2008 New York Auto Show | Recap

By: Bradley Hasemeyer – If you eat to survive, wear clothes to stay warm and drive a car to get from A to B, then I pity you and frankly you won’t care much about this post nor any others from GearPatrol. If, however, you personally introduce each taste bud to the flavors in you meals, drape your body in cloth and style and breathe with your cars’ revs, read on.

New designs, innovations, beautiful women and free food, where else would you expect to find GearPatrol? This year’s International New York Auto Show gave numerous examples of cutting edge, flower-conscious, gadgety creations. If 30 is the new 20, pink is the new black and retro is the new modern then 1.8L is the new V-8, and hatchback/fastback/sexy-back is the new SUV. If it’s a crossover, (new VW, Mazda, Volvo) it’s in. If it’s going to save the world, (e-volt, flex fuel Tahoe) it’s in. If it’s got sharp-carved edges it’s in (Cadillac, Ford Edge). And if 50-Cent endorses it, my friends, it is undoubtedly in (Pontiac).

Being the 4th major auto show in 2008 left little to be unveiled in the Big City. However, just like your senior year prom, there were a few premiers who turned up looking better than expected:

• Acura 2009 TSX
• Audi 2009 A-4 Avant
• BMW 2008 M3 Convertible
• Dodge 2008 Challenger SRT8
• Pontiac G8 GXP, Solstice Targa Top
• Hyundai 2010 Genesis Coupe
• Smart fortwo

More after the jump.

Some highlights were Audi’s R8&emdash;recently crowned “Performance World Car of the Year”, Smart’s surprisingly roomy fortwo, VW’s mini-van called Routan&emdash;German translation: hippie kids are having hippie kids&emdash;and even the Touareg’s smaller sibling, Tiguan (tee-gwan) caught this writer’s eye. The new Ford Flex was open for inspection and along with the Fusion and Edge is another fantastic step for Ford toward competitive, desirable cars in the world market. Mercedes and BMW each brought their usual ensemble of sex appeal dressed in gun-metal grey and stoic silver. The Merc C65 AMG, essentially a Red Bull with a Benz badge, stood out like the office Cougar at an after-work party.

The new Microsoft Sync voice operated command system available in Ford’s new lineup was pretty impressive as well. I tried it on my own without much luck, however, after a quick tutorial I was proficiently changing tracks from one Michael Bolton album to another: heaven.

Overall, this year’s show was one that did more showing of cars we will be driving rather than a heap of concepts that much like ‘that guy’ you know who always talks ideas and never acts, become useless. There are a number of exciting models soon to be hitting the roads and with a handful of attractive ones from domestic companies, it’s worth taking a long, hard look at what car you will be breathing with in 2008.

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