Post Edited...

http://web.mac.com/neuronbob/iWeb/Site/Library.html

Here's a quick iWeb page I put together with pictures from day 1 of the NAIAS. There are now captions to each of the pictures.

I did a day trip to Detroit, driving 350 miles round trip in the process. Luckily, the RL is a great cruising car. As much as I loved my 2004 TL, I am not sorry I bought an RL. In any case, your intrepid Acurazine reporter has some comments about the NAIAS. Didn't see everything--hard to do with wife and baby in tow, but had a great time.

My favorite concepts were the Ford Interceptor and Accord Coupe. According to the presentation, the Interceptor will be fast a a bat out of Hell. I liked the angular look to the new Accord.

I included pictures of the Changfeng Motors area. The Chinese are definitely coming, though it's with some lookalike products. Notice how their pickup truck looks a lot like a Honda Ridgeline. Hmmmm...... or how their SUV looks a lot like the last gen RAV4. If you were a fan of that shape....it could be coming to the U.S.! Their woody minicar was interesting. They brought along a concept car from Hunan University. All I can say is....WTF? You'll know what I mean when you see it.

I spent most of my time looking at some of the new concepts such as the Nissan Rogue (yawn), Jeep Trailhawk (looks MUCH better than what they've got on the road today), Honda FCX fuel car concept (I think they'll get more people into their test program with that car, looks like they're going for that new Honda angular look), Toyota FT-HS ( ), and the Mercedes Ocean Drive concept (it's a four-door convertible design I only see being used in rap videos ).

I have pictures of the Camry only because some folks on the TL board are making such a big fuss. I haven't noticed them on the road but I'm so busy driving my RL that I don't care about them. It's actually quite a handsome car in person. The interior sucks, though.

Now that I own an RL and do some modding on our RL board, I read a lot about interior comparisons. That's why you see so many pictures of interiors. Let's just say the RL's interior is as good as any $50-80k car. The navi that comes the closest to being as intuitive as the RL's is....surprise....Audi's. It's really not a bad effort at all and took me only a few minutes to learn how to use it.

Added some pix of the Honda Pilot EX-L/Nav interior. I did that because I am likely to buy one for my wife this year. She liked it much better than the RDX or the CR-V, which she was also looking at. The RDX is too sporty for her, the CR-V too small. Besides, the Pilot is has entered its last year in its current iteration, so the kinks have been worked out and we shouldn't have any problems.

Last...since I'm an Acura owner...Acura's display was GREAT! It was a a large display with multiple features, and was crowded every time I went by. It was close to one of the entrance doors (though away from other lux marques, which were closer to the rear).

The TL, TL-S, TSX, and MDX were on the main floor of the display where people could approach them first. The RL, then the Acura race car (good branding, where the heck was this years ago????), then the Acura concept car, then the RDX were all on a raised dais along with a touch-screen demo of SH-AWD. This made sense to me because the concept car has gotten such press that it was constantly crowded, and to get to the concept from one side you had to pass the RL. The demo was HUGE and was much more involving of the user than previous SH-AWD displays. By pressing a button, you could see how SH-AWD worked in specific situations....tight corners, light corners, straight ahead, and acceleration ("up to 40% torque to the rear wheels").

On the lower level, there were two portals into which you could look to see various aspects of Acura's technology and its cars. I have a picture of the portal and its viewscreen. Neat, and kept people occupied.

I spoke with a few people at the TL-S display, who were proclaiming it "hot" and wanting to buy one. Sounds like Acura has another winner on its hands (remember, I called the TL three years ago and it was a winner).

The Acura Advanced Sport Car concept was also sharp. I am hoping it's the new NSX, it certainly has an exotic enough look.

Enjoy!

 

ahh, quit spoiling us, bob.

 

neuronbob -- you should have told me you were going today! I have tickets and was planning on going on Tuesday (day off from work).

Thanks for the preview. What do you think was the highlight (in your opinion)?

 

Accord looks great (inside and out).

 

Nice pics. I had some free insider tix for last week but couldn't go since I got back later than expected from vaca.

These are the first pics I've seen inside the Accord Coupe Concept and gotta say, not so impressed.

 

If that was an additional SRT8 Jeep model

Mike

 

btw, nice pics of teh Camry - I've never seen one of those before!

 

interesting to see acura getting into racing. that nsx concept is a little out there. Looks like a spaceship.

 

I edited my iWeb page with captions. If you viewed it before, refresh the page so the captions don't come out screwy.

EDIT: I also edited the first post with some notes I made on various cars.