GM's Auto Show in Motion...Cars I drove and comments on each (long)

[JPK]

Well, for those who don't know www.autoshowinmotion.com

I went yesterday with my family and we all had a great time. They feed you a deli style lunch and even have a play area and face painting for the little ones, all for FREE.

They have different courses set up for the different genres of vehicles, SUV, Trucks, Large SUV, Passenger, Luxury and Performance.

Now, onto the vehicles!!!

In order of test drive:

Lexus RX 330- Very, very nice. I'd have to say that if I wanted to get a small SUV, this would be it. Smooth ride and turn radius on that thing is amamzing for an SUV. It has enough pep to get the kids to soccer practice on time.

Acura MDX- I'd have to give this one a thumbs down. The brakes were very tight and touchy. It did however have a pretty smooth ride. I also didnt' care for the design of the shifter. It was wierd at first and I couldn't get used to it until the end of the course but by then, my ride was over.

Pontiac GTO- Holy shit, man. That little car is BEAST!!! Nice V8 rumble and you can feel her shake a bit while idling. You have to stop before the course and a guy tells you to "take it easy, there being strict on the GTO's today". LOL!! Yeah, right. I said ok, and then squealed the tires as I took off. I looked in the rear view and saw the guy shaking his head. The course didn't really allow you to get out of second gear but it was enough to get a taste of this car's power. It handles great in the corners and zig zags they had set up. I would floor it around the corners in either first or second depending on the curve and the rear tires would spin and drift a bit but when they hooked up.....it took off like a rocket!!!! VERY nice car, especially for the price. Bang for buck factor is enormous. I would definitely consider one of these in the future.

05 Corvette- What can I say? WOW!!! POWER, POWER, POWER!!!! Superb handling. I can see why mags say this car rivals European sports cars costing twice or almost three times as much. They wouldn't let you drive these without an escort in the passenger seat, but the guy I had was cool and let me really get on it when I wanted to. Once again, I stayed in second the entire course but man, you are probably gonna be doing close to 100 by the time you need third. One of my favorite test drives of the day (duh!!!)

Hummer H2- They had an awesome course set up for this one that consisted of both pavement and dirt. At first you take a few curves on pavement and then come to a HUGE damn near verical dirt hill. When going up the hill, at one point, all you could see was the clouds in the sky. Next, you are taking a curve going sideways on the dirt. It must be impossible to flip this son of bitch because if you could, it would have flipped here. It took the whoops real nice and the shake was minimal. You could feel how beefy and nice the suspension is here. Next they had some 'simulated' potholes that felt like nothing. It's sad that 98% of these vehicles sold will never see anything other than pavement. Lots of fun on the course they set up.

Saab 9-3 sport sedan- I really liked this one. It handles awesome and has some kick to it as well. Took the curves with ease and even on the hairpin type curves requied little or no braking. My favorite part was how they set up the auto stick. Once in drive, you could pull it back for lower gear and forward for higher ones contrary to most that do it left and right. I was diggin' the forward and back method A LOT. Very easy to get the gear you wanted when you needed it. This is another car I would love to own and another one of my faves of the day.

Mercedes E 320- Very luxurious and fancy interior (duh). I was a little disappointed in the handling and acceleration. You could feel the body moving a lot in the corners and didn't quite whip through them as I would have liked. Then again, this is more of a luxury, freeway type vehicle IMO. Still a nice car but I feel you could get a lot better car for the money. My wifes C 230 I felt handles MUCH better for 25 grand less but you give up a few of the bells and whistles.

Cadillac STS- Sweet ride this one is. Felt as if you were floating on a damn cloud while you were driving it. Good acceleration but it felt a little heavy in the corners. Once again, a car that is geared a little more to the "luxury" crowd with its plush and comfortable interior.

Monte Carlo SS Supercharged- Very nice and quite quick. Handles decently in the corners. The back end almost got away from me a couple of times but it was easy to maintain control with a little braking or letting off the gas. I actually would love to race one of these in my RL!!!

Pontiac Bonneville GXP- felt kind of sluggish after the Monte Carlo but still pretty nice. Felt heavy in the corners and bit more body rock than I would have liked. Nice acceleration in a straight line though.

Pontiac Grand Prix GTP- Ok, I must say that I DIG this car. Felt very fast after driving the GXP. Took the corners with ease and never once felt like I was gonna loose it. All I have to say is, RL owners, you better drive well against one of these. The new ones are quite quick. It would make a great daily driver. They need to offer these with a standard tranny. That would be tits.

Well, that's everything that I drove. I highly recommend going to this event if it comes anywhere near your hometown. LOTS of fun and an oppurtunity to drive the cars the way they should be driven on a test drive.

If anyone has any questions on any of the cars I drove, I'll be happy to answer them if I can.

I was hoping for a Cobalt SS but the lady there told me they were still in production. When they come out, I'll head to my Chevy dealer and act like I wanna buy one so I can test drive it.