Chevrolet premiered its new Camaro Convertible at the show yesterday.  Among the things set up is this cool photo booth, but not just any photo booth, but one with something like 4 dozen cameras lined up in an arc that increases in height. You jump, the flashes go off and you are captured frozen in flight.  The entire set of images is strung together with a 3d”ish” video of you frozen in flight with the Camaro.  Very cool and very fun.  I predict that this will be hands down the most used interactive display at the show this year.  Its that cool.  When done you can facebook it, twitter it or email it to yourself.  How cool is that?

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German Press and Jetta TDI "Green Car of the Year"

Volkswagen did the unimaginable at the LA Auto Show.  It garnered the “Green Car of the Year”.  VW did it with a diesel, not a hybrid, not some exotic fuel, but a performance oriented turbo-DIESEL.  Hopefully that award will open up a few eyes to the ease one can “go green” and not have to give up any driving fun in the process.  (Snark alert:hopefully once and for all it will undo the diesel myths and damage done by GM with their failed attempt of making the diesel an important part of the US auto scene 30 years ago).

When I first heard it started inside the LA Convention center I knew there was going to be something really special about this car.  It didn’t smoke at start.  Other than a quick clatter when it first started it was silent when running.  It was silent under light acceleration.  The exhaust had a faint smell, not the sweet-sour you associate with a gas car, something more or less “nutty”.  Not objectionable, certainly not visible and something you had to look hard to notice.  That is a huge change from the last round of diesel VW’s we saw here a few years ago.

This years LA Auto Show had a few new wrinkles for press days.  The big one was that the manufacturers ponied up nearly 2 dozen “green cars” for the media to drive.   They were all were nominees for “Green Car of the Year” and represented a broad approach to cleaning up our cars more than they already are.  For my driving I opted for those cars that are more traditional in nature that the average guy would feel right at home in and get great results without having to change their driving habits or style.  (Well, one car was just for kicks and giggles simply because I want one.  You have to read to the end to figure out which one it is I wanted).

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I’ve spent the last two days wandering around the LA Auto Show checking it all out.  This is a quick run down of my favorite activities at the show that will be available to the public at large when the show opens.  

My absolute favorite was Volvo’s “City Safe” demo where you actually get to sit in the car and put the system to the test real time.  It works, amazingly well.  I have to thank Adam Kopstein from Volvo who let me ride along and “tape” the ride.  Its amazing how well the system works.  I did it and failed the first time as instinct stepped in and before I got close enough to activate the system, I braked myself and had to retry the test.  Its freaky.  It works.

It doesn’t take much imagination to see this working very well in real life.  Imagine being in a parking lot, or bump and go traffic, exhausted and turning around to hand the kid in a car-seat a bottle or just turning your head before a lane change and the car in front stops quickly.  City Safe won’t let you rear end them, or if fast enough you won’t do much more than a tap with no damage to either of you.  Bring your DL and be prepared to stand in line.  Its a trip but well worth the thrill…and no extra charge! Read the rest of this entry →