The Other Stuff

Automakers did not disappoint anyone this year by not providing entertainment. Of notable items seen were great displays by Jeep and Mini that were fun to be in. Mini had a go-kart set up to “simulate” a Mini driving experience. That is tongue -in-cheek marketing if we have ever seen it. Jeep hung their vehicles from rock walls and posed them about on boulders. You could not get by the new 425hp HEMI SRT-8 Jeep Cherokee. Chrysler brought out a concept called Imperial that is just that - imperial. The interior looked like a Copenhagen furniture store and the outside looked rather, well demonically expensive. While Suzuki has been having a quiet year in their showrooms, it did not stop them from customizing one of their cute little Grand Vitaras into a sort of Quad-Runner on steroids. We liked the fun factor in that. Across the hall, Toyota unveiled a bunch of new Consumer Reports-mobiles, but the new FJ-Cruiser got our attention. It carries the torch for the long gone Land Cruiser FJ with a baby-Hummer kind of character.

Dodge of course was a veritable candy land with the new Caliber compact car/van thing as well as the Challenger we discussed already. The Magnum SRT-8 with the big 425hp HEMI was there. We have seen that motor somewhere else haven’t we? It is a nice way to haul some stuff home from Home Depot and wipe a Ferrari off the road at the same time.

GM had a host of debuts with their new full size Tahoe, Yukon, Escalade SUV line, lower pricing across almost all cars, etc. The metallic brown Buick Enclave concept SUV was the first Buick we have seen we actually liked or would not feel embarrassed to drive. They say it could make production soon. We will see what the real one looks like. Nissan only offered up a cute little concept toy/car that was aimed at the youth market. It is a real car, but when parked becomes an X-Box controller. A screen flips down and you use that steering wheel, pedals and shifter to play racing games. Start it up, put it in gear and drive it like a car. Wow.

One thing we can conclude is that the world of wheels continues to turn. Detroit has some growing pains but seems to be aware of it and trying to change. They better, because the competition from abroad is NOT taking a snow day.