Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Branches South Central Dallas AutoShow

I wanted to know if anyone else had a chance to goto the Dallas AutoShow this weekend ? They had quite an awesome display of cars available for people to see. I personally got to sit behind the wheel of the following cars:

* Golf GTI VR6 R32 - I was pleasantly surprised with this one. I had no idea that this car was even in the US yet. The leather recaro-like seats are amazingly comfortable, and the driving position is perfect. I'm very impressed with the interior and overall appearance of this car.

* Mazda 6 V6 - The driving position in this car seemed somewhat akward, but the interior was very nice. I'm impressed with the stylings of this car, as well as with its little brother--the Mazda 3. They didn't have a 6s there that I could see, but the ones I sat in were V6's so they could have been the S.

* Subaru WRX - I was expecting more from the driver's position in this car. The gauges seemed hard to read and awkwardly small. For a 6'1" driver, I didn't necessarily like the feel of this car all that much. Something seemed wrong with the driving position.

* Eclipse GT Spyder - The forward visibility in this car is horrendous. Everything else seems nice about it, though--minus the pricetag!

* Pontiac GTO - Everything about the GTO seemed perfect, though the whole cluster feel was different than what I was expecting.

* Pontiac Grand AM GT Ram Air - Old school plasticky Pontiac. Nothing special about it. Even the hood scoops were non-functional and just there for appearance.

* Lancer Evolution - Everything about this car impressed me up until I got into the driver's seat. For some reason the car seemed too low and awkward. The gauges suffered from the same small appearance and difficult-to-read visibility problem as the WRX. The seats were very comfortable, but looked extremely tacky.

* Dodge Neon SRT-4 - This car actually impressed me. The back-seat room was virtually non-existant, but was much better than what I have to contend with in my 95 Mystique. The recaro Viper seats actually impressed me quite a bit, and they were extremely comfortable. The driving position was almost as perfect as my 'stique. I was more impressed with the layout and functionality of the gauges (especially the boost gauge) than I had been after viewing pictures of it on the Dodge website. The shifter seemed clunky and the driving pedals were much too far to the right, however. I think it's worth its money, and I'm definitely going to give it a second look.

* Grand Prix GTP Comp G - Everything about this car from a driver's perspective seemed right. The seats were very comfortable, the gauges were big and easily readable, the shift paddles were awesome, and the doors' ability to open to an almost 90 degree angle impressed me greatly.

* Focus SVT - I didn't get to sit in one of these, but I did get a chance to see a modified one belonging to someone named Jordan Thomas of the North Texas SVT club. It had a playstation, some custom looking colored face gauges (instead of the usual white), and some kind of custom wing. I was extremely impressed with the interior on this car. In fact, if performance wasn't an issue, I would buy this car in a heartbeat. Cheers hoping they produce a 200hp PZEV Duratec engine for the CSVT or turbocharge their Zetec.

I, of course, probably saw and sat in just about every performance related car out there (including taking a glance at the new 05 Mustang and the Ford GT40), however those were the ones that I took great consideration over.

Oh, btw. While coming back from the AutoShow I spotted a black Contour SVT with Maryland license plates in the parking lot at Taco Cabana on 635 and Webb Chapel. It was a 1998 E0 with no spoiler. Don't know if it belongs to anyone on this board or not.

Tim

Black SVT with MD plates?

Hey Suneil, have you been in Dallas? Or better yet, do you have Texas plates yet?