By Lloyd Frazier
Another auto show has come and gone much like cattle drives of the past. All the new, shiny, baubles on four wheels have dazzled the citizens of Colorado and have now been rounded up and driven to another place and time to tempt others. The show had been going on for a week. It ended Sunday, March 30th. I arrived on the scene on Saturday, just 10 minutes after the doors opened. Unfortunately, I did not have my crack photographer from JJH Photography accompanying me. He did a great job last year and was sorely missed. I was relegated to my little 2Mb digital camera and only 2 memory chips totaling 82MB worth of pictures. There was already a line of folks waiting to get a ticket to the extravaganza. After getting my ticket and heading to the entrance, I noticed a Smart displayed just to the right, before going through the doors. After getting my first look at this little car in person, I realized it definitely is for city driving and not much else. I would not want to forge through traffic on a busy freeway jockeying for position amongst 18 wheelers. You would feel like a flea on a dogs butt. As I walked toward the doors and handed over my ticket, I immediately noticed that the domestics dominated the first row, left to right. GM on the left and Ford on the right with Chrysler just to the back of them. It sorta resembled national borders with the Asians taking up the next row then the Europeans taking up the rear. This year, I had a mission. I wanted to take a look at the compacts from all manufacturers. I sat in them, touched and felt them, lifted there front bonnets (that’s an English term matey!) and rear decks. I looked exclusively at 4 door sedans and and 5 door hatchbacks. I will be giving you the AutoRamblings ratings in posts to come this week. Sitting in, touching and taking pictures of these vehicles only gives one facet of making a purchasing decision. A real test drive is in order before making up your mind. Our goal at AutoRamblings is to be a source for real world testing and evaluation of automakers products for the Rocky Mountain consumer. So, visit AutoRamblings often and click around and stay awhile. This will show that we have a growing readership and maybe they will take notice and hand over the keys for us to take their wares through an extended test drive. We can then give you feedback that can help you make up your mind. One can only hope!
I had one observation this year that was not prominent in past auto shows I have attended. Families were cramming into Civics, Corollas, and Rabbits to see if they could fit comfortably. I heard many Moms and Dads stating that they were surprised how roomy some of these little compacts actually were. Moms were measuring for child seat capabilities, cup holders, and cubby hole space to stash child paraphernalia. Dads were looking at performance specs and seeing if their sons and daughters could survive being in the back seat, behind him, when he adjusted the drivers seat all the way back. One thing I will tell you right now….domestics are way behind the curve in this arena. Asians and Europeans own this market. Only one domestic manufacturer, GM, had anything resembling a economy compact, the Chevy Aveo. And it was low on my list. Not at the bottom, but close. Ford and Chrysler were still busy touting their trucks, SUV’s and performance cars and offered nothing of substance in the economy arena. The Ford Focus and Chevy Cobalt were OK and Chrysler only had the PT Cruiser and Caliber to offer. I will give them mention because they were there.
Stayed tuned for AutoRamblings first annual Picks and Pokes!
