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- United Kingdom
Right, I've spent the last two days at the British International Motor Show at the ExCeL centre in London. Why two days? Because the tickets were cheap, because I'd travelled over 200 miles to get there and wanted my money's worth, and because one day wouldn't have been enough to see everything and stand in the queues to do a few of the more practical things, like the Mazda Zoom-Zoom challenge.
Anyway, a selection of the 250-ish photos I took over the two days. If you follow the link to my photobucket account you'll see more, but I don't have the patience to upload all 250. PM me if you'd like a full-size pic of anything, they're 6mp images but I've reduced them all to 640x480 👍
Vauxhall Insignia - Not one single thing about this car made me think "Vectra". I call that a significant success right there. Preferable to the new Mondeo for me. Genuinely high quality interior too.
Caddy CTS - Good looking coupe. Constant amusement to be had on the Caddy stand by all the people posing like they were gangsta' in front of the cars, and not actually doing it ironically...
SAAB 9-X - One of the prettier concepts at the show. I like Saabs, I liked this.
Camaro - First one I've seen, but it was only the concept and not the production model. Looked good, but I'm looking forward to seeing a prod model in the flesh.
GT-R - Thought I'd include a pic as it's the hot topic at the mo. The cutaway model they had was impressive to show off the technology.
Mazda Furai - A 'details' car. My favourite details were the LED-lit fins ahead of the rear wheels.
Ford Focus RS - I'm not wild about hot hatches but it really did look good, and I'm sure it'll be blisteringly quick.
Honda CR-Z - Been looking forward to seeing this ever since they first unveiled the concept. Really liked it in the flesh, and the white-with-a-hint-of-purple paint was perfect for the car. A perfect successor to the CRX.
Alfa Romeo Mi.To - every single Alfa at the show looked completely gorgeous. Whatever shade of metallic red and whatever lighting they had made the cars glow the most stunning shade, which I simply couldn't capture on my camera. 8C excepted, my favourite Alfa there was actually the 159 ti.
"Unveiling" the Peugeot 308 RZ (they were doing it all day at certain times). I wasn't fussed on any of the Peugeots, their whole range, save for the tiny 107, is a complete disappointment to someone brought up on 90s Pininfarina-penned Pugs.
There were too many cars I liked at the show for me to pick a favourite, though the MiTo is definitely better in the flesh than it is in pics, Renault's Megane and Laguna concepts were gorgeous, Hyundai get a thumbs up for giving out free ice-lollies and Ford's new Fiesta actually looked best as the "econetic" model, because they'd chosen poor colours for the other display models.
The Zoom-Zoom challenge was fun, I've been wanting to drive both the 2 and the current MX-5 for a while so the chance to drive both "with haste" wasn't to be missed. I do wish they'd provided more time in the car, and I completely forgot to check my marks and my laptimes the guy had written on the sheet!
I think I was actually quicker in the MX-5 unlike many people, because with only 3 runs total it was my third and I was most confident. No chance of oversteer either because it had so much grip - you'd have to be brutal with the throttle on that tiny course to make it slide.
The 2 actually feels very like the MX-5 - definitely strong hints of the same DNA despite them being very different cars. Enjoyed them both, and I need a full test drive in the 2 at some point. The 2 has a lovely quick, short gearshift just like the MX-5.
I need more practice in modern cars though - it's amazing how little "feel" they both have compared to my ten year old, non power-assisted Fiesta
The 1st gen MX-5 I drove a few years back definitely felt more alive in everything from steering feel, to pedal feel and gearshift.
Anyway, a selection of the 250-ish photos I took over the two days. If you follow the link to my photobucket account you'll see more, but I don't have the patience to upload all 250. PM me if you'd like a full-size pic of anything, they're 6mp images but I've reduced them all to 640x480 👍
Vauxhall Insignia - Not one single thing about this car made me think "Vectra". I call that a significant success right there. Preferable to the new Mondeo for me. Genuinely high quality interior too.
Caddy CTS - Good looking coupe. Constant amusement to be had on the Caddy stand by all the people posing like they were gangsta' in front of the cars, and not actually doing it ironically...
SAAB 9-X - One of the prettier concepts at the show. I like Saabs, I liked this.
Camaro - First one I've seen, but it was only the concept and not the production model. Looked good, but I'm looking forward to seeing a prod model in the flesh.
GT-R - Thought I'd include a pic as it's the hot topic at the mo. The cutaway model they had was impressive to show off the technology.
Mazda Furai - A 'details' car. My favourite details were the LED-lit fins ahead of the rear wheels.
Ford Focus RS - I'm not wild about hot hatches but it really did look good, and I'm sure it'll be blisteringly quick.
Honda CR-Z - Been looking forward to seeing this ever since they first unveiled the concept. Really liked it in the flesh, and the white-with-a-hint-of-purple paint was perfect for the car. A perfect successor to the CRX.
Alfa Romeo Mi.To - every single Alfa at the show looked completely gorgeous. Whatever shade of metallic red and whatever lighting they had made the cars glow the most stunning shade, which I simply couldn't capture on my camera. 8C excepted, my favourite Alfa there was actually the 159 ti.
"Unveiling" the Peugeot 308 RZ (they were doing it all day at certain times). I wasn't fussed on any of the Peugeots, their whole range, save for the tiny 107, is a complete disappointment to someone brought up on 90s Pininfarina-penned Pugs.
There were too many cars I liked at the show for me to pick a favourite, though the MiTo is definitely better in the flesh than it is in pics, Renault's Megane and Laguna concepts were gorgeous, Hyundai get a thumbs up for giving out free ice-lollies and Ford's new Fiesta actually looked best as the "econetic" model, because they'd chosen poor colours for the other display models.
The Zoom-Zoom challenge was fun, I've been wanting to drive both the 2 and the current MX-5 for a while so the chance to drive both "with haste" wasn't to be missed. I do wish they'd provided more time in the car, and I completely forgot to check my marks and my laptimes the guy had written on the sheet!
I think I was actually quicker in the MX-5 unlike many people, because with only 3 runs total it was my third and I was most confident. No chance of oversteer either because it had so much grip - you'd have to be brutal with the throttle on that tiny course to make it slide.The 2 actually feels very like the MX-5 - definitely strong hints of the same DNA despite them being very different cars. Enjoyed them both, and I need a full test drive in the 2 at some point. The 2 has a lovely quick, short gearshift just like the MX-5.
I need more practice in modern cars though - it's amazing how little "feel" they both have compared to my ten year old, non power-assisted Fiesta
The 1st gen MX-5 I drove a few years back definitely felt more alive in everything from steering feel, to pedal feel and gearshift.
the most popular/busy stand along with the Nissan GTR. 
No, actually what it involves was going around the show quickly first thing when not many people were there (it opened at 10am and didn't start getting busy till midday each day - that shot of the Insignia was the 2nd I took, the hall was virtually empty), a lot of patience on busy stands like the Alfa one, and a very wide-angle 18mm lens which allows me to get right up to the car ahead of everyone and still fit the whole thing in the frame (handy with cars like the Camaro and CR-Z which had barriers really close too) 
