 
Beavis1981
Member
Username: Beavis1981
Post Number: 56
Registered: 08-2006
| | Posted on Friday, January 19, 2007 - 12:59 am: |    |
went to the auto show saw nothing I didn't already know about- FOR MONTHS no gt-r concept,no fuel management system diagram slash explanation, no supercharged vette, no camaro coupe, (I guess young jeezys video was more important than the show people pay to see!) no mopar performance, no gm performance, oh but at least there was 1/2 dozen fucking mustangs! oh and the "new" ford trucks were a joke to say the least they are following in dodges footsteps by adding more cheap plastic in attempts to be more muscular DO THEY ACTUALLY MEASURE YOUR PENIS WHEN YOU BUY THESE? so THEY CAN TURN AWAY BUYERS WITH ANYTHING LONGER THAN TWO INCHES? gas prices go up but these redneck riders get bigger and wider every year oh did I mention BMW felt it necisary to have a friggin dirtbike on display? If it wasn't for the scantilly clad teen girls (due to 110 degree heat)the night would have been a total loss but atleast I got to see the book lit up like the friggin sun |
Mayor_sekou
Member
Username: Mayor_sekou
Post Number: 409
Registered: 09-2006
| | Posted on Friday, January 19, 2007 - 1:05 am: | |
It was only 5 dollars to get in? |
Beavis1981
Member
Username: Beavis1981
Post Number: 57
Registered: 08-2006
| | Posted on Friday, January 19, 2007 - 1:07 am: | |
the admission is $12 but there are ways around it |
Supersport
Member
Username: Supersport
Post Number: 11149
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Friday, January 19, 2007 - 1:08 am: | |
For children 12 and under. |
Beavis1981
Member
Username: Beavis1981
Post Number: 58
Registered: 08-2006
| | Posted on Friday, January 19, 2007 - 1:12 am: | |
^good one |
Beavis1981
Member
Username: Beavis1981
Post Number: 59
Registered: 08-2006
| | Posted on Friday, January 19, 2007 - 1:14 am: | |
any downtown event there is enterprising detroiters taking advantage of loopholes I usually always find one of them |
Smogboy
Member
Username: Smogboy
Post Number: 4300
Registered: 11-2004
| | Posted on Friday, January 19, 2007 - 2:48 am: | |
You paid to get in. You take a chance that it could be lousy. It's like going to any entertainment event.
Were you expecting a guarantee that it was going to knock your socks off? If there was one I don't recall seeing it and why fall for the hype?
If that's the case, I want my money back for all of the lousy movies I've seen over the years. I want every last red cent paid back to me when the Wings, Tigers and Pistons lost their games (William Clay Ford could afford to pay me back for all of the Lions losses over the years).
The way I see it is if you didn't go, you'd still be grousing. |
Drankin21
Member
Username: Drankin21
Post Number: 51
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Friday, January 19, 2007 - 7:27 am: | |
Sounds like you need to go to Autorama next time |
Ravine
Member
Username: Ravine
Post Number: 538
Registered: 01-2006
| | Posted on Friday, January 19, 2007 - 8:14 am: | |
Screw the Auto Show. Companies should, and normally do, pay to advertise. In the case of the Auto Show, YOU pay to come in and look at THEIR products. The auto companies should be covering every dime spent on that show, including a handsome fee, to Cobo, for use of the facilities. |
Lowell
Board Administrator
Username: Lowell
Post Number: 3577
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Friday, January 19, 2007 - 8:42 am: | |
So what did Butthead think or did he stay home? 
Seriously though we are close to losing that show with the small size of Cobo and other issues -- and the $600 million it generates -- unless some united metropolitan action takes place.
This and the Society of Automotive Engineers are not only huge money makers for our region, they bring the world press to our doorstep.
When I choose not to go it is the thought of the crowds being so dense that it becomes difficult to see anything and almost impossible to take photos that deters me. If anything I think they should raise the price -- and grrr kids should pay double the adult rate. |
Ravine
Member
Username: Ravine
Post Number: 541
Registered: 01-2006
| | Posted on Friday, January 19, 2007 - 9:04 am: | |
I am willing to consider the likelihood that there are umpteen reasons why there needs to be an admission fee for the Auto Show and that my post was naive and, well, dumb. I just think it's "kinda strange" to have to pay to see products which are being displayed by their makers with the intention of selling you on the idea of buying them. I know there is more to it than that. It just bugs me, dammit. |
Iheartthed
Member
Username: Iheartthed
Post Number: 306
Registered: 04-2006
| | Posted on Friday, January 19, 2007 - 9:35 am: | |
I miss those Auto Show "discounts". |
Johnlodge
Member
Username: Johnlodge
Post Number: 38
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Friday, January 19, 2007 - 10:54 am: | |
Kids pay double the adult rate... I LIKE that idea. And not just for the NAIAS.... |
Mthouston
Member
Username: Mthouston
Post Number: 669
Registered: 01-2006
| | Posted on Friday, January 19, 2007 - 11:35 am: | |
I've covered a lot of Detroit Auto Shows (23). This one is by far the weakest one I've seen so far. However it is a chance to see and compare the offering from all the major manufacturers under one roof.
I do think $12.00 bucks a head is a little steep, but people seem quite happy to pay it. |
Gannon
Member
Username: Gannon
Post Number: 7901
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Friday, January 19, 2007 - 11:47 am: | |
Ravine, you are correct to challenge the concept.
Don't punish the children, they are the car buyers of tomorrow!
They should have a premium adults-only night or two for SURE, though.
The growth of our trade shows indicate problems with 'growth' as an assumption of corporate capitalism...if we cannot contain our viewings of an industry, we have larger problems than some capacity containment issue in our local convention venue.
I think they measure average corporate penis size before they build those damn booths for the auto show, too. Thanks for that humor, Beavis, that was precious. |
Johnlodge
Member
Username: Johnlodge
Post Number: 39
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Friday, January 19, 2007 - 11:53 am: | |
Why are they running out of room anyway. Why do I need to see 5 of the same exact Jeep? Or Mustang? That's boring. One of each model is enough, unless you have a trimline that is REALLY different than the basic trim. And you don't need to see the 6 cyl. and the 4 cyl. of something if they look exactly the same. Nobody is going to ask "but what does the 4 banger's engine look like?" |
Gannon
Member
Username: Gannon
Post Number: 7904
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Friday, January 19, 2007 - 12:07 pm: | |
EVERY honest auto company exec you ask excuses their booth size and glitziness due to their competition's previous year booth size.
NOBODY complains, because growth is one of the assumptions of our cherished corporate capitalist system.
We will fail from our own excesses. We learned nothing from the Romans.
It is all a tall, growing pile of bullshit. Does anyone besides me notice that smell? |
Scs100
Member
Username: Scs100
Post Number: 301
Registered: 12-2006
| | Posted on Friday, January 19, 2007 - 12:17 pm: | |
It was weak. The only part I actually enjoyed was GM's part. Best company in the show (display wise).
(Message edited by SCS100 on January 19, 2007) |
Viziondetroit
Member
Username: Viziondetroit
Post Number: 1018
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Friday, January 19, 2007 - 2:33 pm: | |
One of each car is not enough in most cases. On nights when the crowd is heavier who wants to wait in line to get in a car or get a closer look. Go to the show this evening, find your favorite everyday car and see if one car is enough. |
Peachlaser
Member
Username: Peachlaser
Post Number: 53
Registered: 08-2006
| | Posted on Friday, January 19, 2007 - 2:50 pm: | |
Several years ago, a high school student with a desire to become an automobile designer wanted me to become his mentor (because of my photography of endurance prototypes). Have never been asked before or since, but I gave it my best. Going to the local Atlanta Auto Show was a field trip I suggested.
I set up some questions for him:
What is the most efficient vehicle in the show?;
What is the most inefficient vehicle?;
Which vehicle is the prettiest and why?;
Which vehicle is the ugliest and why?;
Which vehicle would he want if money were no option and why?;
Which vehicle would he buy if he paid for it himself and why?;
Which vehicle is the most practical and why?
Which vehicle is the most impractical and why?
It really made the show interesting as I played along with my own game as did my wife and the guy's brother. We had some really interesting conversations and I quizzed him about a lot of aspects of designs that we saw. DC had a cut away view of a hemi and I got to show him why a hemi is called a hemi. Audi had a great GPS and Navigation system that he took to like a duck to water and quickly navigated from the show to his home in a matter of minutes of first seeing and using the demo. I took a lot of photos and passed them onto him so that he could use them in his class final presentation. He made an A+ so I thought the show field trip was a good teaching and learning tool. Not sure some of the manufacturers would like to hear our comments, though! |
Beavis1981
Member
Username: Beavis1981
Post Number: 64
Registered: 08-2006
| | Posted on Friday, January 19, 2007 - 4:47 pm: | |
sorry lowell butthead isn't a car guy so he stayed home! I understand the importance of the show but I still left disapointed sadly to say kia and hyundai made more of an effort than many others did. If I was actually looking to by a car that day the show would have served some purpose- all the dealers under one roof!
now for you smogboy- that was a title to the thread I'm not starting a letter writing campaign by any means. I'm guessing you ass-u-me I've never been to the autoshow before or spent money in detroit that didn't revolve around crack-WRONG this was my 9th or 10th autoshow and it was no where near as good as the previous ones I spent a lot of time informing the people I was with about who owns this or that and what kind of technology was on this or that. then when I looked around to learn something all there was 2007 model year cars and broke-ass interactive displays (note to manufacturers- touch screens don't hold up well with 10,000 people poking at them) |
Cheddar_bob
Member
Username: Cheddar_bob
Post Number: 822
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Friday, January 19, 2007 - 5:01 pm: | |
Is the period key broken on your computer, Beavis? It's hard to read your posts when I can't figure out where one thought ends and the other begins. |
Gannon
Member
Username: Gannon
Post Number: 7916
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Friday, January 19, 2007 - 5:04 pm: | |
Had an interesting conversation with a client who works for Harman International...he says without a doubt Kia and Hyundai have been the strictest about long-term reliability.
I've said for years that Samsung was the hardest working company in consumer electronics...going from relatively unknown ten years ago to a MAJOR player today.
Those Korean firms are steadily achieving what they need to establish themselves in these markets.
They studied the Japanese who studied US...who says the copy of a copy HAS to be degraded?! |
Beavis1981
Member
Username: Beavis1981
Post Number: 65
Registered: 08-2006
| | Posted on Friday, January 19, 2007 - 5:15 pm: | |
no key not broken just lazy |
Supersport
Member
Username: Supersport
Post Number: 11156
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Friday, January 19, 2007 - 5:41 pm: | |
Amazing how some view the show differently. I still say this was the best show I have ever been to. |
Beavis1981
Member
Username: Beavis1981
Post Number: 66
Registered: 08-2006
| | Posted on Friday, January 19, 2007 - 8:01 pm: | |
yeah, perception is reality. As far as presentation and display, the show was light years ahead of previous ones. They hid cobos aging interior very well. In the sense of a "show" I guess it was pretty good. They had choreographed water displays and a jeep articulated on a mountain stream setting. Bmw or mercedes had a interactive display demonstrating the benefit of twin smaller turbos over a single one. It was cool but made no sense. Many other manufacturers had 15in touch screen displays. They were supposed to be cutting edge but most failed to work. The mock engines were accurate and shiny but not very informative. Dub magazine was representing with The Game's bling machine. Sweet. |
Beavis1981
Member
Username: Beavis1981
Post Number: 67
Registered: 08-2006
| | Posted on Friday, January 19, 2007 - 8:03 pm: | |
but than again I'm just one of thousands that went so I'm sure it won't matter |
Wazootyman
Member
Username: Wazootyman
Post Number: 183
Registered: 02-2006
| | Posted on Saturday, January 20, 2007 - 9:14 am: | |
I don't understand "hid cobos aging interior very well" - it's nothing but steel and concrete? New construction would likely look exactly the same.
I went to the auto show last night. To be fair - I had four free tickets from a seminar I attended a week or two ago, but I thought it was a great show. Honestly, I think GM really stole the show. They had a very impressive setup. |
Beavis1981
Member
Username: Beavis1981
Post Number: 78
Registered: 08-2006
| | Posted on Saturday, January 20, 2007 - 12:23 pm: | |
you coud'nt even focus on the building due to the insanely bright lights and flashy displays |
Smogboy
Member
Username: Smogboy
Post Number: 4335
Registered: 11-2004
| | Posted on Monday, January 22, 2007 - 4:52 am: | |
Beavis, it doesn't matter how many auto shows you go to, some shows will be better than others- that's a given. You're going to like certain shows for certain reasons and you're going to hate other auto shows for whatever reasons there too. My point is it's probably better that you DID go as opposed to never having gone at all. It's one thing to accurately state what was broken, what was lacking in comparison to previous or other auto shows and what you didn't like at this year's show as opposed to wanting your paltry $5 back. That would at least lend some credence to your argument; instead your initial post sounded like some poor teenage kid whining about what a lousy show it was (notice how the first few respondants thought you were a youngster?). There are plenty of other routes in regards to how you could've started this discussion.
And yeah, I've gone to this and many more auto shows too. This year's show seemed to lack the glamor and glitz because there really wasn't anything monumentally groundbreaking. Even during the black-tie events, there was a malaise in the air. There's a downturn in the economy and the car industry isn't exactly lighting the world on fire right now. None of the new releases sparked much emotion and there were a lot of slight re-designs as opposed to new models it seems like. Obviously the industry's show is reflecting that same atmosphere. |
Craggy
Member
Username: Craggy
Post Number: 220
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Monday, January 22, 2007 - 8:19 am: | |
Beavis...
How much effort does it take to punctuate a post? |
Gannon
Member
Username: Gannon
Post Number: 7953
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Monday, January 22, 2007 - 9:26 am: | |
Wait a good goshdamn minute here...heh...we've got PUNCtuate, PUNCtual, and PUNCh.
Is there some common root to all these words?
They CAN be very similar...in application, at least! |
Craggy
Member
Username: Craggy
Post Number: 221
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Monday, January 22, 2007 - 10:50 am: | |
From the latin "punctus" To prick. |
Gannon
Member
Username: Gannon
Post Number: 7959
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Monday, January 22, 2007 - 11:41 am: | |
You just gave Supergay his next Halloween costume idea...something in a toga. |
Cambrian
Member
Username: Cambrian
Post Number: 525
Registered: 08-2006
| | Posted on Monday, January 22, 2007 - 12:07 pm: | |
I liked the show, there was a decent assortment of new models, displays, and a few cool concepts too. However I don't like how companies are more stingy now with the brochures and freebies. All they pass out is the crappy full line brochures now. Mercedes Benz did not even have any. They were directing people to their website. What's the story with disabling all the hood release cables? Some of us actually want to see the engines. |
Smogboy
Member
Username: Smogboy
Post Number: 4337
Registered: 11-2004
| | Posted on Monday, January 22, 2007 - 12:53 pm: | |
Attendance figures were in too and they're down AGAIN for the fourth year in a row. Not meaning to speak for the regular person who isn't the automotive field in one way or another, but what's the allure for them to attend anymore? If they're in the market to buy a new auto in the upcoming year and want to comparison shop ALL of the brands at one venue, it might make some sense but beyond that? What else does the auto show hold for the public?
Is there anything there that would compel a regular person to spend their entertainment dollar and time to come down to Cobo and see anymore? Outside of us auto geeks, I'm not so sure a family or an individual is going to want to come down and check out the latest and greatest stow-n-go seating arrangement, hemi engine, roofrack configuration, or whatever new gimcrack anymore.
In this day & age where our entertainment dollars are getting stretched thinner and thinner, I don't know if the auto show a big enough of a draw to attract the crowds it once did anymore. |
Mattric43
Member
Username: Mattric43
Post Number: 110
Registered: 03-2006
| | Posted on Monday, January 22, 2007 - 1:04 pm: | |
I unfortunately was unable to attend this year. But all I can say is there is no way it was as bad as the boat show was last year. It cost more than the auto show too!! |
Gannon
Member
Username: Gannon
Post Number: 7961
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Monday, January 22, 2007 - 1:20 pm: | |
Smogboy,
It was VERY different before the dawning of the information age!
NOW...heh...we can fire up our computers and get fabulous digital photography of the entire show, including the better after-hours photo sessions...instantaneously, in privacy.
I missed my industry's largest trade show a few weeks ago...and this is the very first January that I wasn't sick to death with something in the two to three weeks afterwards...in probably twenty years!
H-m-m-n-n, what major variable did I change in my January behavior this year?
Oh yeah, avoid the mixingbowl of every nation, race, gender, religion, orientation, size, etc. all under ONE roof in a single airspace!!
Of course, I avoided Las Vegas as well... |
Smogboy
Member
Username: Smogboy
Post Number: 4338
Registered: 11-2004
| | Posted on Monday, January 22, 2007 - 1:43 pm: | |
I couldn't agree more Gannon! I couldn't even begin to tell you when was the last time I physically went to a shopping mall for Christmas! Why go haggle with the traffic and crowds when it can be done at home in front of our idiot boxes?
Yes, I understand the complete immersion experience thing by physically being there and interacting, but how many concept cars (the one draw for me at the auto show) do we see even before it hits the show floor online already?
And it's also at OUR convenience. We can do this at any hour of the day or night too! It is VERY different indeed. |
Gannon
Member
Username: Gannon
Post Number: 7966
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Monday, January 22, 2007 - 2:20 pm: | |
A certain percentage of the public is actually agoraPHOBIC to an extreme that peaks their anxiety and freezes them in their tracks.
The fact that some diagnosis as that exists begs the assumption that it has varying degrees of effect on individuals...and probably dependent upon the spiritual--electro--chemical-- magnetic state of their bodies at any given time.
The easier, better, and more secure it is to do everything from inside our caves, the more people will do it...unless those retail, service, and entertainment providers realize they need to step UP the experience and comfort of their spaces.
SURE, there is some innate draw for sociality...but we will only leave for THAT, if they get their way delivering content into our living rooms. A few of us only get together to confirm again the person on the other end of the ether is still in real life.
Worse when we're experiencing OUR i-content shutting out society when we DO have those opportunities for chance encounters...at least we'll have fewer with shared perception, if their eye and ear-buds are crammed full of digital distraction. (on the way to total deafness)
The large cattle-call draws...probably the last of this type would be the latest arena-seating behemoth 'movie' theaters...show their sub-section of the public seems to have their lowest common denominator gear slipping...I wonder how much High Definition and High Speed Internet have filtered OUT those who can afford to avoid the unpleasantness of public crowds.
Previously I just thought society was simply getting worse, but there could be more to the story. Just because the major networks serve up pap, might be because they're mis-interpreting the same statistics.
This might spin around to the DIA discussion...lowbrow and all...attendance must increase, what do they do when they're desperate?! |
Beavis1981
Member
Username: Beavis1981
Post Number: 81
Registered: 08-2006
| | Posted on Monday, January 22, 2007 - 3:08 pm: | |
smogboy was that a apology? awww thanks. I see your point- that was kind of whiny way to start a thread. You basically hit on my main bitch. If felt 2nd class this year. I used to come away from auto shows somehow feeling special. This still is the motor city WE should be the first to know about something ground breaking. Not L.A, not Chicago, and not N.Y.
It almost seems like they have dumbed the show down. I had a lot of questions that I really wanted to know. They were no where near answered. Supposedly G.M. has eliminated turbo drag via vvt and a "dual scroll turbo". All I was able to grasp from their display was the turbo housing is a little different!? I really wanted to know if their "active fuel management" shut-down cylinders via valve train or injectors? All I saw was a extra spring on top of the lifter. And what about bio-diesel? Nothing! But they had some stupid impractical solar car! |
Warrenite84
Member
Username: Warrenite84
Post Number: 9
Registered: 01-2007
| | Posted on Monday, January 22, 2007 - 3:26 pm: | |
I've been going to the auto show since 1987. This show was certainly better.
Not that I didn't have any complaints though. I'm one of those guys that maintain my own car and not to be able to look under the hood to see engine layout is annoying.
I guess they're too afraid junior might get his fingers caught when someone closes the hood.
Not that a door could cause similar injuries.
Like the camper and home improvement shows, its an excuse to get downtown and see the sights. Greektown and Mexicantown tend to benefit from my visits too. What else is going on in January anyways? |
Beavis1981
Member
Username: Beavis1981
Post Number: 82
Registered: 08-2006
| | Posted on Monday, January 22, 2007 - 3:55 pm: | |
They keep the hoods closed because of all the morons that take anything that isn't bolted down as token of their visit. You probably noticed that any shifter knob that could be taken was. |
Smogboy
Member
Username: Smogboy
Post Number: 4340
Registered: 11-2004
| | Posted on Monday, January 22, 2007 - 8:16 pm: | |
Not an apology Beavis (did I need to?). Just an explanation as to why some of us climbed on you. At least you were bright enough to understand that you came across like a whiny 10 year old over spilled milk.
That being said, the auto show is what it is. I go into it with no expectations and there have been some years I don't even care to go, but do it out of obligation to suppliers. |