and there wasn’t a whole lot of interesting stuff, save for a pillarless sedan, the CL 600, that was quite nice, but quite expensive. Because Mercedes and BMW sort of fight over the same demographics, or, at least they’re supposed to, the lack of enthusiasm in the Mercedes area was a clear indicator of who is winning-and who is losing- the battle between the brands. With any luck, Mercedes will step up their program in the future to generate some excitement in the segment. That, and less KIA-inspired styling would help as well. Oh, they had a G-Wagon on display, but it smelled a lot like Hummer in that part of the booth, so we steered clear.

Land Rover and Jaguar sat side-by-side, appropriately enough, and both were looking, well, sort of same-o same-o, with plenty of dark green paint and chrome accents. The new Jag XF was out, and although the styling is a bit iffy (okay, REALLY iffy) the interior was nothing to sneeze at. The interior just dripped with class, and the Bond-esque shifter knob (really, it’s a knob, no stick) definitely points to the future of automobiles. Neat stuff. Behind Jaguar sat a few exotic cars, including an Aston that looked to be tuned, and a couple of Lambos. Also clustered in this corner of the show was Porsche, which had a gorgeous little number decked out in a sort of metallic silvery purple.

I would cover the JDM stuff here, but I don’t think I could really do it justice, so suffice it to say that Mitsubishi took the cake, but only after Scion, in how well-done their presentation was put together. Subaru had some potent cars, arranged in an impotent way (enthusiasts and the spiky-hair set still found their way to the STI, it was Rally blue w/ gold wheels, so it didn’t exactly hide) but Mitsubishi used a ton of floor space (much of which went unused) and multiple cars from the same model lines there, so more people could enjoy them more efficiently. Oh, and the Army had a booth full of stuff, including shoot-’em-up arcade games. Woo.

One final point of interest was located in the “vendor” area, where the Colorado Concours D’Elegance had a display of several vehicles, including an old Jag, a couple of muscle cars, an old Bentley and a gullwing Benz. I’ll definitely be taking a trip to their get-together this summer.

Overall, the show was very worthwhile, and a good primer for the year ahead in automobiles. I was underwhelmed in some areas, and impressed in others, but frankly, it was just nice to see new cars and not get harassed by salespeople. Except at Volvo, that is. If you are ever in the Denver area during next year’s show, stop by- you’ll have fun! You’ll see good stuff not only on the show floor, but outside as well.

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