'09 Auto Show

My father-in-law and I went to the Cleveland Auto Show last night. These will probably be the cars I will buy in 5 or ten years. I'm just not a huge fan of buying new and losing all that value as soon as you drive off the lot.

My thoughts are that Honda makes the best, most functional cars on the market. The Honda Civic was the only car in its class where I felt confortable sitting in the back seat. Why have a passenger car that passengers or carseats can't fit into? The new 2009 Pilot is money. It also has the most space for a 3rd row SUV. Granted the gas milage still sucks, but the milage on all SUV's suck, literally and figuratively.

Of the Big Three, I thought Ford had the most stylish and decently priced cars. The new fusion looked good and I was impressed with the new styling of the 2010 Taurus. It honestly looks like it can compete with the Audi A8 or BMW 700 class. No joke - it looked sharp. The new 2010 F150 Raptor looked great too. It looks like something you could go bajaing in.

When I walked through GM & Chrysler, it just seemed blah. The sedan selections seemed cheap and overpriced. They are still trying to sell trucks and SUV's at ridiculous prices. Why would I pay more for an American Truck or SUV, when I can get a foreign one cheaper that would last longer? This again needs fixed for the American consumer to gain confidence back in buying American autos.

GM is coming out with the new Camero and Chrysler has the Challenger. These are big muscle cars that resemble the '70s. I understand the idea that they are marketing to the Baby Boomers, but these cars are impractical to the everyday buyer and will not drive revenues. However, they both look sharp and there is a good chance that I would get pulled over driving both.

Lastly, talking about impraticallity, the Nissan GRT blew my doors off. This car is bad ass. It reminded me of the old Toyota Supra's, but certainly has made some advancemnts in mechanics. It has a duel clutch so that you can more quickly get through the gears allowing you to go from 0-60 in 3.3 seconds. Ridiculous I know, but it would be a lot of fun.