The L.A. Auto Show has officially come and gone, and we’ve seen all the big debuts and exciting new concepts that the show had to give. Here’s a short list of the highlights that we enjoyed most–from brand new world debuts to slighty off-the-rocker concepts that we can’t help but love.
If there are two material things that discerning men love, they’re hot cars and hot watches (plastic boobs aren’t bad, either). Women get to wear all kinds of jewelry, but for men, the watch is really the primary way to dress up an otherwise dull outfit. The same types of things that make supercars great–precise design and engineering, top-end materials like titanium, leather and carbon fiber and a careful eye for aesthetic detail–also separate the most exclusive timepieces from the rest of the pack. It’s no surprise, therefore, that the two industries often collaborate to give us some of the most stunning (and expensive) timepieces in the world. Here’s a look at 1o of our recent favorites.
Last week, a survey by Wales-based insurance company GoCompare found that BMW drivers are the most awful, dreaded drivers on the streets of Great Britain. While that’s about as surprising as the rumors that Christina Aguilera broke up with her hubby because she’s a sex-hungry skank, it’s good just the same to get some hard evidence for a fact that otherwise begs to be taken for granted.
While I had a hearty chuckle at the survey’s finding, I thought about it and realized that horrible, horrible drivers are a phenomenon that cut across makes and models. While BMW drivers are often blazing a-holes, they aren’t the drivers that most make me want to curl up in the fetal position and call out sick from work for years straight to avoid. No, those types of drivers don’t drive any specific car, but share some more unsavory traits. Here’s a look at my least favorite drivers to encounter on the road.
Photo: Lord Jim
Last year, an industry-rattling study from the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute showed that those that text while they drive are 23 times more likely to crash than those that don’t. Following those findings, federal, state and local governments have been burning the midnight oil drafting tougher legislation and regulations to ban and penalize texting and other distractions while driving.
Meanwhile, the ever-industrious auto industry has been busy giving us a whole next generation worth of distractions that will likely be the subject of future studies and laws. Hidden behind thin reasoning that in-vehicle technology will streamline things people are already doing behind the wheel, automakers like Chevy and Ford have been busy merging mechanics and electronics in such offerings as in-vehicle Wi-Fi and voice-based social networking. In fact, earlier this month, the Consumer Electronics Show announced that it plans to expand this year’s in-vehicle technology exhibit for the 2011 show in January because the auto industry is just bursting at the seams with “valuable” new consumer technologies.
Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin–it’s become almost an unspoken rule that with great power comes great beauty. Supercars can be defined not only in terms of large engines and tiny 0 to 62 times, but in terms of curvaceous, flowing, satisfying looks.
Often, but not always. There are derivative designs, there are supercars with “great personalities” and then there are the ones that make you want to curl up into the fetal position and bawl until something beautiful happens. Representing the last faction, these uggos are here to remind us that all the speed and power in the world can’t make up for devastatingly flawed looks. They have the engines, aerodynamics and price tags to be called supercars, but you still wouldn’t be caught dead in one. What their looks do well is make us appreciate the Vantages and 599s that much more.
The Paris Motor Show has come and gone (at least as far as the media’s concerned) and there were scores of stunning concepts, big debuts and exciting green cars to numb our writers’ fingers for days on end. In fact, so many so that we couldn’t quite cover them all on a daily basis. So, instead, we’ve rounded up our 10 favorite cars, concepts and wheeled vehicles and thrown them together for your delight. Some of the cars we predicted would steal the show did, but surprisingly, this list is quite distinct from our Paris preview edition. Here are our 9 best in show of Paris.
The auto world spends so much time and verbiage expounding upon the virtues of cutting emissions that it’s easy to forget the cars and trucks on the other end of the list. Actually it’s not that easy, because the least efficient cars in America are some of the sexiest, most luxurious and otherwise ostentatious four-wheelers that have ever graced American highways. So we decided to pay a little homage to the top 10 gas-guzzling sweethearts of the American auto industry. If you’re an ultra-wealthy megalomaniac set on destroying the world one chunk of ozone at a time, these are the most effective arrows in your quiver.
Originally, we thought it’d be cool to put together a list of some of the wildest, funkiest concept choppers that we’ve seen over the past year or so. Then we realized that some of the top contenders were actually production bikes. So we opened up the gates to concepts, customs and production bikes and found what we feel are the meanest, craziest two-wheeled machines this side of Hollywood.
From every teaser, leak and early introduction that we’ve seen, the 2010 Paris Motor Show is shaping up to be a blockbuster event. Not that it’s that surprising, given the show is one of the biggest of the year and with no Frankfurt Motor Show this year, it’s bound to be bursting at the seams with big debuts and striking concepts. But it’s exciting just the same. As we count down the weeks, days and hours until showtime (Sept. 30 for the media folk), we thought it was time to take a look at the cars that we’re most excited to see.
