Photos From the Washington Auto Show

Some good shots taken by Mathew at the regional Washington Auto Show in D.C.

Buick Encore is a small crossover

Chevrolet's new Impala looks sharp

Hyundai's Equus still draws a crowd

Lincoln MKC crossover

Lincoln's new MKZ sedan

Toyota's FT-BH is driving to the future.

Mathew rides past the beach and a Ford Escape

LeMay Car Museum Visit: A Photo Collage

We finally made it to the recently opened LeMay: America's Car Museum in Tacoma, Washington. We had a great time and now my son is eager to get a slot car set for Christmas. Here is a collage of the photos I took. My favorite cars were the station wagons from the 1950s.

Seattle Auto Show: Steering Wheel and Dashboard Edition

I spent Saturday morning tooling around the 2012 Seattle Auto Show with my son checking out the latest models from the major auto makers. As usual, I was more interested in some of the less-expensive small models than the exotic sports cars and luxury brands. Rather than do a broad recap of the show I'm going to do a series of posts that focus on trends or details that I found interesting.

This edition looks at some of the steering wheel and dashboard designs that I saw on the show floor. Also see my look at the tailpipe and exhaust designs and the wheels and rims. 

Spokes, buttons, leather, faux chrome and plastic were all represented when I was able to get my hands on the wheels of several interesting cars and trucks.

Hyundai Elantra GT steering wheel.
I would have strongly considered this model if it had been on sale when I was shopping in the late spring.
But the interior of my VW GTI is much, much higher quality.

Chevrolet Volt cockpit and steering wheel

Subaru Crosstrek steering wheel.
Good looking car on the outside, not so much on the inside.

Subaru BR-Z  with a meaty steering wheel to go with its sporty performance.

Jeep Grand Cherokee steering wheel

Dodge Journey dashboard and steering wheel.
I was impressed with this vehicle's packaging until I saw the fuel economy numbers.

The Dodge Dart dashboard with dueling screens.

The Dodge Ram pickup has the big, thick wheel you would expect.
This is bar far, the nicest of the full-size pickup interiors.

A meaty Mini Cooper Coupe steering wheel and dashboard

Morgan Three Wheeler interior

Nissan Frontier dashboard

Audi always does great interiors. The S6 is excellent.

Honda kept the new Accord's dash straightforward

Chevrolet Spark dash.
Small and inexpensive no longer means drab.

A Cadillac CTS wagon with a cool suede steering wheel and trim.

The new BMW 328 dashboard and wheel remain clean and simple.

Seattle Auto Show: Tailpipe Edition

I spent Saturday morning tooling around the 2012 Seattle Auto Show with my son checking out the latest models from the major auto makers. As usual, I was more interested in some of the less-expensive small models than the exotic sports cars and luxury brands. Rather than do a broad recap of the show I'm going to do a series of posts that focus on trends or details that I found interesting.

This edition looks at some of the tailpipe and exhaust designs that I saw on the show floor. Also see my look at the wheels and rims. 

Two, four, six, eight, we really appreciate fancy tailpipes.

A Volkswagen Golf R with two central exhausts.
One of the few cars at the show that I really lusted after 

The Hyundai Veloster Turbo has two massive central exhaust pipes.

Subaru BR-Z rear

Ferrari stacks the California exhaust pipes on the corners

Nissan GT-R with four exhausts

BMW M5 rear

A blue Jaguar XKR-S rear

Volvo S60 T5 sport sedan rear

Ford integrated the two exhaust pipes into the rear of the new Fusion sedan

Ram pick-up with dimples in the chrome bumper for two big pipes.

Caterham hangs the exhaust off the side 

Hyundai hid the exhaust for the Sonata Hybrid

Seattle Auto Show: Oil Painting Edition

I spent Saturday morning tooling around the 2012 Seattle Auto Show with my son checking out the latest models from the major auto makers. As usual, I was more interested in some of the less-expensive small models than the exotic sports cars and luxury brands.

I'm really into the images that my phone creates using the oil painting converter. I took three shots overlooking the show floor:

Seattle auto show in oil painting.

 

A yellow striped Chevrolet Camaro

Also see my look at the steering wheels and dashboards; tailpipe and exhaust designs, and the wheels and rims. 

Seattle Auto Show: Wheels 'n Rims Edition

I spent the morning tooling around the 2012 Seattle Auto Show with my son checking out the latest models from the major auto makers. As usual, I was more interested in some of the less-expensive small models than the exotic sports cars and luxury brands. Rather than do a broad recap of the show I'm going to do a series of posts that focus on trends or details that I found interesting.

This edition looks at some of the wheels and rim designs that I saw on the show floor.

Complicated black and silver wheel designs were a noticeable trend with auto makers this year and I saw several models sporting these types of rims.

A Subaru Crosstrek wheel. While these were fancy, the interior was bland. 

Mini offers lots of wheel design. This rim was on a Mini Countryman small SUV.

The Chevrolet Spark looked sport with these wheels, and a unique interior design with rubber-vinyl seats.

The high-trim Kia Soul features these intricate wheels.

Honda's 2012 Accord has these machined wheel designs.

Volvo S60 T5 blade-design wheels

Wheels with colors were also a trend across several car brands:

The Hyundai Veloster sported color wheel insets that matched the paint.

While some might say white isn't a color, these on the Fiat 500 Abarth were icy cool. 

These blue wheels were on a customized Kia Forte hatchback.

Anodizing or powder coating isn't new for wheels but there were several high-end sports cars with gray, black and even gold wheels.

Maserati GranTurismo with carbon gray-black wheels

A Scion iQ with gold wheels

Nissan GT-R wheels

 Spider or thin spoke wheels offer a dramatic effect when spinning or at rest:

The Dodge Dart wheel 

Porsche 911S wheel

McLaren MP4-12C wheel

 The classic five-blade or spoke design remains popular:

Bentley Mulsanne wheel

BMW M5 wheel

Audi TTS wheel

Chevrolet Malibu wheel

Lincoln MKX wheel

The Range Rover Evoque wheels were huge and beautiful 

Chrome wheels are not as popular as they once were, but still pop up from time to time, especially on trucks and SUVs.

The Buick Encore got smaller but the wheels remain big and chrome.

Ram pickup with chrome wheels.

These massive Roll Royce Phantom wheels were polished

Infiniti always has cool wheels.

Old-school spokes on the front wheels of this new but classic Morgan 3 Wheeler.

A Studebaker Champion Starlight from the LeMay Museum