I went to the San Jose International Auto Show today with some friends. No pics, but here's some stuff we saw. bear in mind you don't get to drive anything.
GOOD:
Aston Martin DB9 (*moans and makes humping motions*)
S2000 (utter driving position perfection, best shifter of any car i sat in)
Miata (similar to S2000 only you sit lower)
Scion tC (good interior for the money, great usuable space in the back with the seats down)
Lancer Evo MR (wonderful driving position, great seats, decent shifter)
trunk of the M3 (much larger than you would expect. more usable space than the 745Li!)
Volvo S50 R (GREAT interior, 300 HP)
Dodge Sprinter (more usuable space than any van on the market, MB diesel engine)
Subaru offering everything as a turbo wagon with enough space for gear
Acura RL interior (seats are much more comfortable than the 745Li, despite having less adjustments)
Mazda 3 Wagon (decent space, seemed pretty solid for the money)
BAD:
Nissan interiors (uglier than sin, crappy materials. flimsy pieces broken already, armrests bend inward when you put your arm on them. floormats slide around and squish when you're trying to push the pedals. doors on the 350Z are an amazingly huge unbroken flat sea of Civic-class grey plastic, and the belt line is ABOVE the shoulder of an average size male.)
Dodge Magnum (interior takes styling cues dating from K-cars. worst display of storage space efficency of any car in the building. civics have more space. i'm not kidding. sea of beige K-car plastic.)
Mini Cooper S (driving position was awful for a car that's marketed as a fun car. placement of instrument cluster was a mistake. appalling storage space compared to the Civic or Focus hatches.)
Civic Si (space and driving position not enough to make up for ugly body.)
Ford Mustang (take away the pony on the grille and suddenly you realize that this car is utter sh!t, bumper to bumper. interior quality rivals 1985 toyota corollas. rear overhang rivals school buses. tire sidewall rivals Hummer H2.)
BMW M3 (the Volvo S50 R may have 33 less HP, but its interior is cooler, more comfortable, has better materials, better driving position, better seats, better everything. and it was about 8 grand cheaper to boot. the M3's shifter was horrible. more vague than a 1970's Izuzu pickup, with throws of equal length. i used to lust after this car. no more.)
BMW 745Li (for this kind of money, i expect more. a lot more. like how about seats that use their 3256 controls to suck less? or a trunk where ~8 inches of horizontal space isn't used up by an idiotically-mounted GPS DVD-ROM? or a rear vanity mirror that didn't threaten to break off as i used it?)
Jaguar (meh, meh... meh)
Audi S4 (this car has so little soul i felt mine being sucked from my body as i sat in it)
Scion xB (no charm. guages placed by people too retarded to mop the floors at Walmart. seats fold flat to... no wait, they don't fold flat at all, and they leave a giant empty gap between where they end and the front seats, AND they have big plastic knobs on them that will be ripped off in 2 weeks. has LESS usable space than the tC).
Mazda RX-8. poor seats. i'm talking about the front ones. the back ones aren't seats at all. i say this because you cannot sit in them. it's not that it's uncomfortable. you CANNOT sit in them. i had my short friend get in and adjust the front seat to his liking, then tried to get in back. i could get my butt and one leg in. the second leg simply would not fit. i am of average height and weigh 145 pounds. why have two extra doors to access what basically amounts to a nice place for a gallon of milk?)
GOOD:
Aston Martin DB9 (*moans and makes humping motions*)
S2000 (utter driving position perfection, best shifter of any car i sat in)
Miata (similar to S2000 only you sit lower)
Scion tC (good interior for the money, great usuable space in the back with the seats down)
Lancer Evo MR (wonderful driving position, great seats, decent shifter)
trunk of the M3 (much larger than you would expect. more usable space than the 745Li!)
Volvo S50 R (GREAT interior, 300 HP)
Dodge Sprinter (more usuable space than any van on the market, MB diesel engine)
Subaru offering everything as a turbo wagon with enough space for gear
Acura RL interior (seats are much more comfortable than the 745Li, despite having less adjustments)
Mazda 3 Wagon (decent space, seemed pretty solid for the money)
BAD:
Nissan interiors (uglier than sin, crappy materials. flimsy pieces broken already, armrests bend inward when you put your arm on them. floormats slide around and squish when you're trying to push the pedals. doors on the 350Z are an amazingly huge unbroken flat sea of Civic-class grey plastic, and the belt line is ABOVE the shoulder of an average size male.)
Dodge Magnum (interior takes styling cues dating from K-cars. worst display of storage space efficency of any car in the building. civics have more space. i'm not kidding. sea of beige K-car plastic.)
Mini Cooper S (driving position was awful for a car that's marketed as a fun car. placement of instrument cluster was a mistake. appalling storage space compared to the Civic or Focus hatches.)
Civic Si (space and driving position not enough to make up for ugly body.)
Ford Mustang (take away the pony on the grille and suddenly you realize that this car is utter sh!t, bumper to bumper. interior quality rivals 1985 toyota corollas. rear overhang rivals school buses. tire sidewall rivals Hummer H2.)
BMW M3 (the Volvo S50 R may have 33 less HP, but its interior is cooler, more comfortable, has better materials, better driving position, better seats, better everything. and it was about 8 grand cheaper to boot. the M3's shifter was horrible. more vague than a 1970's Izuzu pickup, with throws of equal length. i used to lust after this car. no more.)
BMW 745Li (for this kind of money, i expect more. a lot more. like how about seats that use their 3256 controls to suck less? or a trunk where ~8 inches of horizontal space isn't used up by an idiotically-mounted GPS DVD-ROM? or a rear vanity mirror that didn't threaten to break off as i used it?)
Jaguar (meh, meh... meh)
Audi S4 (this car has so little soul i felt mine being sucked from my body as i sat in it)
Scion xB (no charm. guages placed by people too retarded to mop the floors at Walmart. seats fold flat to... no wait, they don't fold flat at all, and they leave a giant empty gap between where they end and the front seats, AND they have big plastic knobs on them that will be ripped off in 2 weeks. has LESS usable space than the tC).
Mazda RX-8. poor seats. i'm talking about the front ones. the back ones aren't seats at all. i say this because you cannot sit in them. it's not that it's uncomfortable. you CANNOT sit in them. i had my short friend get in and adjust the front seat to his liking, then tried to get in back. i could get my butt and one leg in. the second leg simply would not fit. i am of average height and weigh 145 pounds. why have two extra doors to access what basically amounts to a nice place for a gallon of milk?)
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