Mike in Chi

Just got back from McCormick Place.

Somehow to these two eyes, the extra aerodynamics on the GT-2, make it look heavy, and a little busy.

By contrast, the C4S looks smooth, sculpted and sleek. Both were in Seal Gray, so I don't think it was the color.

Passers-by, who probably didn't know what they were looking at were all commenting on the $193,000 MSRP.

Boxsters were getting very little attention.

A lot more people were oogling the M-3 and M-5 than the P-cars. Hmmmm. Reassuringly, kids 8 thru teens, still gush over the 911s. (That's how brands are built.)

Ford was showing the GT40. It looks great. Very true to the original, and lots of detailing under the hood. It's actually 44" tall, but they don't call it the GT44. They had an original GT-40 there, and the remake is not as exquisitely proportioned, or as petite.

I've seen press reports with everything from $100,000 to $200,000 if they build it.

At 100 Gs, that is a lot of car - 500 HP supercharged V-8. The brakes looked huge. If it's anywhere near the Turbo's price, PAG has a problem.

By far the most crowded stand was the Mini. If you go by people per square inch, BMW has a huge hit.
Which may make up for the dud that the 7 series could be. The rear of the car is way over designed.

Jeep had a concept car called the Compass based on the Liberty chassis that looked very hot. Sorta sportscar, sorta SUV, and would be a whole lot cheaper than a Cayenne.

SUVs in general did not look like a saturated or dying category. They were getting lots of attention.

The new Maserati is very ho-hum in styling, and looked cheap. At 80-100,000 and the stepping stone to Ferrari, it should look more substantial.

All just my dos centavos.

M in C

SkipSauls

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the report! I'm very glad that I'm not the only one who doesn't think much of the new Maserati. Given all of the hype in the magazines, I kept thinking that it must be one of those cars that has to be seen in person to be appreciated. My chief complaints are the chopped-off rear end and the Miata-esque front end. The interior looks great in the pics, and I'm sure it performs well, but they really should have spent more time on the exterior.

I read a post the other day about the appeal of current P-cars vs. those from other manufacturers, the M-cars for example. It basically asked whether or not people will still get excited by the non-P-cars in a decade or so. A 20 year old 911, 924/944, or 928 will get most people's attention, but who except for a real BMW enthusiast gives a hoot about a BMW that's more than 4-5 years old? They just don't have IT like the P-cars do... <img src="graemlins/r.gif" border="0" alt="[king]" />

Cheers

FELKER

Mike,

I was at the Detroit show three weeks ago and agree with all you said.

I summed that show up with theses rating:

Best concept car: BMW 745i (yes the production car)

best production car: the Lincoln Continental Concept.

The 745i is so over engineered, OVER styled,
"butt ugly" .... The Conti concept was simple.. looked far more production than the 745i..

The GT40 was so cool, BUT the Cien was by far my favorite.... DAMN cool and impressive in person

Porsche stand: BORING BORING BORING... as usual an I am so sick of Seal Grey...