What To See, What To Skip

As you’ve seen from our exhaustive coverage, the 2009 Los Angeles Auto Show has just rolled into our hometown. Public days begin tomorrow, Friday, December 4 and go until Sunday, December 13. With that in mind, here are some suggestions on what to see and what to skip at the show, particularly in the main manufacturer halls – Concourse, South and West.

A few basic tips: Tickets are $12 at the gate, $10 on-line, or $8 if you go on opening day. Seniors are $8 (cash) and kids 12 and under are free. On site parking is $12 cash, but not necessarily safe; one of our staffers had his laptop computer stolen from a locked vehicle so leave your valuables at home. Budget at least four hours to take it all in – more if you want to run around Kentia hall downstairs or stand in line for all of the driving simulators.  Bring comfortable shoes of course, but also stuff some snacks in your pockets because the food isn’t cheap. Starbucks is available on site just outside of the South Hall, but the line will be long.  For a quicker, cheaper pick-me-up, grab a $2 can of green tea in the concession area across the way (look for the sushi vendor). Your best bet for a quiet, bathroom break is at the back of the West hall behind the SmartUSA display. On to the show floor!

West Hall – Chrysler, Dodge, Ford, Honda, Jeep, Kia, Lincoln, Mercury, Ram, Saab, Smart, Volvo.

Honda P-NUT – They call it P-NUT (Personal Neo Urban Transport), bu it looks more like a Giro bicycle helmet from the early ‘90s. Ugly It just might be the future of Honda; this what it’s designers think urban mobility could look like in 12-15 years.

Impress your friends: Tell them how P-NUT shares the same three person seating configuration of the McLaren F1, and likely, the same driving difficulties (the central seating position makes it hard to see traffic ahead when you want to pass).

Kia Sorento – It would be easy to walk by Kia’s booth without stopping, but then you’d miss this significant milestone for the Korean car company. Behold the first Kia built in the US – in this case, the all-new Sorento. This particular vehicle is #001, as in the very first 2010 production model off the line – which explains why it  bears the signatures of everyone who had hand in building it.
 
Impress your friends: By wishing this Kia a belated birthday in your best southern drawl. No. 001 was born November 16, 2009 at the Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia in Westpoint, Georgia.

Pit of Vipers – Chrysler/Dodge’s booth is disappointingly barren, but there is a bright spot in the back.  Viper alley contains five vipers in all, including the Viper Team ORECA #91 GTS R/T that won the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona and the 2010 ACR that set the production car record at the Nurburgring Nordscheife with a time of 7 minutes 22 seconds.

Impress your friends: Point at the black Viper in the corner and tell them  the limited edition (only 10 to be made) is called ‘Voodoo’ as an homage to Dodge brand boss Ralph Gilles (who is of Haitian descent). Then correct your them when they mispronounces Gilles (‘Jheeeeel’).

SAAB (*sob*) – Be sure to stop by the SAAB booth, if only because GM has given the quirky Swedes until the end of the year to find a buyer. This could be the last time SAAB as we know is seen at any auto show.

Impress your friends: By calling out the SAAB acronym (Svenska Aeroplan AB or Swedish Airplane Limited). Then smugly shake your head if someone mentions one of those badass Viggen fighter jets. SAAB hasn’t been a part of the aircraft group since GM purchased a controlling stake in the auto division in 1989.

A Fiesta indeed – There is a lot going in Big Blue’s booth, particularly revolving around the Fiesta, Taurus/SHO, and Mustang, but what you want is in the back.  Next to the cool magically splitting Taurus is one of the 463 horsepower, Fiesta rally cars prepped by Olsbergs Motor Sport Evolution of Sweden. A couple of steps away on the back wall is the first of two Ford driving simulators you’ll want to try. 

The Fusion Hybrid Driving Challenge allows you to try your hand at hyper-miling a Hybrid Fusion – complete with a leaf growing LCD dash display.  Too tame for you  Then head down to the other end of the hall, past the big work truck display, and duck into the alcove that hides the Raptor racing simulator.  This is the one you want to line up for; though with full articulation, stereo sound and three screens, you’ll probably want to hit this one before lunch.

Impress your friends: While waiting in line for the Raptor sim, point out the silver Fox shocks on the white Raptor nearby and let them know the same internal bypass technology is found on US military Hummers and M-RAPs.

Porsche Hall – Just outside the West Hall is special Porsche only area dedicated to the new Boxster Spyder and littered with loads of Panamera paraphernalia.  All interesting stuff, but only if you can get past the showstopper placed right at the entrance – this gorgeous 1961 Porsche 718 RS Spyder. Piloted by racing legends including Dan Gurney and Joakim Bonnier, the 718 Spyder had a long and storied racing history that includes wins at the 1000 Miglia, the 1000 Km of the Nurburgring, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Carrera Panamericana.

Impress your friends: By casually calling the 718 ‘Grandma’. That is what Porsche racing mechanics of the era dubbed the 718 due to its curiously long racing life (1961 to 1964).

Concourse Hall – is pretty light on exotic sheet metal this year, as Ferrari and Lamborghini have both chosen not to show.  Specialty manufacturers like Allard and SMS Supercars have taken their place, next to marques including Fisker, Lotus, Rolls Royce, Spyker, and a litter of Aston Martins from local dealer Galpin. Worth a stop, if only to see the Lotus Evora and Rolls Royce Ghost in the flesh.

Impress your friends: By pointing out the hideaway Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornaments on all of the Rollers. They drop down automatically when the car moves or is parked and locked (but can be called to pop back up) not just to prevent against theft, but to protect pedestrians in case of collision.

South Hall: Acura, Audi, BMW, Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Hyundai, Jagua, Land Rover, Lexus, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mini, Mitsubishi, Scion, Subaru, Suzuki, Toyota, Volkswagen

Mazda’s Alternate Reality – Mazda’s marketing mavens have a refreshing ‘alternate reality’ interactive display based around the Mazda2′s ‘Zoom Zoom Concentrated’ campaign. For potential buyers willing to provide contact information, Mazda will hand over a can of Mazda2 Zoom Zoom Concentrated energy drink. Before guzzling it down, place the can in front of the webcam stations located in the booth and watch what happens (for those not interested in giving up their private info, there are mock paper cans lying about for free). Better yet, take one home and try it out.

Impress your friends: By yawning loudly when they giggle at the alternate reality display.  Tell them you saw it last month on the cover of Esquire magazine.

GM Cruze and snooze – Though GM made lots of noise by announcing the departure of Fritz Henderson on the eve of the show, its booth is largely a snooze.  It’s a huge expanse of real estate, far larger than any other manufacturer’s footprint, but doesn’t really have much going on aside from the Volt (which we’ve already covered) and the new Cruze production car. Ok, Jay Leno’s turbocharged Camaro and the new Caprice police car are worth pausing for pictures.

Impress your friends: By leading them past the GM booth and directly to the Lexus LF-A wire frame model.

LFAwesomeness – Gape for a while at the stunning white LFA on the rotating display and the wicked cool wireframe nearby. Toyota/Lexus USA only has one LFA in this country and it’s the matte black one you’ve seen at the SEMA Show and Cars and Coffee.  This one is on loan from Lexus Europe – so get yer drool on while you can. Then go race your friends on the IS-F Experience racing simulator. When you get home, build your own $375,000 Japanese supercar with  the LFA configurator. www.

Impress your friends: With this juicy pearl – Lexus will produce twenty LFAs a month, all custom orders and built by hand, at their factory in Motomachi, Kansas (ok, Japan) until all 500 orders are filled.

That’s it, that’s all. See you at the next one.

More source:

The Lohdown on the 2009 LA Auto Show | Car News Blog at Motor Trend
2009 Los Angeles Auto Show 2010 Lotus Evora – The Lohdown on the ...
2009 Los Angeles Auto Show Coverage, Concept Cars & 2009 Los ...
2009 Lincoln MKS - 2007 Los Angeles Auto Show - Motor Trend Video

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Submited at Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 1:00 am on Uncategorized by chuck
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