GM's Autoshow in Motion
02-01-2004, 09:25 PM
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GM's Autoshow in Motion
I went to the Autoshow in motion at Pomona CA today and drove the following cars.
Small SUV course.- 25 MPH limit.
Ford Explorer - Had to drive a SUV or Truck first to be able to drive the Hummer H2, the Explorer had the shortest line.
Hummer course.- 25 MPH limit.
Hummer H2. The H2 had it's own course. They had a dirt hill set up for the Hummer that was about 30 feet tall pretty and pretty steep up and down (about 50 degrees). It was kind of earie driving over the hill because you couldn't see where you were going, just two flags at the top of the hill to mark the course. The hill had no sides to it so it was like you were hanging in the air. After going down the hill they had a mound on one side that tilted the truck sideways pretty far (maybe 30 degrees) and then a short section of giant speed bumps on alternating sides. They had someone ride along with you and handle the gear changes for the hill etc. After the speed bumps it was just a short parking lot course.
Passenger Car Course - 25 MPH limit. You had to drive a passenger car or luxury car first in order to drive the Vette.
Pontiac GTO (manual) - They had the GTO with the passenger cars (Toyota Echo, Honda Accord, Saturns etc.) which was really dissapointing since they had a 25 MPH limit on the course, only got it out of first gear once and that was just for a short distance. The car sounds nice but the dash is awful, bright yellow face gauges. Looks like a kids toy. They should have had the GTO over with the Corvette.
Corvette & Chevy SSR Course - No speed limit.
Corvette Z6 - There was no speed limit with the Vette but you couldn't take it out of second gear, they had an insturctor ride along to enforce the rules. The course was a straight section maybe 1/4 mile long that you accelerated on followed by a wide sweeping left back around to the pit area. After shifting into 2nd on the straight you weren't allowed touch the shifter again. Even with this fairly simple course and an instructor riding along, one guy managed to spin out in the middle of the sweeper, killed about 5 cones and ended up in the middle of the course facing the opposite direction. He got a good round of applause when he got back.
Luxury Car Course - This course had a 30 MPH limit. It started out with a sweeping left that you could get a little speed up on and then gentle right followed by a sharp left, the rest of the course was a series of turns including a simulated evasive turn section. I had the most fun on this course a drove several of the cars including:
BMW 325i - Not very memorable.
Caddy CTS - Nice power in sport mode, had the most fun in this car. They had a Caddy XLR sitting nearby that you could look at but couldn't even sit in. Tried to convince to let me drive that but no luck.
Mercedes C230 - Wasn't impressed.
Saab 9-5 Aero - Odd car overall, ignition key is in the center console, had a manualmatic mode with paddle switches. Up shift on the right side of the steering wheel, down shift on the left. The switches were pretty small and difficult to find especially with the wheel turned, the paddle switches on the automatic RX-8 seemed much more natural.
Truck Course - 25 MPH limit. Drove some of the small trucks since I'm looking at replacing my Toyota in a few years.
Toyota Tacoma 4x4 Quad Cab - A lot of room for a small truck.
Nissan Fronter 4x4 - Didn't care for the exterior styling of this truck. It has the bolt on look fender flares. Interior was fine but had a lot of squeaks and rattles and the brakes were noisy. Truck had less than 200 miles on it.
GMC Canyon 2WD - Nice feeling truck, very car like.
All the cars were new, none of the ones I drove had 200 miles on it yet. I sure wouldn't want to buy one of the Vettes after the show after several hundred people have done full thottle launches in a car that isn't even broken in yet.
Overall it was a nice way to spend a morning and was well worth the price of admission (free). GM even provided lunch (ham or turkey sandwich, cookie, chips and an apple) and sodas.
Check out http://www.autoshowinmotion.com/pls/asim/frmMain.Show for more information about future dates. The next one is in Irvine CA and looking at the courses it seems like the Corvette course is much longer there.
*Edit* Added website info
Small SUV course.- 25 MPH limit.
Ford Explorer - Had to drive a SUV or Truck first to be able to drive the Hummer H2, the Explorer had the shortest line.
Hummer course.- 25 MPH limit.
Hummer H2. The H2 had it's own course. They had a dirt hill set up for the Hummer that was about 30 feet tall pretty and pretty steep up and down (about 50 degrees). It was kind of earie driving over the hill because you couldn't see where you were going, just two flags at the top of the hill to mark the course. The hill had no sides to it so it was like you were hanging in the air. After going down the hill they had a mound on one side that tilted the truck sideways pretty far (maybe 30 degrees) and then a short section of giant speed bumps on alternating sides. They had someone ride along with you and handle the gear changes for the hill etc. After the speed bumps it was just a short parking lot course.
Passenger Car Course - 25 MPH limit. You had to drive a passenger car or luxury car first in order to drive the Vette.
Pontiac GTO (manual) - They had the GTO with the passenger cars (Toyota Echo, Honda Accord, Saturns etc.) which was really dissapointing since they had a 25 MPH limit on the course, only got it out of first gear once and that was just for a short distance. The car sounds nice but the dash is awful, bright yellow face gauges. Looks like a kids toy. They should have had the GTO over with the Corvette.
Corvette & Chevy SSR Course - No speed limit.
Corvette Z6 - There was no speed limit with the Vette but you couldn't take it out of second gear, they had an insturctor ride along to enforce the rules. The course was a straight section maybe 1/4 mile long that you accelerated on followed by a wide sweeping left back around to the pit area. After shifting into 2nd on the straight you weren't allowed touch the shifter again. Even with this fairly simple course and an instructor riding along, one guy managed to spin out in the middle of the sweeper, killed about 5 cones and ended up in the middle of the course facing the opposite direction. He got a good round of applause when he got back.
Luxury Car Course - This course had a 30 MPH limit. It started out with a sweeping left that you could get a little speed up on and then gentle right followed by a sharp left, the rest of the course was a series of turns including a simulated evasive turn section. I had the most fun on this course a drove several of the cars including:
BMW 325i - Not very memorable.
Caddy CTS - Nice power in sport mode, had the most fun in this car. They had a Caddy XLR sitting nearby that you could look at but couldn't even sit in. Tried to convince to let me drive that but no luck.
Mercedes C230 - Wasn't impressed.
Saab 9-5 Aero - Odd car overall, ignition key is in the center console, had a manualmatic mode with paddle switches. Up shift on the right side of the steering wheel, down shift on the left. The switches were pretty small and difficult to find especially with the wheel turned, the paddle switches on the automatic RX-8 seemed much more natural.
Truck Course - 25 MPH limit. Drove some of the small trucks since I'm looking at replacing my Toyota in a few years.
Toyota Tacoma 4x4 Quad Cab - A lot of room for a small truck.
Nissan Fronter 4x4 - Didn't care for the exterior styling of this truck. It has the bolt on look fender flares. Interior was fine but had a lot of squeaks and rattles and the brakes were noisy. Truck had less than 200 miles on it.
GMC Canyon 2WD - Nice feeling truck, very car like.
All the cars were new, none of the ones I drove had 200 miles on it yet. I sure wouldn't want to buy one of the Vettes after the show after several hundred people have done full thottle launches in a car that isn't even broken in yet.
Overall it was a nice way to spend a morning and was well worth the price of admission (free). GM even provided lunch (ham or turkey sandwich, cookie, chips and an apple) and sodas.
Check out http://www.autoshowinmotion.com/pls/asim/frmMain.Show for more information about future dates. The next one is in Irvine CA and looking at the courses it seems like the Corvette course is much longer there.
*Edit* Added website info
Last edited by Zoom2X; 02-02-2004 at 06:13 PM.
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