All Cars, All the Time

Auto Show In Motion--The Experience

I went to GM's Auto Show in Motion (ASIM) in San Jose on Saturday. This is the second ASIM that I've attended. The first ASIM was at Candlestick/3Com/Monster Park near San Francisco. I didn't think the setup of the San Jose event was as efficient as the San Francisco one. For example, there were two tents that fed into one course. This means that 10 or more models of cars were all jostling into one road course and that meant a long wait to get to the starting line. Now take a hot car like the Solstice (of which they had four available for driving), take a line of 30 people of which almost everyone was driving and you've got an hour wait on your hands.

The most exciting event of the day was a shoving match at the front of the Solstice line. I'm not sure what started the whole imbroglio but a couple of GM reps had to run over and soothe matters. Now, I don't know what sort of conflict resolution training these folks have but they seemed to handle it pretty well once they noticed.

First impressions of the Solstice would be that you sit very low in the car, really low. My wife had a hard time seeing over the hood and she’s 5’2”. We didn't have a lot of time to fiddle with the seat, what with 30 very anxious people standing right behind us. The first thing I would mention is this sitting in a bathtub feeling. The plastics on the dash are hard and space inside is tight, but overall I liked the layout and design of the instrument panel. The car had good power out on the course, but then again it isn't much of a course. The Solstice demonstrated none of the cowl shake that the SSR did. The handling exhibited by the Solstice around the road course was excellent as was the exhaust note. We didn't get a chance to fiddle with putting the top up. Our time was too short in the car, but overall it was a very promising drive.

Driving the SSR was a treat. What a great rumble from the exhaust and the SSR didn't lean in the corners as much as I feared it would. The acceleration was great. The dash plastic is hard, just like Solstice's, but less forgivable here given the asking price. We didn't have a chance poke around in the trunk, but it's certainly good for a two seat convertible--and that's really the way I think of the SSR: a two seat convertible that happens to be loosely based off a truck platform. There was very little room to adjust the seat, but for short stints the positioning would be fine. As I previously mentioned the cowl shake was very pronounced in the SSR. The truck felt very loose going over bumps wiggling and jiggling like Jell-O brand gelatin. Still seeing the SSR's lined up on the road course I felt a certain sense of satisfaction that GM would make the SSR (warts and all).

The HHR was another ride that I was interested in. Sitting in the back of one HHR, I noticed that the passenger’s seatback had a lot of wiggle. The driver’s seat was rock solid, but I could see that one trip to LA with a ten year old sitting in back kicking/shaking that seat would drive someone through the sunroof. I presume that this wiggle wasn’t a “feature” but rather a manufacturing defect. The first thing I think of when I see the HHR is “beach car.” I just want to load that car up with body boards, picnic basket, beach gear and drive right to the ocean. If you have to drive over some hills to the ocean, you’ll certainly notice that raspy nature of the engine. Given that we drove a model with leather, sunroof and all the fixins I presume we had the 170hp mill. You don’t notice the raspy nature of the engine until you poke the accelerator, but once you do it’s impossible to miss. The ride and handling were fine for a car of utilitarian nature. I loved the upright, narrow windshield that had a gunslit feel to it. The gauges were tasteful and the control layout was fine. Once again the plastics were noticeable for their brittleness, but at this price point it is more acceptable. Upgrading to leather should give you a richer feel than the shiny, plastic-like stuff that I sat on, though. Opening up the hatch revealed considerable cargo room, if a bit higher off the ground than a regular wagon would be. Overall I came away more impressed than I thought I would be by the HHR. I would like to see more power in the high end model or at least a more refined sound coming from the engine, all airbags should be standard, the cabin materials could benefit from another $50 investment and stability control should be available. The HHR is a nice, fairly priced alternative that I would consider over something like a Vibe.

Overall ASIM was a good way to spend 3 1/2 hours. Registration was quick. Overall lines weren't that bad. The layout of the courses wasn't as good as Monster Park, especially the aforementioned overloaded passenger car/Pontiac course and the performance course which was merely an oval where we weren't allowed to shift out of second gear. The food (chips, cookie, apple) was, as expected, nowhere near what Lexus, Mercedes, Jaguar offer but I'll take GM's invitation to borrow the keys to their cars any day.