New York Motor show

[Simon]

If anyone is planning on going to the New York motor show it would be great if you could take some pictures and post them here.

[squishmann]

i may be going to see it and the new RL.

but if i go i'll be sure to take tons of pics

[ThaBrkrs349]

Originally Posted by Simon

If anyone is planning on going to the New York motor show it would be great if you could take some pictures and post them here.

Consider it done Simon! I'll be there on Monday the 12th.

[Simon]

Cheers!

[PaulH]

im gonna be there on sunday and im bringing my camera. consider it done.

Paul

[Mattlach]

Originally Posted by squishmann

i may be going to see it and the new RL.

but if i go i'll be sure to take tons of pics

I am interested in going, but my brief googling turned up little in the when/where/how much it will cost me category.

Any links to any official web pages?

Thanks,
Matt

[PaulH]

Originally Posted by Mattlach

Any links to any official web pages?

yup http://www.autoshowny.com/

Paul

[Mattlach]

Originally Posted by PaulH

yup http://www.autoshowny.com/

Paul

Thanks!

Chances are I'll go, but believe it or not, I don't own a camera!!! (if I did I'd have a picture of my own car on the web )

[squishmann]

my mind is about 80% made up. i'm going to take SEPTA and then NJ Transit to get there. that'll cost me about $15 for 3 hours

and then i'll walk from PENN Station to the Convention Center.

i might have to take the bus from the convention center back to penn station.

[Mattlach]

Originally Posted by squishmann

my mind is about 80% made up. i'm going to take SEPTA and then NJ Transit to get there. that'll cost me about $15 for 3 hours

and then i'll walk from PENN Station to the Convention Center.

i might have to take the bus from the convention center back to penn station.

Im not really familliar with the convention center area. Am I to assume that parking is hard to come by if I were to drive there? (really thats my only option from RI)

[squishmann]

^if i where you i would get there very very very early. and expect to pay a lot for parking.

[Simon]

GM's overview of the NY Motor Show...

http://media.gm.com/events/autoshows...Y04/index.html

[Mattlach]

Just got back from the auto show. It was a good time. i got to see the 9-7x, 9-2x and a hatch concept of the 9-3.

I talked to one of the SAAB exhibit staff in Swedish and got him to admit something...

"Tja, det är väl inte precis en riktig SAAB..."

translation

"Well, it's not exactly a real SAAB..."

He acknowledged that the SAAB people weren't exactly happy about the 9-7x and 9-2x thing.. (and neither apparently are the Subaru people...)

My $.02

[squishmann]

Mattlach

thank you for your efforts.

but i think we could have guessed they weren't happy. and we all no it is not a pure saab since more that 50% of the parts are shared.


i'll be at the show and i plan to get interior pics of the truck.

[squishmann]

i was unsuccessful in getting 'live shots of the interior

i tried to give one of the reps my camera to take pics and they wouldn't do it.



at 1st glance it didn't look bad. then when you see it from the side it is so obvious. there are a few changes.

-there is a piece of amber in the headlamp assembly(U.S. spec)
-and the rear tailgate is an exact copy of the rainier
- if you would like to sit in one then go to your buick dealership.


all of the wood inside is fake. the door pulls are plastic. and the seats are waaay to soft and bouncy.

the 18" wheels look like 15s with the huge wheel arches.




here are some of the comments i heard about it while standing in the background


"that's a saab?"
"that thing is ugly"
"ummm what does it look like, oh the Bravada(oldsmobile)"
"GM is just using the leftover parts"
"i like the interior colors"
"you can get a trailblazer for 10,000 less"
"where's the X5?, let's go see that"


people didn't even pay it any attention or give it a second look. i would've thought they would have someone giving a presentation. the saab display was lame if you ask me. no excitement.


people did like the 9-3s

a lot of people liked the sport hatch. even men who would never want to be caught in a wagon. but you heard comments like "Now that's a wagon" everyone loved the design of that car.

noone payed the 9-2x any attention either. i stood there for a good 5 minutes and no one looked at it for more than 20 seconds.


people loved that the radio could be turned on, i had the cleaning guy press the radio button on the 9-7 and nothing happened.




overall. the saab will not do well. reasons below

a) someone visits a cadillac/saab showroom(SRX)

b) like i've said before, women are the decision makers when it comes to SUVs, the saab has no 3rd row seat and they get hung up on that. i also find that the rear legroom is lacking

c)if it handles like a truck then forget it. there are other alternatives, ala MDX which is a fan favourite
someone looking at the saab has also got to like the MDX whn it comes to styling

d)people shop price and not the car. even if the saab is better on paper than it's cousins and it just so happens that they can buy an envoy for 10k less than they will do that.

e)this car has to be a whore, incentives have to be numerous to get people to buy this thing

the problem is that people recognized what it was so easily. and i'm not talking about gearheads i'm talking about moms and dads. the Internet will not be a big help either. you know consumer sites such as Edmiunds are going to slam it.

[PaulH]

i just got back from the auto show, bout the same observations as everyone, noone was overly excited about the 9-7, the 9-2 was more of the same (although i liked it). and i only got 2 pics of the interior, looks pretty lame.





Paul

[MyOwnRoad]

It looks nice, the cockpit design is typical Saab, though it looks like it still have typical flimsy GM plastics. Better than the 9-2x in execution but still I'm pretty underwhelmed with both of Saab's latest two offerings. I'm afraid even the typical non-enthusiast buyer would even suspect traces of Buick Rainier and Oldsmobile Bravada that it will make it a tough sell, unless Saab really did their magic on tuning the chassis.

Hopefully they can sell enough to keep Saab afloat so they can develop more cars, like a AWD three-door hatch for example.

[CosmicSaab]

Weel at first I thought the wood was real but after those two picc it clearly is not. I also thought the plastics looked reasonably good, but no more. I was getting hopeful but now I am back to where I started when I first saw it:

We're doomed.

I don't think it is ugly per se, but I have seen better thats for sure. The more I see it the more I hope it sells well so that we can get rid of it and get an SUV that has just a little bit more Saab in it!

[Mattlach]

Originally Posted by E715

Weel at first I thought the wood was real but after those two picc it clearly is not.

Correct me if I'm wrong,. but I dont think the wood in my 9-5 is real either...

[Nairda]

I bet the wood is actually real but GM managed to make it look cheap :-?
The grey plastic doesn't go very well with the wood trim. Maybe if the
interior was black it would look better. Maybe if GM called Saab and had them
ship some 9-3 or 9-5 steering wheels the truck's interior wouldn't look so bad.
MYOwnRoad:

Hopefully they can sell enough to keep Saab afloat so they can develop more cars,
like a AWD three-door hatch

I hope that will be the case and the 9-7X/9-2X will be the first and last rebadging.