I'm reading the January 20, 2003 edition of AutoWeek which contains their review of the 2003 Detroit Auto Show. I have never seen such a collection of garbage concept cars. Since when did we take design cues from discarded refrigerator boxes? These cars are the antithesis of our beloved S2000 with it's sweeping curves and wavy figure. Example: The Cadillac Sixteen is one fugly car IMHO. Ok, V16 with 1,000hp and 1,000 lb.-ft. Great. It can outrun the space shuttle. Who cares when it looks like my Nike box? Example 2: The Ford 427. A tank has more styling than this car. What's with square headlights all of a sudden? What happened to aerodynamics? These things punch a whole in the air the size of semi-truck. Example 3: Lincoln Navicross...another square front. Example 4: Chevrolet Cheyenne...square lights again! Example 5: Ford Model U...Can you spell L-E-G-O's? Thank God these are only concept cars. Hopefully none of them will see the light of day. This movement toward square cars is very irritating. It seems to me Detroit is convinced that if it drops huge gas guzzling engines in ugly cars, Americans will buy them. Prepare for European and Japanese auto manufacturers to capture more market share. Thanks for letting me vent.

 

What OhioRacer said! I don't think the Americans have captured the market on bizzaro design, however. The phrase "what were they thinking" usually comes to mind when viewing some of the new concept vehicles.

 

Dude, have you seen the whack shit that the Japanese show at the Tokyo Motor Show? Apparently not . . .

 

I've often wondered who they are trying to impress with their "concept cars". Sometimes I think that they are more concerned with impressing each other then the buying public.

Some of the concept cars look like bad "inside jokes".

 

OhioRacer, you are absolutely right. The Big 3 better start focusing on fuel efficient cars that have power instead of these big ass "boats" they are focused on (damn I hate SUVs). 1000 hp? Great but where can I drive the fu**er? Cool, I got more power than a F1 car but when will I get the chance to race against Schumi? I went to the Auto show last weekend and didn't spend any time in the "Domestic" sections. I focused more on the Hondas (S2000 and Civic Si), Acuras (RSX) and Nissans (350Z...not impressed with the G35 - they should have sent over the Skyline years ago...damnit!). Oh yeah, the Benzs are awesome but way out of my league (at the moment). You're right, Americans (well, most around this area) will buy that crap.

On the flip side, the Japanese can make some ugly shit....but overall I think they kick ass on design and performance. Did you see the Scion? Yeah, it's kinda...and I mean kinda sweet with new rims and 40 series tires but in stock form it's ugly. Even the RX-8 is just so so (in my opinion).

I want to check out the Frankfurt or Tokyo shows some day.

Any one else go to the Detroit show? What were your impressions? What cars did you like?

That's my 2 cents.

Swordfish

 

If you haven't picked up AutoWeek yet, you must do so to see this sh^t. I don't know what the hell GM is doing with Cadillac. Those square cars are sooo ugly. It's like they designed a car, drank a 12 pack, then went out and chopped the front end and back end off. What is with these square and rectangular headlights? YUK! Aztec design gone berserk!!!!!!!

 

Aztec, CTS and I can't think of the name of that other ugly shit (you know, the one that converts from truck to a p/u and vice versa). Get rid of them all.

Honda....please send Type Rs to the States..........and a Monte Carlo Blue S2000 for me!

Swordfish

 

Avalanche I think you mean...and that's what should happen to it....

 

Yeah, that's it! Thanks! Thought I was going to get some hate mail for these posts.

Swordfish

 

I couldn't agree more. But you have to remember, we're living in an ugly age right now. Not much of anything in our culture is graceful, subtle, or sophisticated - from music to art. It's all lowest common demoninator stuff, and "in your face" as much as possible.