=you think the Genesis sedan is nice, wait’ll you get a load of Hyundai’s home-market luxu-flagship, the Equus. The automaker has one prominently on display here at the New York Auto Show this week, and while it’s supposed to merely be a “Look, this is how awesome we can be” thing (there’s no plan for the Equus to be sold here at this time), you can bet Hyundai is taking note of people’s reactions.
= Outside, the Equus is more ornate than the Genesis, with a bright grille, highly-polished wheels and a pedestrian-impaling hood ornament. The sheetmetal details are nice, too. We especially dig the subtle fender bulges over the rear wheels.
You know the routine – it’s the end of the week and before we kick off coverage of the 2009 Detroit Auto Show – we thought we’d get all the photo galleries posted before Sunday out the way. This week check out photos of the new 2009 Bentley Continental GTC Speed, Nissan GT-R SpecV, 2010 Buick LaCrosse, Project Kahn’s Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe, 2010 HPE700 Camaro, new photos of the 2010 Lexus RX 450h, 50th Anniversary Hurst/Viper and the 2010 Jaguar XKR.
When in Baltimore, do as the Baltimorons rent a Camry
We stumble into the BWI car rental center at 1:30 AM. All the counters are closed; not a soul in sight. I call the Alamo 800 number: “go walk out into the parking garage, someone’s there”. “What are you looking for?” asks the droll lot attendant. “A comfortable bed, actually”. “Well, the nearest car is a Camry; might as well take that”. Good call.
I left the Baltimore area in 1971. When I used to come back to visit in the nineteen eighties from California, I was always amazed at how everyone seemed to still drive big domestic sedans, which were practically extinct in the Golden State by then. Of course its been in the making for some time, and it obviously reflects my West-coast centric perspective, but it still strikes me as somewhat astonishing to see endless Camrys having replaced the big Chevys, Olds and Fords in the driveways of infinitely identical Colonial-style houses hereabouts.
But loading the whole family’s luggage in the vast trunk, and heading up the Beltway at 2 AM with tired travelers sprawled comfortably in the enormous back seat, the Camry’s tomb-quiet and plush-riding role in life is perfectly revealed: it’s the 1970 Chevrolet Impala, the best and most popular car of its time, reincarnated and updated. And if the new Hyundai Sonata wants to compete for this title, its trunk and rear seat leave it handicapped at the gate.
Evolution results in the same forms manifesting themselves, if the conditions are similar. That’s why Australians drive big Holdens; or they did, until the Camry took hold over there too. The Camry is supremely adapted to the typical American way of living and driving, which just happens to not by mine, unless I’m in Baltimore. Then it all comes back, in a silent rush, until it’s disturbed by flashing lights. Damn; the serenely still Camry has lulled me to well over seventy in the fifty-five marked Beltway. And Maryland has always had a rep for stiff enforcement
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