Smash And Crash Go To The Car Show

Rick is my next door neighbour. Between the two of us, in little more then a year we been in 5 car accidents (3 in the last 2 months). So why not make our way out to the Toronto Autoshow and have a look at the cars we may be crashing into in the future.

Two years ago I went to the show with another friend on the opening weekend. The place was a madhouse and it was hard to even see any of the cars, let alone ever sit in one. This time Rick and I went on the last day of the show and it was much better. We were able to sit in all of the cars we wanted to (well the ones the manufactures let you sit in anyway).

After paying $25 bucks to park and another $20 bucks each to get in we were forced to grab something to eat inside the show as well (where were all the sausage vendors out on the streets?). Pizza Pizza seemed to be a sponsor of the event and after a credit check, granted us permission to pay for lunch as well.

Well things went extremely well and in the tradition of my family (we, especially my father, have a history of going to look at something, only to come home with it) so here I am with my new ride.

This is the Shelby GT500 (based on the new Mustang). 500 hp for $52K (Canadian), the most cost effective muscle car available to the public today. It looks great and is an excellent commuter vehicle.

Okay, I have lied, this is not my car but is sure is pretty. It looks like operation ‘minivan’ is a go. I would guess we will be the proud owners of a family mobile in the next couple of weeks. I will be rolling in the Envoy until it’s lease is up, next January. Then I will be able to pick out the car of my dreams (as long as it fits in our budget, which we are not sure what will be).

Rick is going to be in the market for a new vehicle this summer when the lease is done on his Toyota Camry. He has been pretty set on getting a full size pickup. So we used the car show as an opportunity to check out all the competition. We sat in everything available and Rick has it narrowed down to 3 …

• Toyota Tundra
• Chevy Silverado / GMC Sierra
• Nissan Titan

And I would agree, even though it is probably only a race between the first two on the list. He plans to take them out for a spin in the coming months and make a decision. I would guess the Tundra wins out (he currently drives a Toyota Camry, his wife rolls in a Toyota Sienna … do you see a pattern?). I was a little disappointed by the Ford F150 (the best seller in this category) as well as the Honda Ridgeline (which has received rave reviews). The Ford was just really plain and the Honda was overpriced (which seems to be the norm for Honda trucks and Vans), but isn’t really a ‘full size’ truck, it more like a SUV with small bed, comparable to the Avalanche or Explorer Sport-Trak.

We also took the opportunity to review all of the minivans and I will need to get used to them. I was disappointed with all of the GM offerings (Uplander, Rendezvous, Montana and Relay). The big names in this segment are the Dodge Caravan, Toyota Sienna and Honda Odyssey (once again I rule the Honda out because of price). The surprising offerings came from Kia and Hyundai (because of their relationship their vans are identical to each other … but also seem to be complete copies of the Sienna which isn’t a bad idea). Everything I have read says the Sienna is the better choice over the Caravan, but since we are buying used we are most likely going with a Caravan because the used price is much more attractive (Toyota retains it’s value much better). If we were buying new I would seriously consider the KIA it looked really good, it’s priced really well and I have heard really good things as well.

As for my future car, I am not sure what my price range is plus if the used experiment goes well with the van we will probably do that again. Nothing I learned will probably be practical (though I have a short list in my mind for just about every class if I needed to make a decision in a pinch).

But here is what I learned at the show.

• I always wanted a Subaru WRX but I must be getting old because the size of the car (especially the non-existent back seat) make it really impractical.
• The new Mitsubishi Lancer looks really, really good. Well priced, seems roomier then the old model (though they had it locked up so we couldn’t sit in it). Rumours have it the at new EVO will be available in Canada soon too.
• The BMW 323i really impressed me. I never really considered myself a BMW kind of person. (Though a M3, M5 or M6 always seemed okay to me) but it is under 35K and the build quality and finish is significantly above others in this price range. Previously, I would of just ruled this vehicle out, if I happened to be looking here.
• The RS4 may be the only Audi I like.
• Everything Lexus makes, looks the same.
• I look good with the GT500.