LA Auto Show is happening now! Also, DNA cocoon cars!

The always lovely LA Auto show will be happening in the Los Angeles Convention Center starting November 19th and running through November 28th, including Thanksgiving weekend. What better way to celebrate stealing land from the natives by showing off how environmentally friendly we can be after 125 years of the automobile. Attending manufacturers include Fiat (thanks for saving Chrysler), Toyota (nobody cares about the new Corolla), Jeep (they usually bring a 4x4 course with them - always fun), Chevrolet ("Buy a Volt"), Fisker ("We're better than Tesla we swear"), Volvo (who designed an air-powered car for the design challenge), and Porsche (Yes, the Panamera looks like a Photoshop job, but it's legit).

The big brouhaha this year is the design challenge, which will include German and Japanese entrants for the first time ever. The challenge is always based on a theme, and this year I like the choice:

"The theme this year addresses society's shift toward minimizing consumption of the earth's resources. The objective is to envision an efficient, light-weight, four passenger vehicle (not to exceed 1,000 lbs.), that is both comfortable and safe, while delivering satisfactory driving performance without sacrificing the styling consumers demand."

-taken from the LA Auto Show website

So that means to the wonderful people at Maybach to throw some Segway parts into a rickshaw. No, really. They're even calling it DRS; Den-riki-sha. Also, it's grown from a DNA cocoon. I'm not making this up.

Whatever floats your boat.

2010 Ford Taurus SHO Test Drive PREVIEW!

Make: Ford

Model: 2010 Taurus SHO

Yes, The Fast and the Fugly is coming back to life.

Today's special edition brings you a preview of something The Fast and the Fugly has never seen before - an actual test drive! Now, you can read my cynical commentary (or praise) and know that it's coming from a real-life field test! Just a note: this may or may not change my actual opinion of the car. For example, I'm pretty sure that if I test drove a Kia Rio, I'd be even more unimpressed with the brand than I am now.

However, this all starts on Thursday, March 4th, when the lovely Ford Motor Company will pay me $50 to test drive a 2010 Ford Taurus SHO. The early 2000's Tauri always left something to be desired. Anytime I got in one, I always felt a little underwhelmed. It's a car, but it's just that -- a car. Nothing special. Nothing to "surprise and delight" (to borrow words straight from Ford's new design philosophy) the driver or passengers.

Will the 2010 Taurus be the car to change that? A brief looking over at the Chicago Auto Show said, "quite possibly." Be sure to read Thursday's post to find out what happens when I ask the test drive salesperson if I can "wind it up a bit."

Verdict: TBD

P.S. From now on, clicking the title of any post will send you to the web page of the relevant car. Pretty nifty, eh?