is the motor show any good?

[m3dan]

hi i am thinking of going to the motorshow on either wednesday or thursday this week and wondered what the general opinion was about the show?.
i have been to the auto sports show at the NEC a few times and i enjoyed that.
i particulary like bmw m cars ( i am not a cock as that buffoon clarkson would have you belive)is there much there in the way of these?
and i will sadly have the mrs in tow, is there anything she can do?
thanks

[mgtony]

I think I'm right in saying that BMW are not even there this year along with some other major manufacturers. Wife will spend all day moaning and yawning, is it worth the earache!

[sparks87]

Apart from a lovely old red M1 I don't recall seeing any other BMW when I was there last week. IMO it is worth going to, however I think the 2006 event was better. They seem more focused on "green" cars this time round. Also the Honda car show outside isn't that good. Too much talking not enough cars, although what little stunts we did see were impressive. I was disappointed that the Bugatti Veyron wasn't there, or perhaps I wasn't looking hard enough?

[Le Man]

All the exotics are upstairs - A snip at £99 a ticket.

[robbieduncan]

If you have free tickets and live in London it's OK. Was there last night. No official BMW, Porsche, Ferrari or VAG group (apart from Seat, so no VW, Audi, Lambo) presence. Some of these are represented by cars on other stands/displays but in general they are no touching, let alone actually getting in. There is a lot of empty space due to the missing manufacturers with Ford and Vauxhall being giving vast amounts of space to flog their shopping trolleys...

[movilogo]

I went there and enjoyed But then I got free tickets.

I didn't visit earlier motor shows - so was quite excited about this one.

However, if you've already been to earlier events, then there's not much to see.

[Mr Gear]

I thought it was quite good. A few notable absences, but if you are there to learn something about the new cars out this year, there is plenty to see.

[m3dan]

thanks,some mixed feedback although ive always said id fancy going so i think ill go on thursday.i think the autosports show would probably been more my cup of tea as it was mainly sports/race cars as opposed to the usual fleet cars and eco crap(apologies to the tree huggers).but i think there is enough exotica there to keep me interested for an afternoon.
can you test drive anything as the official website isnt very informative?

[windy1]

Lotus Evora made the show for me. Everything else was a bit boring by comparison. Nice open plan show though, plenty of space & easy access to all the cars.

The electic cars stand was a bit laughable - seemed to consist of stupid looking toys - are we supposed to take these things seriously?

I thought driving into London would be a nightmare but it wasn't, no traffic at all and straight into the car park costing a tenner, then a free bus trip across the docks and into the show.

The new Vauxhall Insignia is huge - you have to see it in the flesh to believe it. They have played some clever trickery with the design to give it the right proportions & to deceive the eye that it is not so big though.

The new Fiesta looks quite crisp & you get a free ice lolly and a drink if you visit their stand.

[zac510]

I went last night and was disappointed to see no BMW, no VW, no Audi, no Mitsubishi..

I can excuse the Italian exotics not turning up as there was some private cars there anyway.

[cymtriks]

I've been to the London and Birmingham shows and they are much less interesting than the Stoneleigh kit car show or the Birmingham racing car show.

They were crowded, full of very boring cars, pointless concepts that never got made and influenced the future not one iota and mind numbing "green" and "tech" guff about current models and next years ideas. Except for Morgan who welcomed us onto the stand and encouaged Mrs C to sit in a Plus 8 which she felt very pleased about.

Save yourself a packet and buy a few car mags or go to Stoneleigh. Mrs C actually enjoyed the kit car show, she got to try out a Caterham for size and they were actually packing up before they could get her away from it. There are more enthusiast types there and the exhibits tend to be much more interesting (for an engineer anyway) because you can see how the cars are put together and talk to people who actually make and build them.

The shows did not influence the cars I bought at all so I can't really blame Audi or BMW for opting out, their customers probably just visit their local garage or try out a friends car like everyone else does.