Last week­end, my son Jay, his friend Tay­lor and I went to the Den­ver Auto Show. It was great!

A high­light was see­ing the Honda CR-Z in real life. It’s a small 2-seater that’s the grand­child of my favorite car that I ever owned, a Honda CRX. They both have a great com­bi­na­tion of fun dri­ving and excel­lent fuel econ­omy. The CR-Z updates the for­mula by adding hybrid drive. (And of course the cost will be about four times what the CRX was, not adjusted for inflation.)

The low­light was the new Jaguar XJ. For more than $72,000, it did not deliver any­thing close to my expec­ta­tions. Admit­tedly, I did not get to drive one. But I sat inside and played with all the knobs and con­trols. I was com­pletely unim­pressed at how one of the rear pas­sen­ger lighted mir­rors did not come on like it was sup­posed to. And from this pic, you can tell that they styl­ist chose a clock that would have been more at home inside a 1980 Cadil­lac. It also looked like I could have bought one off a ven­dor in the streets of Nairobi for about $20.

My only regret about the show was that John could not join us. (He’s in Germany.)