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RE: Harris at the New York show: PH Blog

Thursday 24th April 2014

Harris at the New York show: PH Blog

The dust has settled on the New York show; sadly the BMW X4 wasn't a bad dream

As a rule I place attending motor-shows on a par with watching day-time television, but even with miserable preconceptions swirling around in your mind, it's hard not to have the corners of your mouth rise at the absurdity of the New York Motor Show. Where better to celebrate the horseless carriage than the place least capable of accommodating such machines?

Camaro Z28 most definitely appeals...

But I rather the liked the absurdity of it all. Spending 30 gridlocked minutes in a cab covering 3.1 miles, then wandering into the Chevy light truck stand kind of convinces you some people in this industry must have a sense of humour. Heaven knows the poor sods on the Buick stand must be hardened stand-up comedians to cope with so little foot-fall and still manage a rictus grin for transient traffic.

I was mainly dragged to the Chevy arena to spy the new Camaro Z28. My calling it a Zed Twenty Eight had much the same effect on the booth staff as Blackadder's mentioning of Macbeth, but this didn't matter too much because we were all stood slack jawed at this hilarious lump of muscle. Zed's certainly not dead, baby.

Effectively a last-gen Corvette Z06 motor wedged into the funky Camaro body and sprinkled with some chassis mods that should make it very handy on track, it's around $75,000. A day earlier my American pals had been hooning it around Monticello Raceway, but the weather wasn't too clever so we didn't get any clear idea of what it's capable of. If they do bring it to Europe, then need some wider front wings. The rubber is miles proud of the bodywork!

...BMW X4 most definitely not.

Also here was the new Corvette Z06 convertible, which somehow takes the fantastically appealing coupe's underpinnings and makes them a lot less attractive. My DRIVE colleague Matt Farah impishly noted that they had also wanted to unveil the new track-friendly roadster at Monticello, but because it has no rollover protection, you can't use it on track in the US. An odd strategy for a 'track' version.

We first saw the 'vette Z06 coupe in Detroit, but won't get to drive it for a while yet. Sporting a solid roof structure it really is something to be excited about. There were other, smaller Chevrolets, but I didn't really understand them.

You see I view the American car market with shameless myopia: it's the land of big and brash, so I want large and excessive from its suppliers. I drool at massive trucks, coo at the Camaros and the Challengers and all the stuff that I can't get over here. Always drink the local beer. But the inexorable move to efficiency means the US auto landscape is looking ever more European. Great for fuel consumption, not so great if you still point at Lincoln Town Cars and grin like a child.

585hp Mercedes S63 Coupe a return to form

Over at Mercedes the covers were pulled away from monster 585hp S63 coupe. It's a startlingly attractive thing and might, just might, claw back some sales lost on the SL. The significance of these vast, low-volume cars lies in the design cues and technology that will percolate down to lesser models over time. Merc has had a slightly rough time design-wise recently. I think this shows better times ahead.

As for AMG - sales are absolutely flying and the new products keep coming. We were told that the new 911-sized rival will be called the GT, and then some interior shots were flashed up on a screen. I've never heard normally modest engineers so bullish about a car. They asked me about the F-Type Coupe, politely listened to my positive comments then, fit to burst, kept saying "Wait 'til you drive the GT, just wait 'til you drive the GT." Ready when you are chaps. That goes for the C63, which I'm told is a complete weapon.

BMW stand - the good the bad and really ugly

The BMW stand was the most remarkable mixture of mostly great and truly execrable - the latter definition being reserved for the hateful X4, about which I have nothing more to add. Other than it's a ****box.

Neutralising the stench of the X4 were M3s and M4s in coupe and convertible guise. I'm reminded of when a BMW exec once said to me, on the subject of the then new E46 M3 cab. "Such a great car, such a pity we can't control the type of people who buy them." I am neither agreeing or disagreeing with that statement!

There were brilliant little i3s and sultry i8s and even that gorgeous BMW R NineTmotorcycle. So actually, the BMW stand was a vast demonstration of the technical reach the company now enjoys. And the X4.

Lexus showed the LFA again. I love that Lexus still shows the LFA.

Closure on the lights issue finally?

Alfa 4C customers in North America should thank their lucky stars: the silly headlights have been dropped for them. The car looks immeasurably better for it too. Italian machinery looks good in New York. I saw a new Ghibli in traffic and it occurred to me that if I lived here, despite knowing how much better the Germans were, I'd allow myself a bout of rank badge and styling snobbery and have the Maser.

I have little interest in the Nissan Murano, but have to say that if Land Rover could resolve the C-pillar area of its new Discovery 'Concept' as well as Nissan has on its new SUV, it would look much cleaner to my, admittedly, non-qualified eyes. The more I see of the new Land Rover look, the more I like the Rangie Sport. There was a red F-Type Coupe on the Jaguar stand. It looked ace.

Porsche had a drinks party at which it displayed 917, 918 and 919. I was concerned that in the presence of incomparable Le Mans beauty the 918 would appear cumbersome and portly. It didn't at all. Whereas the 919, for all its mouth watering tech looks to me like just another faceless prototype. Only with an especially ugly nose.

Chris

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renaultgeek

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