Auto show 2020, and today' sorry state of automotive. | GTAMotorcycle.com

Auto show 2020, and today' sorry state of automotive.

SunnY S

SunnY S

Well-known member
Site Supporter
I've been visiting the show for over 40 years now.

This year was the absolutely saddest, and downright depressing.

The Big 3 are toast. Of the Three, I had high hopes for Ford, but even they have the most lackluster of models! Same old Mustang, still peddling the Fusion, the new Escapes are truly vanilla and offer nothing to compete against the established players.

GM is still trying to sell people a pathetic Spark and had more than one on display (really GM, people are going to buy a Spark over a Fit or a Civic?) The new Corvette is clearly a rip off style design of a Ferrari (absolutely nothing new in the style we haven't seen before (A least with a NSX or an R8, you KNOW what car it is based on its design cues and lines) and the rear end of the vette? Oh dear, clearly the designers took an extended coffee break and left the jr designers to finish the back of the car. What is mess and un inspiring design and look.

Infiniti and Nissan are on the decline, especially Infiniti, their smallest SUV is now the QX50, they don't even offer the 30 anymore. never seen such a pathetic line up in my life. Lexus? nice interiors, but those front grills are absolutely atrocious!

Positives, of course, the new BMW 3 series is actually pretty nice, interior especially. of the Japanese, Mazda had a pretty good showing. I love a scrappy company and they are punching above their weight and holding their own. Check out the Signature series line.

Best in show? No, not the 16 million dollar Bugatti, check out the Ferrari Enzo in the Exotica section. Brought tears to my eyes! What a gorgeous design.

Cue the haters now, do me a favour. Have an open mind, and Visit the Tesla section last. After examining all the models, and heading to the Tesla display....... what a refreshment! Seriously! It's no wonder these guys are killing it. What interesting and refreshing designs! Puts the other automakers to shame.

Apart from Tesla, I walked away from the auto show in a sorry state of depression and have never been so disappointed. Truly a sad day in autodom.
 
I feel like the industry has lost it's way. We've forgotten what driving is about and the joy that should come with it.

The focus on useless farkles and idiotic sub-par "tech" shows the incredible misplacement of effort. Who's to blame? Equally the manufacturers that make this garbage and room-temperature IQ drivers that don't give actually give a s*it about the task at hand, driving. When all we care about is # of cupholders, hands-free texting, DVD players, infotainment screens, 360 cameras, and lane keep-sensors, no wonder vehicles are terrible. Remember the last time you ran over something b/c you didn't have a rear view camera? No? Me either.

At the same time, manufacturers need to show leadership. Any time I hear 'all-new' I immediately do not want it. When was the last time the first release at anything brand new was the best version of it?

Never. That's when.

It has become change for change sake. New does not equate to better, especially when previous interval was equally as short. The sheer engineering effort waste on new visual appearance over improved function is disheartening to any engineer. How about we focus on reliability? How about we focus on improving driver skill? Maybe we take some sensors out of the car for once? All I can think when I see is a new car feature is "how long until that breaks?"

Instead of all this nanny-aid b.s., how about we actually use some effort to teach people how to drive the thing? There's an idea for once. Do a few donuts in a snowy parking lot, take a lesson on a track, test the vehicle traction in some gravel. Pay attention to what you're doing, and let's raise the required standard for driver training and testing. If you don't care to spend that amount of effort, you are limited one of those stupid autonomous Google cars that may use the right lane only. Everyone wins.

We focus on the wrong thing.
 
SunnY S said:
Have an open mind, and Visit the Tesla section last. After examining all the models, and heading to the Tesla display....... what a refreshment!
Click to expand...

They managed to find cars with all the panels lined up that they could put on display?
 
J_F said:
been a long time since anything with 4 wheels excited me
don't think I'm alone in that
a car is an appliance
Click to expand...
I have always had a couple of nice cars in the garage -- about 5 years ago I decided I'd lost enough money on depreciation and decided that cars would now become simple transportation tools. The goal was low operating costs.

After looking at all the options I decided to lease inexpensive new cars. A Chev Cruse (or equiv) reasonably equipped in a 6 speed leases for about $250/mo. My last 2 cars depreciation cost me $500/mo and I kept them for 250,000KM -- that's about double the cost of leasing what I drive now. After 3 years I return the car and get another, everything stays under warranty and I turn them back before tehy need tires, brakes and clutches so my maintenance costs are about zero.

I spend the savings o my bikes and boat.
 
FullMotoJacket said:
They managed to find cars with all the panels lined up that they could put on display?
Click to expand...

Judging from the swarms of people surrounding the display,. I'd say they had nothing to worry about. The Mitsubishi display on the other hand..... Let's just say there were a lot of lonely sales representatives there.
 
I went to NY in December to see the C8. I wanted to like it. That didn't happen.
I can see why the lovers love it though.
I won't go to toronto with a gun to my head, but here's a lame video from a pair who did.
 
I work in the automotive industry. I drive cheap cars. The one I have now has something that is getting hard to find ... an old fashioned row-it-yourself gearbox. And no nannies aside from ABS and stability control.

The expensive stuff might be faster but there is nothing requiring more driver involvement while staying within posted speed limits (ish) than a non turbo Fiat 500 with manual transmission, and those are off the market now because everyone wants bigger faster fancier ... and then plods along slowly while yapping on the phone anyhow. The Fiat needs the gearbox rowed to get up a steep hill. It needs a little bit of planning on a motorway on ramp (take the corner on the ramp as fast as possible and in the right gear). It's happy and comfortable at 110 km/h and doesn't lure the driver into doing more by being too quiet. Roof goes down if the weather's right, too. And for me ... it's better that way. I think it's invisible to cops, too.

No, I don't want a Honda.
 
Gary said:
I went to NY in December to see the C8. I wanted to like it. That didn't happen.
I can see why the lovers love it though.
I won't go to toronto with a gun to my head, but here's a lame video from a pair who did.
Click to expand...

I hope there is a delete option for that rear wing
 
Brian P said:
No, I don't want a Honda.
Click to expand...

Your loss. When you are ready to step up to a well engineered and screwed together automobile that keeps its resale value.

Honda is one of the few automaker that remains committed to the manual transmission. Fit, Civic, and Accord can all be had with a manual tranny in one form or another.
 
Evoex said:
Didn't say a word about Kia?
Click to expand...

Kia and Hyundai have come a long way for sure. The Telluride is a bona fide hit.

Still wouldn't touch one. Here is how I see it.

If you were to assess one on their own, they are just fine. But when you compare them to the others, I'd take the better build quality and better engineering of an established Japanese brand (except Nissan) any day of the week. They are simply built better.
 
I kinda like that new hot rod Audi RS6 wagon. Maybe if i win the lottery i'll splurge for one. Until then its $1500 used cars for the winter for me.
 
Haven't been to the Auto Show in over a decade. I'm not paying a wad of cash then standing in line to sit in cheap cars while all the ones you're interested in are roped off or locked. Cars get pricier every year with endless electronic gimmicks that reel in suckers. That's not me, but looking at the cars on the roads today there's more than a sucker born every minute.
 
The market is churning as the direction is not as simple as thinking that Telsa is the answer. Surprisingly they sell 500 k units but those are all luxury cars and in many cases they are not single car households but they have disturbed the automotive industry.

Electric will play a part but will not so in the largrest market but ride share and consumer dissinterest in personal transpotation in urban markets will continue as Ubers and other systems florish

The European brands driven by the the EU governments are forging ahead on electrification while ignoring the impact and ability for the grid to supply

Will be interesting to see how EV for the masses unfold with the VW Group and others launch in large scale. Will be interesting to see how consumers accept them.
 
smergy said:
I feel like the industry has lost it's way. We've forgotten what driving is about and the joy that should come with it.

The focus on useless farkles and idiotic sub-par "tech" shows the incredible misplacement of effort. Who's to blame? Equally the manufacturers that make this garbage and room-temperature IQ drivers that don't give actually give a s*it about the task at hand, driving. When all we care about is # of cupholders, hands-free texting, DVD players, infotainment screens, 360 cameras, and lane keep-sensors, no wonder vehicles are terrible. Remember the last time you ran over something b/c you didn't have a rear view camera? No? Me either.

At the same time, manufacturers need to show leadership. Any time I hear 'all-new' I immediately do not want it. When was the last time the first release at anything brand new was the best version of it?

Never. That's when.

It has become change for change sake. New does not equate to better, especially when previous interval was equally as short. The sheer engineering effort waste on new visual appearance over improved function is disheartening to any engineer. How about we focus on reliability? How about we focus on improving driver skill? Maybe we take some sensors out of the car for once? All I can think when I see is a new car feature is "how long until that breaks?"

Instead of all this nanny-aid b.s., how about we actually use some effort to teach people how to drive the thing? There's an idea for once. Do a few donuts in a snowy parking lot, take a lesson on a track, test the vehicle traction in some gravel. Pay attention to what you're doing, and let's raise the required standard for driver training and testing. If you don't care to spend that amount of effort, you are limited one of those stupid autonomous Google cars that may use the right lane only. Everyone wins.

We focus on the wrong thing.
Click to expand...

Cars have become boring because there is no challenge to driving them on modern roads. Instead of talking about the boring journey the discussion is about the bling.
 
It's a generation thing; the industry is evolving, Y2K generation just doesn't care about nice cars and bikes and going out riding or driving just for the fun of it like previous generations did, now they just want a faster smart phone and a car that drives itself with a large touch screen entertainment display on the centre console to talk them through finding their way home on completely familiar roads.
 
Trials said:
It's a generation thing; the industry is evolving, Y2K generation just doesn't care about nice cars and bikes and going out riding or driving just for the fun of it like previous generations did, now they just want a faster smart phone and a car that drives itself with a large touch screen entertainment display on the centre console to talk them through finding their way home on completely familiar roads.
Click to expand...

Not to mention the incredibly high cost of insurance and the penalties for 'having fun' in the car if you are caught. 25 years ago i paid $500 a year for insurance when i was 19. 19 year olds can pay $4k plus a year for insurance.
 
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