IMR: Entries: 2002: March: 19 — Tuesday, March 19, 2002

Zoom Zoom Surprisingly, I didn't have to drag Jen to the 2002 First Hawaiian International Auto Show on Saturday.   The auto show returns to Honolulu. The Toyota Matrix gets a spokesperson. The funky SSR truck from Chevrolet. Ford's reworked Thunderbird. Good try. A PS2-based test drive of sorts. The FHB slot machine had the longest line. The Cadillac Escalade is not a small car. A Harley? Katie's not sure what to think. A pickup shot to compare to this one. My beautiful wife picks her favorite. A bit of a fender bender out front. Recreating the scene for the cops. In fact, kicking tires and fondling engine components is clearly not the owned realm of testosterone carriers. The division between the sexes was certainly evident when comparing the crowds around the Chevy trucks to those around the Audi sedans, but there were almost as many women climbing into cars as men. The annual auto show — at least since the last one we went to two years ago — is now a considerably flashier affair than it used to be. Instead of a bunch of local dealers bringing cars off their lots to the grimy Blaisdell Exhibition Center, a national promoter now brings the real deal to the Hawaii Convention Center all the way from the mainland — custom carpeting and exclusive concept cars included. Of course, you now have to shell out six bucks to get in, too. (Five if you bought and printed your ticket off the web.) While Jen recoiled at the box office price, I figured it was still worth it. Cheaper than a movie, at least, and — considering how much fun Katie had last time — a perfectly good way to spend a hot and humid morning. After stopping inside the door to fill out the usual "Win A Car (And Give Us Marketing Data to Send Junk Mail)" forms and circumnavigating the line for First Hawaiian Bank's giant video slot machine (try for a tote bag!), we set about to see the sights. Katie was immediately revved up, and begged to climb into every big, shiny vehicle in the place. It was easy to identify the stars of the show, based on the height and complexity of their respective pedestals. Unlike the PT Cruiser debut in 2000, though, nothing looked like a sales slam dunk. There was the Toyota Matrix, rotating away as a tall blonde in a miniskirt babbled on about its "unprecedented utility," which is already on the road as the Pontiac Vibe. It's sold as a crossover vehicle, obviously aiming for the same "what is it?" mystique of the PT Cruiser, but basically it's another mid-sized SUV. I'd give the styling — its main selling point, especially versus the Vibe — a generous C-minus. It looked like someone either stepped on a Toyota van, or pumped air into a Celica. (In fact, it looks like they took some cues from the Pontiac Aztek, arguably the ugliest car of the last decade.) Two other cars on pedestals also exhibited some "retro" PT envy: the new Chevrolet SSR truck/roadster, and the revived and redesigned Ford Thunderbird. I didn't get the SSR at all. And their promotional material, of course, pretends to not know what it is, either. I guess a sports truck makes sense if your regular ol' trucks are selling like hotcakes. But it just looks like it comes in really low on the "practical use" scale. The look of the new Thunderbird takes some time to get used to, meanwhile, but I think I like it. (It's certainly a more fitting revival than what Chevy did to the Impala and Nova.) The retention of the round rear "porthole" windows and the front fender vents were a nice touch. They also smartly put out a convertible model straight off the bat. I still think someone with $40,000 to spend on an American sports car would go for the Chevrolet Corvette instead, though. Not surprisingly, we spent most of our time with the cars on the floor. I made a courtesy stop at the PT Cruiser, which was now sporting a "Woody" faux wood paneling package. (I still think it looks best in red.) I sat in the Dodge Stratus, because I still never forgot how much I liked the one we rented when we visited Hilo. And having enjoyed Car & Driver's hilarous and scathing review of the Cadillac Escalade, I had to size it up for myself. (It's big.) Once again, I was embarassed by the part of me that wanted to compare and contrast the latest minivans. And surrendering to my inner grandpa, I climbed into the latest Dodge Caravan, just to see how things have changed since they built my trusty, boxy steed. The Chevy Venture with the roof mounted video player was a hit with the kids ("Space Jam" was playing), while the Volkswagen Eurovan (with the high camper top) was surprisingly popular with the grown-ups. Were I resigned to remain in squaresville for another decade, I decided, I'd be torn between the Mazda MPV or the Chrysler Town & Country. Our primary preoccupation that day, however, was picking out a car for Jen. (As if we could afford one, and as if Jen had a driver's license.) We happily fell into the fictional role of would-be yuppies with a growing family in the market for an affordable, four-door, second family car. We even set our price range around a low $18,000, with a cap of $25,000. The final contenders? The Ford Focus, the Toyota Echo, and the Volkswagen Jetta. The first seemed like the roomiest, but also felt the least comfortable. The Echo was still too ugly to even approach (I once wrote that it "looks like it was just kicked from behind"), and was more an economy compact anyway. The VW Jetta won hands down. Jen fell in love with it. She went back twice to sit in it, and both times I had to pull her out. She was so comfortable behind the wheel, she even let me take her picture. Jen especially liked the color that happened to be on the floor — "Galactic Blue," I think. As she sighed and smiled, I agreed that in its class, nothing else seemed to come close. So I told her I'd buy her one... if I could. Our car-buying fantasies fully sated, we headed home. And I made a mental note to give the van a good washing.

Comments I remember when the price was $3.00 at the Blaisdell, and I used to go every year because I worked across the street and parked in the Blaisdell lot. We really should try to put together a Hawai'i blogcon of some sort. I'm willing to work with (emphasize WITH..grins) anyone else to try to get one going. —Linkmeister (March 19, 2002 10:00 PM) NYC is having their auto show next week. Damn tickets to get in are $10. How much was it at the Blaisdell? —Sun (March 20, 2002 5:26 PM) I wanted to go, but the kids were being bad... —Chris (March 21, 2002 6:47 PM) i wanna know about the Convertible Pt cuisers. I wanna know when they will come out, when i can purchase one , and can u please send me a picture of it with the top up and the top down. Thank you!:) —Mandy Serrato (June 18, 2002 7:08 AM) E kala mai! Comments have been disabled due to overwhelming abuse by spammers. Please click through to any of the video hosting services linked above to leave a public response, or feel free to send an e-mail. Mahalo! < March 16 · March · May 01 > © 1997-2008 Ryan Kawailani Ozawa · E-Mail: imr@lightfantastic.org · Created: 13 November 1997 · Last Modified: 14 January 2008