2012 Detroit Auto Show Pictures & Videos

[TurboKitty]

Here are all of my pictures videos from the 2012 Detroit Auto Show, taken this past Saturday Jan 14th. There are 265 pics & videos total. When my camera battery died I started taking pictures with my phone, so forgive the quality of the last batch of pics starting with the yellow 2012 Dodge Challenger SRT8 "Yellow Jacket".

I got a walkaround video of both of Chevy's small car concepts, and they both look a little better in person. I still prefer the white one over the red one though. Chevy also had a trio of the new Spark minicars, as well as a matte red concept of the Sonic called the "Sonic Boom". The rear was stuffed with amps, subwoofers, and other audio equipment. Of course it was LOUD but cool if you're into that sort of thing. Ford had a blue GT500 convt. strapped to a dyno and every hour they did a dyno demonstration, which was very cool. I got a vid of that but I couldn't get too close due to the crowd. Ford also had the all new Escape, Fiesta ST, Focus ST, F150 Raptor, etc. Lincoln had the MKS Concept, which is the sister car to the new Fusion, and it is a very elegant looking car. Nissan had a single and stunning blue 2012 GTR, but of course it was locked. Regardless I took many pics, as it was only the 3rd one I've seen in person and the new shade of blue is beautiful on it! Infiniti had a very curvy pearl white concept sedan called the "Etherea", which featured purple LED's in the grille for some reason. Not sure if it was just a styling exercise but it was a nice looking car overall.

I also took videos of both the Scion FRS (Toyota GT 86) and the Subaru BRZ production versions on their turntables. The Subaru looks a little better (to me anyway) but both cars had a lot of people around them checking them out. Even though those two were highly anticipated over the last couple years, the 2013 Dodge Dart and 2013 Ford Fusion had the most people around them when we were there (more than the sexy Lexus LFA and LF-LC concept did!).

Toyota had two odd looking electric vehicle concepts (the blue FCV-R and the raspberry NS4 sedans). Not sure if either are intended to be future production versions, but neither one was particularly good looking (one looks like a walrus, the other looks like an eagle in the front). Also, forgive the picture of "epic mustache man", I simply had to take a pic of him because he looked like the blue FCV-R LOL. Honda had the 2013 Accord Coupe concept, and although it was a little too "chromey", it did look attractive. The deep crimson pearl paint looked miles deep, was flawless and shined like a mirror, too bad production models don't have paint like that though LOL. The Acura NSX concept was better looking in person (it was smaller than I expected). It will go into production and will be an AWD hybrid.

There were so many nice cars that I can't talk about them all individually, but I saved the Dart for last

Dodge brought about 5 or 6 Darts in various trims (Limited, R/T, SE, etc). Unfortunately all of them were locked so I couldn't sit in one, but I took many pics of the ones they had on display (including one that had been cut up to show the interior, suspension, engine, chassis, trunk key mounted rear camera, etc. Dodge also had a Dart dashboard on display that I took a video of (it's not the best, I had to maneuver the camera around people a few times). The camera didn't focus completely in some spots, so the picture is a little fuzzy where I tried to get a close up shot of different areas. Overall the dashboard doesn't feel like cheap plastic and the quality is a lot nicer than the Caliber/Avenger (as expected). There is ambient race track lighting surrounding the perimeter of the gauges & air vents, and the center dash display LCD screen is easy to use/navigate. The gauges are crisp and eye catching, and the rest of the interior is well laid out and looks very upscale for a sub $20,000 car. A lot of people were around the Dart(s) talking and checking them out, and everything I overheard was positive ("can't wait to test drive it, this is better than what they've been building, finally an attractive small car, lots of nice options, love the taillights", etc). I asked about a future SRT4 version and the spokeswoman simply smiled, then said something along the lines of "Hyundai can't hog all the fun with the Veloster Turbo". So to me anyway that sounds like there will indeed be an SRT4 Dart coming . Last Thursday, my nephew and I actually saw a white 2013 Dart Limited being tested in Tecumseh, and it was very quiet, almost electric vehicle quiet. I can't wait for them to be released later this year, it looks like a great little car and no doubt it will do well.

Link for pictures on my photobucket album:

http://s1106.photobu...20in%20Detroit/

2013 Ford Fusion:

2012 Camaro ZL1

2013 Dodge Dart

[Funkster]

I love the 2013 Dodge Dart, looks great and from what I hear its going start at 16000.00. With a 40 mpg rating, this thing should sell well.

[martinfan5]

I like the current fusion looks, well not like, but it looks a lot better then the 2013, the front looks way to much like the front of an aston martin, I am sure it has to with a little that ford has a small stake in them still.

As for the dart, why does it have the same taillight package that the charger has, dont get me wrong , i like the new style of the tailights on the charger.

[Joe Handley]

My guess would be to keep a bit of a family appearance.

[crazyjim]

We used to go to autoshows the cheap way. Hop on our bicycles and from dealer to dealer and pickup brochures. Thanks for sharing your pics.