Thinking of taking my two boys to the show on Sunday....Just to get in the door it's going to cost $60!!!
Add lunch, the cost of GO Train, and who know what bling we pick up....It's one expensive day! Havn't been in years and thought it would be worth checking out....Speaking of new cars, I just returned a 2011 Volvo S60T6 AWD (300HP) after Volvo Canada gave it to me for 10 days, no strings attached. Had I known about the Ajax visit last weekend I could have shared it with you guys. One awesome car BTW..........not a Crossfire, but awesome regardless.....hoping to see similar at the AutoShow....

Looking at my summer Crossfire wheels and thinking....one of these days.....I'll soon have them mounted! Damn I can't wait to get the Coupe back on the road...!

 

Heading down on the 27th. Have not been in years. Free passes so why not. Looking forward to seeing what my wife won't let me have

 

I'll be there on Saturday with my wife and two friends. I still firmly believe that the best time is at the Detroit show. Get to Windsor at the bus terminal (Leave Toronto at 5 am and arrive at 0830). Pay about $5 to park safely at the Bus Terminal, then pay $19 to the bus agent and it gets you on the bus - over the border to the COBB Centre - into the show - return bus ride back to your car anytime up to 1130 at night. Food in the arena food centre at the show is an amazing bargain - $11 and you get a nice salad, a piece of fruit, a sandwhich or hot dog, a drink and a bag of chips. And, arguably you get to see more and nicer vehicles, better displays and experiences than in Toronto. And the models are VERY NICE too. Good skating and bars or the Red Wings are close by too. If you are inclined to walk around, you can see the Maritime Sailor's Cathedral ala Gordon Lightfoot and the Edmond Fitzgerald.

Then, stop in London for dinner at any of a dozen places on the way back. It's a great way to spend about 18 hours for about $100 (gas included). I've gone the past 4 years and passed on the Toronto show. This year I couldn't go, so the TO show it is. I hope it is better than it used to be.

 

Agreed, TO Auto Show is too expensive, too crowded and poorly organized.

 

Don't count on it, same old, same old ..... blah, blah, blah ...

 

Yep, that's why I haven't been in years. I gave up on it back when it was so big, they had it spilled over to the Rogers Centre, back then called SkyDome. Over crowded, spread over both the north and south buildings of the Toronto Convention Centre (and if you have walked it, you know the distance between the two) and then....if you wanted to see a specific manufacturer, or one that wasn't lucky enough to be in the convention centre, you then had to walk over to SkyDome. I just found the whole experience exhausting and overwhelming. Haven't been back since!
My real motivation to go this year is my 15yr old son who is a real car guy (knows more then me!) and has never been. My 19ryold Son will likely tag along. He too has never been....so you know, a day with the boys. Doing the Dad thing!!
If I end up going, I'll report back on the good, bad and ugly!

 

If I want to go look at a nice car I will put my winter coat on and go into the garage!
If I want to hear a car with power... I just open the car door and start 'er up! Maybe open the hood and have a peak at that sexy 2 of a kind supercharged V8 install

Thats my auto show.

Getting shivers just thinking about it... haha

Ohh and my auto show is free!

 

Got back after a shorter day then expected. Show isn't as big as once was. Got there early for 10a.m. Shows is advertised as starting at 10:30 but they open the doors at 10, my son and I were the first in the South Building. Spent two hours checking everything out. Very few concept cars. A trend to show all models in White were noticed with Audi, Volvo and Kia. Gone and disappearing fast are keys. The kind you hold in your hand and start the ignition with. Push button starts on everything including lower models. The keyless thing is also migrating over to the doors and trunks. No key access is seen everywhere. Touch the handle and the car unlocks. This all of course providing you have the fob in your pocket or purse. It begs the question; What happens with a dead battery? Being early allowed us to enjoy the show with little crowd. Things changed when we left the South Building and headed to the North Building. The North Building was shoulder to shoulder and much warmer. Not the greatest when everyone has Winter jackets on...we were in and out in one hour. Total show time; 3hrs and saw everything. Not all manufacturers had cars unlocked. A big beef with a lot of folks. Benz, Volvo, Audi (including R8), Mini, Mitsubishi had all the cars unlocked, but BMW, Jaguar and Nissan had locked cars. I saw one guy, similar in age to me, telling the attendant he is likely going to be purchasing a Brand New 370Z this summer, he was alone, and Nissan would not unlock the car for him...sheeeesh!

I'll likely pass on the show next year.

 

You are forgetting that you had to pay for a lifetime pass though. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

This year, yep i agree. Every year it gets smaller and smaller. plus the cars are becoming more boring then ever before IMO.. I mean yea, they got slighty sharper styling and such but all cars come in a standard colour plallet of 4. Black, blue, red, white, plus are all starting to look the same. Exciting stuff!!

The only thing that really sparked my intrest was the fiat 500, and this gigantic dulley Ram 3500 diesel with the mega cab. Kinda like a gigantic minivan. lol

Really what i was hoping to look foward to was the mercedes test track experience.. 3 years ago when my buds and i went to the auto show, we ended up finishing the show just past 1. On our adventure of trying to find a way out, we happened to sumble across a lineup of Benz suv's with the driving academy stickers on the side. It kinda spaked my intrested because i knew a bit about the benz driving academy. We asked the one fellow standing by if he new the way out, and asked us if we wanted to go down to the track and test out some cars. We were like SURE!!! . so he drove us down to a large snow cross track setup in a parking lot right next to ontario place. There; we spent the next 5 hours driving the #%#$ out of a selection of new model benz (3 different C-classes 1 was AWD, some E-classes, B-class, and smart cars) and we got to take them for a spin by ourself with no one telling us to slow down. Probably one of the funest things ive done.. Ever!. Nothin gets the blood flowing when you spin out and plow through a snow bank with a $75K E-class.. Thing was. they were all cool about it, and even gave some pointers to tackle the corners. Total Awesome!

Well this year they didnt have it


Some of the interesting highlights of this years show inculded looking a the mess that subaru had made with their engine bay, wish i would of grabed some pics of it.. All kidding aside..it looked like someone took a bunch of engine parts in a rubbermaid container, shook it about and dumped it into the engine bay.

Also as for the RX-8 on display, it had this really nice dark black/almost graphite metallic paint, i really liked it. But one of my buds found the design flaw for that car in 2 seconds. Some might know that, that car has a mini passenger door that opens like a suicide door, well if you open it too quickly, because the passenger seatbelt runs through it. The seat belt locks, and you cant open the door.

All the other econo boxes were just depressing to look at. Sad really...

After this show, it will probably be another 4 years before i go to the next one.
The Detroit auto show is the one i really want to go see!. I had a chance to go to the show about 3 years ago back in school, through one of our classes, but alot of the students just didnt have the time to take a day or 2 to go down. Would of been neat to see.