What do you mean it has been a year already!?

Ahem, concepts of time passage and mortality aside, let’s take a look at what NAIAS brought to us this year. And where better to begin than Volvo. The S90 is the B-side of that difficult rebirth album, and it’s shaping up to be excellent. Essentially being a sedan version of the car that serves at both the church of speed and sensibleness. It will take a while to see if Volvo has pulled a miracle and made the two-point-oh-tee as unkillable as those unstressed mills of old. I hope they are. I should point out for those young readers that have no idea what I’m on about, the big CD’s made of vinyl had songs on both sides and…what? Vinyl is cool again? Moving on then.

In the same vein as the XC90 and chasing the same market of “Upscale suburban mum that wouldn’t be seen dead in a Minivan or a Honda” Audi showcased its latest A4 Allroad. The old A6 Allroad is now perhaps best remembered for being the bringer of many bills to unsuspecting owners and the model that did the impossible and made the reliability of normal Audis look damn good in comparison. This one, being a normal A4 quattro with a little bit of a lift and a whole lot of cladding to go over even the graveliest of driveways, should be a lot better in that regard; becoming as reliable as a normal Audi.

VW also had a more adventurous version of one of its offerings for display. The Tiguan GTE Active actually has some very interesting tech behind it. It can drive up to 20 miles on electric power alone or use all that fuel-saving to propel you to 60 in 6.4 seconds. I also have to admit that it looks the business with its fat white-lettered tires and even more plastic cladding. Sadly, it’s at this point that I remember that I really can’t have a lot of faith in VW these days. I’m sure it’ll be amazing in Europe though.

Moving swiftly on from German Hybrids to American ones, the Chrysler Pacifica. It will be the world’s first plug-in Hybrid minivan. One that can go 10 more miles on electric power than the GTE can. To top it all off, it’s an extremely good looking minivan. Full Disclosure; I actually do like minivans for their lack of trying to be anything else than a very practical and efficient car. If I had $20k to spend on a closed car it’d be one of those leftover Grand Caravan American Value (read: poverty spec) Package. To all the people reading this after I’ve committed gearhead suicide, thank you. Besides, the Pacifica looks pretty good with that faux-wraparound rear window and the attempts to make it look somewhat funky and…french.

Am I the only one that sees a bit of Espace in there?