A day at the 2016 NYIAS

I’ve been going to the New York International Auto Show on-and-off for the the last ten years. Of those 10, some were better than others; this year fell right in the middle. The automakers brought some really exciting vehicles, but many more were just background scenery.
That said, I went to this year’s NYIAS and snapped photos of anything and everything that caught my eye or that I thought would be of interest here. A quick disclaimer: I’m by no means an expert photographer, and mediocre may even be a stretch. Without further ado, come with me as we take a look at what New York’s premiere new car show had to offer…

For simplicity’s sake I’m going to go through this in the order of which I saw or came across everything…
Ye be warned: all pictures are unedited.
The day started out with a line. A long line. All I can say is that the forecast called for rain and the rain held out, so it could have been worse.

When I finally got inside, the fun began. And by “fun” I mean absolute masses of people. It was the most crowded I’ve ever seen. Anyways…
Say what you will, the T/As do look good. Sure, a questionable way to spend money on top of a 5th gen Camaro, but I’ve always liked how they look.

Then I got to “see” the new Ford GT…

But finally it cleared out and I was able to snag a few pictures of Ford’s new supercar.

They had a GT at the show last year but repainted it yellow (or maybe brought a different one) for this year’s show. It was a crowd favorite.

Ford brought a whole slew of their other performance cars as well

Meanwhile, Nissan brought a camouflaged GT-R, and the revised version as well. It was likely due to the lighting, but new GT-R made for what were my best photos of the day.

The mouth on the new 2017 ZL1 is so huge that it looks like it could inhale the better half of a Sonic. The rest of the car looks good, though I did sit in an RS and was shocked by how poor the visibility was. The roofline comes down in what is being referred to as a helmet-like design and, in conjunction with a gauge pod that stands way too tall, it seriously hinders how much you can see in front of you.

VW’s booth was pretty small this year, relative to the automaker’s size. Wonder if they’re using some of their display money on lawyers…

Flat white Viper ACR is something I didn’t know I want but now I certainly do. What a car…


It’s really too bad there isn’t going to be a Dart SRT-4, because it would have been a riot with 300ish HP and AWD. This one looked decent, and I can only imagine would look better with fender flares.

Something about the Tiguan GTE reminds me of the original BMW X5. It could be the size or one of the proportions, but there’s a resemblance there, especially in the rear 3/4 angle.

The Alltrack looks exactly as you would expect, but it’s too bad there isn’t an R or TDI version…

The Corvettes were understandably swarmed…


Kia’s Telluride concept is a good looking SUV, reminiscent of Land Cruisers and the likes of the off-road capable SUVs of yore


Buick’s new Cascada is actually quite attractive

Buick supposedly won’t be building the Avista, but that won’t stop me from hoping they do

Jury is still out for me on the Miata RF. I love the idea of a targa roof, but I’m not sold on its application here…really need to see it in another color, or in a modified guise, to pass final judgment.

The Porsche booth was packed

Bradley Brownell’s favorite new car, the 911 R!  (Sorry Brad, couldn’t pass up another opportunity to troll; I’m done now).

Boxster 718 looks quite good

Cayman GT4, natural drool-inducer

Porsche, never missing an opportunity to advertise their non-car products

The new Volvo cars are striking, especially the XC90 in this gorgeous blue

The front of the new S90 is fantastic…the back end, not so much

Toyota has successfully made the FR-S worse looking by turning it into the 86…

The Genesis concept  should definitely go into production as-is

After sitting in the ATS-V, it’s definitely made my Dream Car list. Hopefully it depreciates like the previous-gen CTS-V has…

The Bentayga is pretty hideous

Jag’s F-Type SVR is a stunner, though not all that much different looking from a “regular” Coupe R

Infiniti’s new Q60 is really nice looking, with the appropriate creases and curves to make it evolutionary from the G cars but still easily identifiable as an Infiniti coupe.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the Continental last year, but it’s grown on me. Would be better with suicide doors though.

The Lexus LC somehow looks more tame in person than it did in the press photos, but it’s still an extreme design. Definitely eye-catching, but I’m not sure about the wheels…






I’m not sold on the new Ridgeline. There’s something wrong with the styling and I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I’m not liking it the way I’d hoped.

I then wandered outside to check out Jeep’s off-road capability demonstration, something they’ve been doing for years.  It’s a big attraction for people who have never gone off-road or who are interested in the Jeep vehicles, but in reality it’s a marketing gimmick (being an off-road guy I can also see straight through what they display as “challenging”).  Interestingly, a heavy downpour deemed the Cherokee Trailhawk in these pictures incapable of climbing the first obstacle of the course, and in turn they briefly stopped ride-alongs.  The driver didn’t seem to have a perfect grasp of what he was doing…a bit of throttle at the wrong time sent the tires hopping, and he backed down the steps after one shot.  Maybe the director told them to not take any chances, but it was definitely something a Jeep, especially one with a Trailhawk badge, should have been capable of.

Not quite sure I get this ad…?

The new Lexus RX is pretty…polarizing. As is the GLE. Not necessarily in a good way.

This Z was very, very clean and made me want to drive it very, very hard

Elio Motors made an appearance with a small booth, though I dared not enter

I was severely disappointed by Jeep this year. The company commonly uses the NYIAS to do its big-scale unveilings and reveals and this year they graced us with…the Grand Cherokee Trailhawk.  All the talk of the next-gen. JL Wrangler, a Wrangler-based pickup, and the Grand Cherokee Trackhawk/Hellcat, and the only thing they roll out is a slightly modified version of the Grand.  Not only that, but they’re still pushing the Compass and Patriot…c’mon…

The new Raptor is menacing, but almost too big for its own good.

Subaru’s new Impreza is fairly monotonous in person. It looks just like the current car, and like many other small sedans and hatchbacks as well. We can only hope they go big with the WRX/STI and give us huge flares, gold wheels, and a version built on the hatch body.

The Fiat 124 made an appearance, in all its Italian -Miata glory. There’s something about it that definitely looks a bit Dodge, maybe reminiscent of the Demon concept? Either way, it’s a good looking car that I need to drive as soon as I can get my hands on one. The non-Abarth version does look a bit soft, though maybe it was the color scheme of the car they had present.

Something didn’t feel right about the Mitsubishi booth, and it wasn’t until I figured out there was no Evo present that it made sense. The booth as a whole as fairly empty, with nothing for the enthusiasts to swoon over. The PHEV Outlander isn’t a bad looking vehicle but the Rally version they had looked great. Sell that one, Mitsu!

Finally, there was the Scion booth. It was a bit somber walking through and looking at their concepts, old and new(ish), and realizing there wouldn’t be any more from the quirky Japanese manufacturer. It’s always sad to see an auto brand die and with Scion it’s no exception, though definitely less so than when we lost companies like Saab or Pontiac. This was the last time I’ll walk through a Scion booth, so farewell to the brand, and here’s to hoping another pops up to take its place.