This morning I went on my first visit to the annual Kansas City Auto Show in Bartle Hall at the convention center. There were a few concept cars, but mostly the show was about displaying the 2008 models. I've included a few highlights below. I took my camera, but I left the battery at home, so this post relies on images taken from the internet. (I also left my wife at home, because she is preparing for Murphy Madness, which starts this week.)
Bartle Hall: The convention center is an impressive structure that is built over the freeway. There are four "smoke stacks" that use cables to hold up the roof. The interior is larger than eight football fields. This year, the Kansas City Auto Show displayed over 500 cars from 40 different car makers.
Cheapest: The cheapest car on the floor was this Chevy Aveo that has an MSRP of just over $10k. Ten thousand dollars sounds like a lot of money until you find out what it will buy at a new car dealer.
Most Expensive: The most expensive car that I could find was this Cayenne Turbo. It listed for $105k. That much money would buy a whole fleet of 1986 Volkswagen Golfs (we originally paid $1k dollars for the Golf). I guess an SUV like this would get your kids to soccer practice really fast, because it pumps out 500hp. It made the enormous, fully loaded Suburban look like a relative bargain at $60k.
Lamest: The lamest car by far was this Zenn (Zero Emissions No Noise) vehicle. I'm a huge supporter of all-electric vehicles, but this thing has a range of 35 miles and a top speed of 25 mph. With this car, I wouldn't be able to turn onto our front street without getting eaten alive. I don't know who would pay the $12k they are asking for this souped up golf cart.
Most Sat In: While far too small for my comfort, I think the Smart Car shows promise. I like the idea of a fuel efficient, inexpensive car. This car was so popular at the show people actually stood in lines so they could sit inside.
Most Likely to Be Owned by Toby: The Jeep Hurricane was awesome to behold. It looked wildly out of place next to the other SUVs. It comes with four-wheel independent steering that creates a turn radius of zero. There are no doors and the body is largely made of carbon fiber. If I could have taken one vehicle out for a spin today, this probably would have been it.
6 comments:
Obviously I am not a man, BUT last year Luke took Livi to this and they LOVED it! Thanks for the post!
What's Murphy Madness? Sorry that's a random comment, but everything else was cool and made sense. Therefore this is the only thing that needs clarification.
Hey, this very cool and interesting!
Since JoLee is totally consumed by art history requirements this week, I will explain that Murphy Madness is the week long schedule of events that is part of the Murphy Seminar, a class JoLee is taking this semester. Dr David Lubin of Wake Forest University is visiting the department this week, and in his honor they are holding an event every evening at Lawrence. JoLee is presenting her paper about the Martha Graham painting tonight. I, on the other hand, will be bachin' it alone. Well, the I guess the Big Z will be around...
I remember as a kid going up to the old Salt Palace in Salt Lake to the auto shows with my dad and three brothers. There's nothing more manly that spending money to just look at (read: covet) cars. I love it. I still remember seeing a maroon colored Vector w8 super car for the first time as well as several concept cars which I perceived as options. All I needed was to get old enough.
Don't you be giving Toby any ideas. He is dreaming about new cars.
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