NAIAS 2008

I'm live at the NAIAS 2008 (courtesy of neuwerks media) and it's game time! Please check out the galleries at Neuwerks for our pictures, videos, and podcasts!

The Passat CC was the star at VW this year. A new, upmarket car with even more bells and whistles and the best seats VW has produced in 20 years. The bucketness of these seats is amazing. I can see the Alcantara versions being in high demand among the enthusiast crowd. I'm tempted to see if I can shoehorn them into my Passat. I have the Alcantara waiting for them....

I'd be remiss if I didn't comment right away on the Ford Verve - it's a pretty and small 3dr that was showed in a lovely magenta metallic. The interior was detailed.... OMG WTF am I talking about!?! The plate on it may as well have come out and said "Vagisil". I'm of course for cars marketed to women, but this is ridiculous. This is a great little coupe/hatch that's perfect for hopping around and going out on the town. What's with the over-the-top girlieness of the plate on it? If you want to make it girlie, paint it pink and put Barbie in it. There's only so much Disney princess I can take in a car. The princess factor should never be more significant than the car factor. Fact.

Now over to the ZR-1. I love it! It's old school sexy in a 2-seater with serious balls to match. My favorite part of the display was a full spaceframe with drivetrain that GM upended and labeled for the technically challenged among us. All of GM's iron was accessibly displayed and it grows easier on the eyes every year.

The Beat, Trax, and Groove concepts from Chevy show their intention in the kei-size micro car market. Each offers a stylish small package with a variety of options.

I took the Suzuki X-Head to task over on CarDomain, and with good humor. It's so outright silly that it could only come from a company that does most of its marketing to motocrossers.

The Nissan GT-R made an appearance yesterday and my God, is it huge. Keep in mind that I drive a station wagon, and not one of those wanna-be 5dr ones. I drive a huge, hulking station wagon. The GT-R seems as big as my wagon. At some point, performance suffers from size. Driving experience certainly does. It is beautiful, though. I rarely like Nissan's styling directions, but this time, they have pulled some elegant retro (rear end treatment) and sharp new school lines together to make a sharp automobile. I just don't really plan to drive it - too darn big.

I'll put some more buzz up tonight after I get through another day on the floor. My feet were killing me last night. No more 3" heels for me this week!