Denver Auto Show 2011

Last Friday night, I took Jay, Ben & Rachel to the Car Show. This was Rachel’s first time. At 10 years of age, she wasn’t quite up to the amount of looking at new cars that Jay would have enjoyed. But we all enjoyed the evening.

A highlight was the weirdest Toyota minivan ever – it was about ten feet longer than normal and had the strangest interior (top photo). It was a very low-rider – about 2″ of ground clearance.

We all loved loved the Scion iQ, a great little small (very small) car that is finally being sold in the States (middle pic). Think Smart Car with a rear seat.

Finally, my personal favorite was the Honda CR-Z. It’s the grandson (granddaughter?) of the CR-X, probably one of my favorite cars that I’ve owned (bottom pic). It scored a 10 on the EPA’s Global Warming Score and a 9 on the Smog Score. (10 is the highest.)

A fun family outing!

Update: The iQ has an EPA fuel economy rating of 37 miles per gallon highway. Ford has a Focus that gets 40 mpg and Chevrolet has a Cruze that gets 42 mpg. (Both provide far more room and versatility.) It just wouldn’t make sense for someone to get an iQ, unless its novelty value was huge for them – or if they lived in a place like NYC, where parking is a challenge.

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3 Replies to “Denver Auto Show 2011”

  1. The “mini-van” you’re referring to is a style popularized in Japan (recently started hitting the states) called VIP. It’s all about getting your car as low as possible, and having an aggressive stance (modifying camber + height). Think, FORM > FUNCTION for those guys.

    – JT

  2. Agreed about the Toyota minivan, and I liked the Scion IQ and Honda CR-Z too. Although the CR-Z’s listed fuel economy was a little disappointing — the Ford Fiesta, Hyundai Elantra and Chevy Cruze all get better highway gas mileage without a hybrid motor and with room for four. Probably not as fun to drive though.

    I posted pics of some of my other favorites here:
    http://felixwong.com/2011/04/denver-auto-show-4/

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