2014 L.A. Auto Show: Closing the Notebook
It's always difficult to encapsulate the mood at an auto show with one easy comment, and the 2014 Los Angeles Auto Show — as laid back as the media days were — is no different. For us, there was only real winner: The Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 concept clearly was the vehicle of the show. Still, for those interested in the big horsepower and expensive super cars, there will be plenty to look at during the public days, Friday through Nov. 30. Looking past pickup trucks — always difficult for us — we’d have to say the 2016 Ford Explorer, 2016 Volvo XC90, 2015 Land Rover Discovery Sport and Honda 2016 HR-V were the vehicles of the show.
Here's what we found interesting during our second day at the show:
- These are the two guys responsible for the design and creation of the Colorado ZR2 concept. Tyler Moffett (left) owns a lifted Chevy Astro van, a LUV, and an Olds '98. He's been dying to do this project from the day he and Tony Johnson, Colorado's marketing manager (right), paired up.
-
In the floor battle of pickup trucks, the three super powers were Ram, Ford and GMC, with the latter pulling away by one well-equipped Canyon All-Terrain from the other two (who tied with seven pickups each). It's worth nothing that Ford won the Biggest Square-Footage award with a massive indoor display, as well as an adjacent outdoor area where it had pickups, an off-road Power Wheels course for kids, several Mustang displays, a radio-control track, a hands-free park assist exhibit and a ride-and-drive signup.
-
Not sure if this counts as clever or just silly but Toyota offered guests a chance to toss a paper space shuttle into a small bed-mounted porthole. The Tundra pulled the Endeavor space shuttle through parts of Los Angeles on its way to the California Science Center.
-
You can take the truck out of our guy, but you can't take the guy out (from under) the truck. Not long after the introduction of the Colorado ZR2 concept, truck guys were sliding on the floor to get a better look at how the skid plating and rock rails attached to the frame.
- Every year the L.A. Auto Show does a pretty good job of filling a downstairs hall with plenty of custom and modified cars, trucks and classics. One of our favorites was this beautifully restored 1929 Ford Model A pickup. Thankfully, the interior wasn’t messed up.
-
What happens when you cover a 2013 Ford SVT Raptor with a metallic blue body wrap? The overall effect is sort of mesmerizing. There seems to be a depth of color not possible with conventional paint; cost is less than $15,000.
-
It just wouldn't be Los Angeles unless you had some clown do something completely impractical or nonsensical with his vehicle, in this case the 34-inch wheels have 36-inch tires (rubber bands?).
Cars.com images by Evan Sears and Mark Williams
Comments
digging that hummer... can't wait to go to awl mart with that thing..
That hummer tho...
The show's not over. First public day is tomorrow and Ford is making a great F-150 announcement.
^^^^^EPA?^^^^^
the best picture is the last one.
Whatever EPA Numbers Ford releases today won't matter cause I only trust the numbers from Motor Trend and the later numbers from fuelly.com when they come in.
You guys should be smart enough to know by now how they cheat by removing the tailgate, bumpers, gas tank just to get the numbers higher.
I guess some guys are so in love with the new truck they will believe anything and accept those lies as fact.
The 2015 F-150 4x4 crew, 145 WB with the 2.7 EB gets 17 city, 22 highway
28 mpg ? never in your wildest dreams!
( that FX4 decal on the bed will cost you an extra $5000 )
( trailer hitches don't come standard anymore it will cost ya)
The 2015 cost of the same 2013 F-150 I have now costs $48K .
No worries mate! My 2013 has a trade-in value of $36K so I can afford a new one without a $700/month payment.
I think Ford is offering a $1500 rebate on the first ones.
I was hanging out at my Ford Dealer, I was making a pest of myself, when they spot me talking to customers they quickly shoo them away from me.
Hmm, never realized the Raptor extended cab had the shorty 5'5" crew cab bed, thats a really short wheel base.
Hey, Chuck Z, I can't believe you trust Motor Trend. I don't trust any of the auto mags nor Consumer Reports. As far as what you say about Ford, Chevrolet and Ram do the same things. If you have such a distaste for Ford, why are you hanging out there shooing the customers away? Don't you have a life of some kind? Regardless what you say, I'll continue to buy Fords.
I find Motor Trend to be pretty reliable. They pretty much nailed the Ram Eco Diesels MPG before the EPA rating came out. I don't take anything from any publication or internet site, I simply use them as a guide and one part of shopping for a vehicle.
"It just wouldn't be Los Angeles unless you had some clown do something completely impractical or nonsensical with his vehicle"
Not that I agree with the big rims and rubber bands, but wouldn't this same statement apply to those trucks that show up with 15" lifts and 40" tires?
If you love Motor Trend so much they got 22 mpg combined in a 4x2 Ram Ecodiesel.
Motor Trend got 18.5 mpg combined in a 4x4 2015 F-150.
Motor Trend got 19.3 mpg combined in a 4x2 2.5 Colorado.
______________
Put all numbers and gas and diesel prices into a fuel calculator and to drive 15k miles a year it costs:
Ram Eco $2,456.59
F-150 2,301.89 (save $154.74 over the Ram)
Colorado $2,206.48 (Save $250.11 over the Ram and $95.37 over the Ford)
So the Ram is way more expensive even though it got better mpg. It is miles per dollar that matter.
Lastly you can drive a base 4x2 Colorado and save $95 a year or just spend the $95 and drive the full-size Ford 4x4.
Because some of you love MT so much.
Put horses in front of the Hummer, and will look like a Stagecoach. With no side walls on tires, that's gotta be a rough feeling ride.
Odd they didn't bring in Chevrolet to battle Ford and Dodge on the floor. It really is looking like they're wanting to push people into GM-GMC brand trucks and just turn Chevy into a handful of performance offshoots. Still, sad for Chevrolet though.
The ZR2 is nice, excellent actually aside from the bling rims, but what a cheap looking dashboard.
Chrysler imported from Detroit. Awesome commercial.
2015 300
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGduTvbiUpo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iXdsvgpwc8
God bless the U.S.
Fugly H2. The ZR2 and F150 are awesome.
The comments to this entry are closed.