Dutch auto show 1997 (some Audi cont.)

[tnas@euronet.nl (Tom Nas)]

Hi all,

Yesterday I visited the bi-annual Dutch auto show, the AutoRai, in
Amsterdam. Always an event to look forward to, this year it was even larger
than two years ago. Handy hint: if you want to have fun, go there with a
bunch of friends, if you want to see everything, go there alone. I went
with a bunch of friends, it was a lot of fun, but there's still a lot I
haven't seen.

The show was light on premieres: we got the new BMW 5-series Touring (spot
the difference from the old one), the new Mitsu Galant (still looking 10
years out of date) and that's about it. After some wrestling, I saw the
Boxster 'in the flesh' for the first time, as well as the Mercedes CLK and
the Ferrari 550 Maranello (Ferrari meets Mitsubishi 3000GT). The new
Prelude is no great beuty either, but the Volvo C70 looks good (although
not in brown metallic!)

Awards for the best-looking appearance went to Audi and Mercedes, who had
both chosen for a second floor on their stand, and the use of lots of
good-looking wood to create a classy atmosphere. Audi had put two A3s,
partially covered in concrete, in front of the exhibition building, which
drew the attention a bit already. The actual Audi stand was even better,
with a model race track where you could discover the advantage of AWD for
yourself, and a nice display of cars. They could have dispensed with the
tap dancer performing on the roof of an A3 as far as I'm concerned, but the
S8 (yummy!), S6 plus Avant and various A3s, A4s and A6s in top spec were
there, as were the A4 Avant Duo and the Cabriolet.

VW was the major spectacle on the show, proving the safety of their Polo
(recently acclaimed top honours for safety by a consumer organisation) by
driving one, manned by stuntmen, off a ramp into a waiting scrapyard car
every day (impact speed: 40 km/h). The Polo had a scratched bumper, leaking
radiator and broken headlights while the scrap car had been reduced in
width dramatically. The new Passat was very much admired. The VW, Audi,
Porsche, Seat and Skoda stands were all in one hall, Skoda drwawing the
crowds with the A3-derived Octavia. Judging by the amount of interest
(people usually didn't give Skoda a second glance) this is going to be a
success. Audi A4-like space for a Golf-like price, with quite classy looks:
it deserves success IMO.

The thing that really made my day was seeing Biela's BTCC A4Q in the
motorsports hall. Wow! While my friends looked on in amusement, I
photographed it from all possible angles. Too bad I couldn't take a closer
look at the technical side...
All in all, a great show. Too bad I have to wait another two years for the
next one... Now, first let's get my _four_ rolls of film developed and
printed!

Bye,

Tom

PS My mental note for next time: take even more films, go even earlier and
don't go during the weekend...

 _______________________________________________________________________
 Tom Nas                                          Zeist, The Netherlands
 tnas@euronet.nl