Event>>walking The 2011 La Auto Show Pt.1

Good evening from a dark and traffic-filled Los Angeles, California.

I just returned to to my hotel room after a day of walking the 2011 Los Angeles Auto Show. I always enjoy to this journey into the world of shiny new cars and concepts. For me It always brings back memories of going to the auto show with my dad as a kid.

What I remember most from those days are the giant bags of brochures I brought home. It sure would be cool to look at those today if my mom didn’t throw them away a few days later…

Anyway, let’s start our look at the first big event of the auto show season.

One of the big stories of the show was the BRZ Concept STI in the Subaru display. I’ll have more on this car later, but let’s just say if the final version looks close to this, a lot of people will be doing whatever they can to scrounge up a down payment…

It’ll certainly looks like a tough choice between the BRZ and the Scion FR-S – in concept form at least.

One of my first stops at the show was the Cadillac booth, where there were some interesting concept models being shown.

This is the twin turbo Cadillac Ciel. While it’s quite far off from a production model, it was definitely one of the most exciting concepts of the show.

It seems to me like a perfect blend of modern technology with a bit of that Caddy swagger of yesteryear.

On the production side of things, Cadillac debuted their new flagship sedan – the XTS. If The Sopranos was still on the air, Tony’s crew would most certainly be rolling around in one of these.

Across the isle in the Chevy booth, my eye was caught by this ZR1 Corvette in orange and black.

Yes, plenty of stopping power there.

Also of interest in the Chevy stand was the open-top version of the hi-po Camaro ZL1. I want a test drive.

Over in the VW booth I spent some quality time checking out the Golf R. What a great low-key daily commuter this would make.

I also got a good look at the redesigned Beetle. I’m not at all afraid to admit that I really like this car. Imagine a modern Cal Look version slammed on some 17″ BRMs or Fuchs!

Now to the Mazda booth where we have the 2012 SKYACTIV-powered Mazda3, which can hit up to 40mpg on the highway. I currently use a 2010 Mazda3 as my roadtrip car, and would very much appreciate getting that sort of fuel economy…

Elsewhere in the Mazda booth was this slightly less fuel efficient R-X8 Grand-Am race car.

Volvo had one of the most fashionable displays of the entire show – I guess the things Rod says about the Swedish are true! The centerpiece of the booth was the “Concept You”, which debuted in Frankfurt.

Check out the plush interior setup.

Honestly though, I was just as impressed by this pristine ’62 P1800 in the Volvo booth.

Beleive it or not, this fully restored classic is still used as a daily driver.

I had to get used to the stock lines of the new Lexus GS after seeing the Five Axis version at SEMA.

Lexus cars have always been known for having great interiors, but I have to say they did an amazing job on the new GS interior. I could have sat there all day.

The LFA looking as sexy as ever in a bright red hue.

White or red? What a hard choice it’d be if I somehow had the means to pick up one of these fancy Toyotas.

Jaguar had the CX-16 Concept in their booth. Absolutely brilliant.

I knew this was a great looking car when I saw it in Andy’s post back in September. But seeing it in person, wow. Honestly this is one of the most beautiful designs I’ve seen in a long time.

Alright, time to head out and grab some dinner. Back with more from the LA Auto Show in a bit!

-Mike Garrett

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1

Is the next post going to have more race cars? I remember catching a glimpse of the #73 Corvette C6.R (Le Mans winner) in a walk-through video of the show

2

Personally I don't see the appeal of the BRZ. The FRS IS SEXY.

3

40mpg? It amazes me that that's good in the US. In the UK the average car does 50+

4

Definitely love the LFA! (I'd take blue though)

I'll choose FR-S over BRZ

5

They shouldn't change a thing about that Jaguar, it's utterly beautiful!

6

From a design point of view both the BRZ and FR-s have their strong points. The subbie wants to play into its heritage of bulkier and beefier rally roots, and its not entirely without straight hints to yesteryears american muscle either, look at the rear 1/3 (sans the wing) Wheras the Toyota*scion plays into its more sleeker sports car heritage with a profile and body lines akeen too AE86, MR2, Celica, Supra.

7

HOW SIMILAR IS THE SUBARU BRZ'S END TO A BMW??!!

8

I was under the impression that the FR-S is the production version.

9

Subaru did all the research and development on this project. Toyota only did the marketing and advertising.

I would choose to give my money to Subaru, the people who actually did the real work as opposed to Toyota, who just re-skinned a shared platform and teased the world with it for 5+ years.

It's Subaru's motor, Subaru's multi-link rear, and Subaru's innovation.

It's also Toyota's too-little-too-late attitude, Toyota's hype-machine, and Toyota's badge engineering, again.

I'd rather pay for innovation to the entity that did all the work as opposed to the guys who just threw a new body on a common chassis. I'm willing to bet the Toyota has even less performance than the BRZ as well. Toyota just needs to revive their own car. A car to prove to the world they aren't the beige-mobiles the world has come to know from Toyota. Shared platforms are only going to create more blurred lines between which car companies are actually innovating and which ones are just sapping off of that innovation.



That Jaguar, wow. Sexy cat.



That Grand-Am RX8 says Visit Florida. I say stay away, this place sucks.

10

scion looks sick i dont like those side vents on subaru

11

That Volvo concept is the most heroically bland concept car I have ever seen.

12

Wait wait wait, you guys didn't get a shot of the Aston Martin One-77 or the BMW i8 concept? C'MON! It's an amazing car, how could you ignore it?



The rest of the cars in the lineup are great, no doubt, but I feel it's not complete without those two. I hope you guys will cover those two eventually. Would be a shame if you didn't.

13

brz or frs?

frs or brz?

BRZ OR FRS?!

FRS OR BRZ?!

AAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

14

@TK - the US gallon is different to the European one, so their MPG figures always look lower. Am sure you can check this with an online convertor. 40 MPG (US) is 48 MPG (UK) roughly.

15

The BRZ, although a concept, looks more realistic than the FR-S. I guarantee the FR-S will look like another cheap Scion when it comes to market. Whereas the BRZ will look very similar to the concept, which looks fantastic.

16

@TK

The UK and US mpg measurements are calculated using different processes and units.

17

pls don't talk about fuel consumption and mpg's at Speedhunters!!

18

Does anyone else think Jaguar looks just like a Maserati? Either way, still gorgeous!

19

What happened to Volvo? They used to make cool looking cars... and this concept doesn't give any hope for the future.



On the other hand, Mazda's SKYACTIV system is amazing. I would really like to see those engines in action.

20

Forget the FR-S and BRZ. If I had the money and all of them were production cars, I'd take that Jag anyday over those. My God, what a great looking car! And then I could say "I got a Jaaag..." (:

21

I'd take the BRZ STI and the LFA in red. I'd have SO much fun tearing it up on the track with those things.

22

i see the golf r in person almost everday-there are quite a lot of them here in Germany..normally i like it. but on this picture it looks kinda stupid.....way to high etc

23

UK cars get better fuel economy because the UK gallon is in fact larger than the US gallon

24

That was a lexus GS? Honestly thought it was a hyundai until I saw the badge

25

omg thats a lot of fugly packed into one area. Only the lexus GS and LFA and the Jag look good. cadillacs continue to look like huge pos buicks, but even more cheap looking than buicks, if thats possible. Weasel is right when he says the fr-s is just a subaru. what he misses is that subaru sucks and has ZERO rwd heritage. subaru has always been a crappy automaker targeted to morons who dont know anything about cars. i wouldn't buy either one of these. like weasel says, I will wait until toyota revives their own car rather than be caught dead in a pos subaru.

26

I'd choose the FRS over the BRZ if just based on looks.. FRS looks way better IMO.

27

Some cars there really look incredible. After seeing this I think I'm inclined for the BRZ although I really liked the FT86 at the dubai motorshow here last week. By the way that Lexus interior is an LS not a GS.

28

I miss my P1800E

29

who is tom?

30

I'm with alot of others on the BRZ/FRS thing...i'd take the FRS. It looks way better, and i think people may favor the BRZ b/c they dont want to drive a Scion. But i could careless

31

Let's continue right now with the third and final part of my trip through the 2011 Los Angeles Auto Show. Up above we have a WTCC-spec Cruze that was being displayed in the Chevy booth. Having competition and street versions of the same model sitting

32

You are right about Mazda 3 2010... I own a 2.5L and it,s Gazoholic....

33

brz/frs - more 3 letter sports drink hype nonsense. My 10 year old s2000 just looks better and better. The Ciel though thats a cool cruiser.

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