Visited the Detroit Auto Show.....

[RCARSELLE@aol.com]

Fellow Audiphiles....

I visited the Detroit Car Show this past Sunday and it was well worth the
trip to Detroit from Columbus, OH. Drove through snowy conditions with my 90
90 (FWD) kinda was hoping it would sprout Quattro but to no avail, made it
there anyway......

Audi has a nice display next to Mercedes and BMW the display has a couple
a4's, a couple a6's, an a6 wagon (quattro), a TT Coupe which is mounted on a
rotating platform and has an periodic Audi Rep. talking about the car and
"plans to release the vehicle in North America this summer" quotes from Audi
Rep. I really like the TT, but I had a small heart pain when some bystander
compared it to a Mazda Miata. The dashboard struck me as nice and the new
steering wheel design looks good inside that car. .... I'm writing this
e-mail with snow drifts around my parked 90, and I somehow feel that the
owner of the TT will be someone from sunnier weather than the happy owner of
a quattro. Really nice looking car for having such a small body they manage
to work in the Audi type curbs and lines present in our cars...... looks
fast, looks comfortable for 2, looks nice...., future mixed older open top
racers ....

There is also a cutaway A4 sedan showing the quattro, ABS, and other inner
workings of the cars..... nice display.

The Audi display also has the new 5 valve 1.8 liter turbo engine in a glass
case showing the engineering behind that powerplant. I spent some time
looking at the engine. Nothing else, no S6 or factory racers...... lot's of
emphasis on 5 star crash ratings.....

VW was featuring their TDI technology and even has a movie/multimedia theatre
worth checking out. " a Passat w/ TDI engine and full tank of gas can cruise
at highways speeds for 800 miles " don't quote me it's from their movie
...... nice display.

Volvo, for example, had an 850 factory racer......... BMW had the Mclaren F1
(w/BMW engine) ....... Subaru was explaining their AWD system....... (show
seemed a little smaller than year's past & too many of these little Z3's
hanging from the walls of the BMW display..... )

Ford's concept car featured Brembo brakes ...... Catera from the Caddy
Division features Autobahn brakes and pretensioning seatbelts both older
ideas than they let on...... by the way what are Autobahn brakes ? anyways
Caddy's new child is built in Germany but it still looks like a tricked up
Lumina if you ask me .....

Other good displays, the new Acura's (ugly new two door sports coupe),
Landrover, Lexus, (by the way A6 seemed to have more room in the rear than
the LS400 or GS300)

Anyways if you have the time to go, you should....... be ready to deal with
crowds. 

RCarselle@aol.com
90 90
86 GLI