The 2014 Los Angeles Auto Show may still be open to visitors, but if you’ve been following our coverage of the event, by now you’ve seen and read all about the models that are on display at the City of Angels’ motor show.
Now that’s all been said and done, it’s time for Carscoops to pick its winners and losers. Mind you, this is just our opinion so you’re welcome to voice your dissent in the comments section.
The star of the show was the Mazda CX-3. In our eyes its crisp design makes it stand out as a very interesting proposition in the burgeoning, and fiercely competitive, compact crossover segment.
Perhaps the Toyota Mirai, a hydrogen powered production car that will go on sale next year, was the single most interesting new production car, other than the CX-3. It’s styling may verge on the ugly what with all those creases intersecting seemingly at random but, hey, it’s what under the shell that counts.
It sure is much more interesting that the revamped Prius C and V hybrids or the Auris-for-the-States Scion iM Concept or the horrendous Sienna SpongeBob Edition (no, really) minivan…
For sheer presence, the Lexus LF-C2 concept, which gauged public opinion about an open-top version of the RC coupe, was almost unbeatable.
We say “almost” because the stunning Prologue concept is a classy, quality object that may or may not give us an early glimpse at a range-topping A9. Its most important feature, though, is that it previews the design language of Audis to come.
That’s a very good thing because, at present, the German premium automaker seems to be stuck in adding the hexagonal fascia on every model, pushing that family look a bit too far for our taste.
Jaguar has more than doubled the F-Type’s range – but you’d hardly notice it, Porsche merely displayed the GTS versions of the 911 and the Cayenne and Mercedes-Benz decided to resurrect the Maybach moniker for its stretched S-Class. Even if it’s just a model designation, one can’t help but wonder why on earth they should remind us of the gauche failure that was the recently axed Maybach division.
If you have six grand to spare you may want to take a look at Lincoln’s upscale trim that’s supposed to offer you the VIP treatment but actually sounds like a daft way to try and make an impression – not to mention that Black Label nomenclature…
Being car enthusiasts, we asked ourselves which car would we take for a drive right now if we could? In the production car segment the Shelby GT350 Mustang was the most enticing, and from the concepts we’d have to draw straws between the LF-C2, the Prologue and the VW Concept GTI.