Has anyone gone to the Detroit Auto Show this year? I need to be near Detroit all next week, and I will probably have some time to kill on Sunday so I'm thinking about dropping in and checking it out. Just wondering if anyone though it was worth the time?

no

__________________
Strelnik
Invest in America: Buy a Congressman!

1950 170SD
1951 Citroen 11BN
1953 Citroen 11BNF limo
1953 220a project
1959 180D
1960 190D
1960 Borgward Isabella TS 2dr
1983 240D daily driver
1983 380SL
1990 350SDL daily driver alt
3 x Citroen DS21M, down from 5
3 x Citroen 2CV, down from 6

I ended up stopping in this afternoon. It was "OK," about what I expected. The show was very crowded, so I didn't hang around that long. I just have trouble getting very excited about new cars.

I did see one of these:

Attached Thumbnails

 

I was there this afternoon!

I thought it was pretty good, I go every year though.

__________________
-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

Was the Chevy Volt their? Thats the car to see, I wonder what pricing on it will be.

__________________
1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Yes it was there. It looks pretty cool, if they do a good job and the price is not insane, it might be a huge seller.

__________________
-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

Yeah I think if they can get the price under $30k they will sell a ton of them. For a large majority of Americans they would be able to use it as an electric car most of the time.

__________________
1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

And they are 100% built in MI, which is pretty awesome too. Hopefully they pull it off, if the USA had a couple million of them on the road that would probably make quite a difference in our nationwide fuel consumption. Personally I could drive my daily commute for free with one of those....charge at home off the complex for free. Then charge at work off an outlet on the building.

__________________
-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

I'm troubled by the prospect of people casually plugging in their cars. Is it OK to show up someplace and just plug in your car like its a cell phone or some little appliance? I'm sure it adds up to serious money.

__________________
1985 380SE Blue/Blue - 230,000 miles
2012 Subaru Forester 5-speed
2005 Toyota Sienna
2004 Chrysler Sebring convertible
1999 Toyota Tacoma

I didn't bother with the domestics, it was pretty crowded around the major manufacturers' areas.

and then you have the moron who will be standing in a puddle and in the poring rain plug his VOLT in ya think - jz

I believe most electric cars need a specific charging station, not just a plug. It also raises an interesting question of road taxes; will these charging stations have to be metered to assess taxes, or will that be handled in some other way? I assume that there will eventually be paid charging stations available to the public.

I was in Detroit on business all last week. Went to the show Wednesday night. Yawn...

BMW didn't even come (at least I couldn't find them, and that's what someone there told me). The show lacked energy. On that night, at least, there probably were no more than 1500 to 2000 people.

I think on Thursday night there was a fire in the Audi display and they cleared the building out. That would have been exciting.

All in all, it was just a way for me to actually leave the RenCen. Working and sleeping in the same building for several days without getting outside is just WEIRD.

__________________
08 W251 R350
97 W210 E320
91 W124 300E
86 W126 560SEL
85 W126 380SE Silver
85 W126 380SE Cranberry
79 W123 250
78 W123 280E
75 W114 280

The volt uses a normal 120V outlet to plug in its little portable charger unit thing.

Ford had a pretty impressive display of their products, you could tell they are in WAY better shape than GM and especially Chrysler.

__________________
-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)