GM Autoshow in Motion

[Redwood]

http://www.autoshowinmotion.com/inde...48AC5E3B34F%7D

Sept. 15-18 in Dallas, Sept. 8-11 in Houston. I was thinking that we could sign up for the same time. All timeslots are currently open as I type this and there are a ton of times. Any suggestions on when to go? I figure sometime Saturday or Sunday, but not too early in the morning.

[Fair!]

Some of us will be in Topeka earlier that week... Hanchey and I get back on the 15th (thursday) but need to go into work on the 16th (friday).

How about Saturday at noon???

[Redwood]

Dang it, I realized I will be in Seattle that weekend.

[McCall]

Just signed up for Saturday 12:00

[Dean!]

I also signed up for Saturday at Noon.....looks like ALL the Saturday slots were still open...

[Dean!]

Everyone still going? Duck and I should be there in the noon timeframe tomorrow (Saturday)

http://www.autoshowinmotion.com/Regi...s0905_e3_imail

[Redwood]

I signed Deena and I up and then realized I'll be gone. Wish I was going, but I'm more looking forward to the Lexus one next month.

[Oversteer]

Everyone still going? Duck and I should be there in the noon timeframe tomorrow (Saturday)

Nope. Never signed up though. Gonna be headed SOMEWHERE to watch the Aggie game.
.

[duck]

Dean, Kristy, and I drove a bunch of cars today at Lone Star Park. MAN was it hot.

2005 GTO. Pedals still SUUUUUUCK for heel-n-toe but at least you have a dead pedal to rest on. But MAN! Despite being limited to 25mph(pushed it as much as the tight and short course would allow), it was OBVIOUS it had more torque. I never got out of 1st gear but just rolling to move from a start, the car would just move and GO. My car bogs and the engine rattles if I try to roll out without adding gas. Man the LS2 has got to be a much easier car to drive in traffic! *sigh* You had to drive a luxury or passenger car before you could drive the Vette or CTS-V.

Chevy Cobalt SS. Fun little turbo car. If it were $15k, I'd buy one to commute in. I went buzzing way past 25mph to redline and saw the director guy whip around to see. Heh. It had a 160mph speedo and boost gauge. The car looked a little goofy -- let's call it a Fisher-Rice look -- but I guess it fits the intended crowd.

Next we hit the SUV's so we could "qualify" to drive a Hummer H2, H2 truck, and H3. Dean jumped in some Buick Rendezvous, I think. I grabbed a Chevy Uplander miniban. We just grabbed the first thing to get done. Man, the minivan wallowed and I slide all over on the unsupportive leather bench-bucket seat. Blech.

They had a 2005 GTO on a porta-dyno but we didn't get to see it run. Anyone know what they're putting to the ground?

We walked past the Hummer tent which led to a dirt course with berms and hills and d****es and marvelled at the thousands of people waiting in line. We got to the performance car tent and there were Corvette coupes and convertibles and two CTS-V's just SITTING there with "instructors" doing nothing. Dean jumped in a red coupe and I jumped in a black...CTS-V! The instructor said "shift around those cones there *points* and leave it in second and go as fast as you can." Sweeeet. no ghey speed limits and no construction barrel bottom simulated potholes or speedbumps on course. This wasn't a vehicle test drive course, it was a fun course!

The CTS-V is smaller than the GTO. I asked him how it compared. He verified the car was heavier(!?) than my car but it handled better. He's convinced the GTO just needs bigger bars. I'll find out how much difference going from KDWS's to KDW's helps hopefully next weekend. I asked if it had traction control and he said it was already on with a tone like I wanted it on.

"Can I turn it off?"

"No."

"Okay, then."

I rolled up to the start and then took off. I should have wailed on it but I never seem to be able to go b4lls out in a car that I'm not real familiar with so I pussy-footed it and shifter too early too but I did get on it. The car felt good. I *think* it has a nicer shifter than the GTO because it felt pretty good but the 2-3 is where you see how good a shifter is IMO so anyway. It didn't have the body roll my car has. It felt really good and sounded really good too. Much throatier than my car, at least inside the car. It was pretty darned fun! And then about 10 seconds later the ride was over. Ghey. Tiny little course that might have been actually about 20 seconds long...and you got exactly one shot at it. Not like they had any lines so why not!? :-\ Oh, and you only got to drive ONE of them. Either or, not both. gheygheygheyghey I really needed another lap in the CTS-V to really feel it out but oh well. I can't afford one anyway.

I got back to the tent in time to see Dean zooming across the back of the course, then get sideways in a turn because he was too busy waving to us to drive. ;-p We got in our cars at about the same time. I guess Dean got lost.

We then walked back by the Hummer tent with droves of lemmings waiting to drive over dirt piles at 5 mph and 5 mpg and laughed as we kept on walking. I think it would have been a blast if the lines weren't so stupid long and it weren't 100+F out there on the parking lot but they were and it was so we didn't even stop. Max wait for other cars was 7-10 minutes so the event wasn't bad at all...and it was free. AND you got a free sandwich, chips, cookie, apple, and coke. Also got a couple free State Fair tix each for driving the Cobalt. The Mazda Miata transmissions BETTER be better than those in the Mazda 6 or I'm never going again!

We went to the luxury car tent and drove some cars:
Me:
Saab 9-2x (Impreza wagon)
Cadillac STS
Saab 9-5
Dean:
Saab 9-2x (Impreza wagon)
Saab 9-3
Kristy: Cobalt SS and 9-2x, I think. She and Dean traded off, I think, while I grabbed another car.

9-2x. OMG. It had to be BROKEN. Stab the gas and NOTHING HAPPENED. It was like taking your foot off the brake of any other normal automatic car. I have never driven anything as much of a slug off the line before EVAR including cars with distributors in with timing so retarded it had to be in backward. It was BAD. I don't know when the "pep" kicked in but it was an excruciating wait. If you had to jump to avoid getting hit at a light...give up. The Honda Insight and mobile crane next to you would leave you in the dust and you'd be smashed. It was most fun of the three I drove in the handling department. Dean and Kristy were in tow. I had to STOP on course and wait for the rest of my run because I was going to run into the STS in front of us. Based on the non-turbo, the car was...embarassing. GM should not have put that thing out there without a 4,000rpm stall converter in it.

STS. Dean and Kristy piled in and I put the seat into the upright driving position because the previous tester was riding DEEP. The car had good pickup. Felt good for its size. It felt even better set up chasis-wise than the GTO! The seats didn't have near as much support though. It had light understeer but was not bad at all and felt very managable! I blew a tight righthander so I don't know how it would have handled that but I was very impressed with it. I was also all over the ABS much of the time. It was dark metallic purple and hurting for some dubs. Quote from Dean: "Floor it over the speedbumps." I did and kicked one the 8 temporaries out of whack. Ooops.

9-5. I'm not sure who it's aimed at. It's not pimp or plush or, I dunno. I guess it's just a European car or something. The styling looked dated, not cool like the 9-3 Dean drove. It was...slushy and underpowered. Not an extention of the driver in the least and didn't seem anywhere near as luxurious as the STS. It was really a bleh car. Felt like 10 year old tech.

Both the 9-2x and 9-5 finally got some oomph near redline and surged ahead usually right when I needed to brake for the corner so I went in too hot every time felling like I was going to fling the car every time. As Top Gear Jeremy Guy described a diesel Jaguar: "Floor it and, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, 165hp, shift!" The Mazda 6 I drove at the arrive and drive events was just like that too. A dog until near redline and right before I needed to shift or brake and those 20hp would come on so quick, it threw me off and I would brake late. It wasn't a confidence insipiring feeling at all. A bigger course would have helped a lot. The Saabaru handled well enough to not be scary but the Saab would surprise with a scary lurch because of the timing of the powerband and the course...and the squishy suspension transitioning from lurch to brake. It was just BLEH. As a convertible, it might be a fun car but not with the price they're asking for them and the impression I walked away with.

We had sweat enough and took off grabbing a cool shirt on the way out.

I could have stood to drive a Grand Prix GXP and maybe even a Bonneville if they had a GXP version but oh well, they're FWD anyway.

I really need an LS2.