Let's talk sticks

This weekend I went to the NC Auto Show with a few friends; it was my first time at the NC Auto Show and I didn't go there with incredibly high expectations (we don't get the same caliber of cars in NC that you'd see at Geneva or NY shows :)...), but it ended up being pretty interesting.

We essentially went around comparing clutches and shifters on just about every car out there. Mike Andrawes came with us and we determined that Mike and I have completely different opinions on what the ideal stick is. Mike is much more of an RX8 shifter guy whereas I prefered the 911 shifter they had on the floor; I do like the short throw of a lot of the Honda/Mazda shifters but they are a bit too notchy for my tastes. It's a shame that there's no good in between, although I will add that I'm sure a lot of them smoothen up once the engine is actually running and they have a handful of miles on them.

The new Mustang looks infinitely better in person than the current gen Mustangs, I definitely think it was a good improvement. It still looks a little bulky but it's a huge improvement; I like it.

I was disappointed that the new C6 Vette wasn't there as it's the first Vette since the Z06 that I've been excited about. I'm still more of a high/free revving engine fanatic, but the lighter, slightly smaller, more powerful C6 does pique my curiousity a bit.

The shifter in the Crossfire was horrible; it was incredibly sloppy, lacked any sort of definition, was springy beyond belief and just felt cheap. The styling of the Crossfire is unique but I honestly don't see it being much of a hit.

I'd seen the new BMW 5 series in person before and I hated it; they had the 5 series at the show and I continued to hate it but I also came to the realization that I don't think the interior is that impressive either. I will admit that I don't usually follow the norm when it comes to thinking an interior is nice (e.g. I think the Audi interiors are nice when it comes to build quality but I'm not particularly impressed by them as far as styling goes). I do like what I've seen from the sketches of the upcoming 3 series, but I think the 5 is all wrong. I hate the 6 series as well. If you really want to see how confusing my perspectives are, get this: I like the Z4's styling (minus the nose). Mike says I have a warped perspective on cars.

The RX8 is nice and I prefer the free-revving setup to the 350Z (I've always been a fan of finesse) but I don't see that car succeeding at all. The styling of the RX8 is simply too weird and the fact of the matter is that most people can feel the 350Z's torque, whereas the vast majority of the car buying market will never rev the RX8 high enough to get an appreciation for the engine (I'm not talking about car people, I'm talking about person x who likes the way the car looks and knows nothing about it otherwise). The 350Z also looks a lot better than the RX8; it's a shame that the arrival of a RX7 successor seems to hinge on RX8 sales.

Hmm let's see what else did I have rambling opinions on...the Evo VIII is interesting, it's a little too boy-racer for me but you can't beat speed; I'd like to drive one. The S2000 still intrigues me as it is a light, free-revving, very trackable convertible (whose top drops in an incredibly few number of seconds). The new TL is a techgeek's dream, although I'm not a FWD guy you can't beat the amount of cool toys Acura threw into that car. The TL is the type of car that you absolutely have to buy a bluetooth phone for.

The car that I'm looking forward to the most this year is the new Elise. The Elise is the epitome of a driver's car and it's finally going to be street legal here in the US without modification this year. Unfortunately it looks like the cars will carry at least some of a markup this year unless demand is significantly lower than what I've been hearing. I'll take weight savings over more power any day.

Ooops, I carblogged :)