While it is clear that we need to move to a post-internal combustion engine world for mobility, this cranky old petrol head can't help but regret the passing of underhood scenery full of multi-cylinder, twin-turbo, supercharged, fuel-injected, multi-cam 4-valve piston engines with 8-speed AWD systems making obscene amounts of power. Somehow it is hard to get excited about black plastic or aluminum boxes stuffed full of electronics, and lithium ion batteries that work best with tall SUVs because they take up all the floor space under the carpets. However. I'll continue to focus my gear-head activities on the scale models, contributing some small amount to the world's demand for injection-molded polystyrene (which will not end up in the ocean if I can help it); meanwhile here are a few highlights of this week's Auto Show.
First off, the Honda stand didn't actually have any actual cars out on actual display; they were all hidden in the back. A crash test car was shown in all its ugliness. There was, however, a lone motorcycle and a couple of painted but bare body shells. Not sure what the point of that was.
Underhood shots for a few of the many electric cars are next. The last shot is the new BMW 8-series engine compartment and while this is said to house a 550+ hp V8, you wouldn't know it from the plastic covers hiding everything -- could well be a pile of power electronics under there.
One interesting point was the large number of electric cars which still had a 12V lead acid car battery. Not sure what that was for. The starter? The battery on the 8-series (below) is presumably tucked away in the trunk out of the way, because there sure doesn't seem to be any space under the hood.
There were a couple of show cars (electric, natch) that were actually not bad looking. The Genesis is a bit awkward, especially around the hindquarters, but the Hyundai has some interesting lines.
What Elon's Cyber Truck could have been...
In the area of Wretched Excess, one can find SUVs from Lamborghini and Rolls-Royce, the over-the-top McLaren Senna and a Jag sedan with well-labelled carbon-fibre aero aids. Six-figure price tags mean you won't run into these at the local Walmart.
There were a handful of "antiques", starting with an early Model T which sported a disc brake on at least one of the rear wheels. I suspect that this was not original equipment. Sadly I didn't get a picture of that one, but there was a large selection of other pizza-plate sized disc brakes to be admired through expensive alloy wheels. And most of them even managed to pose the cars with the badges on the hubcaps facing upright! Enjoy!
The Offspring and I both enjoy this annual outing but may decide to pass next year.
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