5 Things You Can't Miss at the 2018 New York Auto Show
Public days at the 2018 New York International Auto Show begin today (March 30) and run until April 8. Our intrepid staff members have scoured the show top to bottom to find everything newsworthy. They’ve also been on the lookout for all the things attendees should be sure to check out on the show floor.
Related: More 2018 New York Auto Show News
Here are our top five:
1. Actual Concept Cars!
The best-looking car of the show is without a doubt the Genesis Essentia concept. It’s gorgeous inside and out — so build it, Genesis. Don’t let us down like some other brands have in the past. You can read all about it here, but there’s no way words alone can do justice to the sheer beauty of this car.
And that wasn’t the only concept on display; Detroit Bureau Chief Aaron Bragman suggests heading to the Volkswagen booth.
“Check out the Volkswagen Atlas Tanoak concept, a five-passenger mid-size pickup concept from VW that’s based on the big Atlas SUV,” Bragman urged. “VW is gauging public reaction to the concept to see whether or not it wants to build a real one, so if you like what you see, tell a VW person on the stand! If you don’t like what you see, well, I suppose you should tell them that, too!”
2. Sports Cars
The Toyota display has a few cars decked out in the livery of some teams New Yorkers may have heard of … the Yankees and Mets of Major League Baseball and the J-E-T-S Jets! Jets! Jets! of the National Football League. If you’re a fan of any of those teams, it’s worth making the visit just for the Facebook photo. (In the case of the Jets car, tradition possibly dictates booing it like it’s one of your draft picks.) There’s no official word on why the other New York teams aren’t represented with their own respective Toyotas, but it probably has something to do with sponsorship issues.
3. Classics on Display
Editor-in-Chief Jenni Newman wants to direct your attention to a hidden gem of a display from the Saratoga Automobile Museum.
“You’ll find stunning cars like the 1931 Duesenberg Model J, 1931 Stutz DV-32 Convertible Victoria, and a 1938 Bugatti Type 57c Stelvio cabriolet,” Newman said. “To say they don’t make them like this anymore is an understatement, but at least the public can admire and possibly drool over these beauties, which are on loan from a private collection.”
Even a manufacturer put a classic on display: “By all means, enjoy all the new goodies at the New York auto show, but make sure that you don’t miss the 1963 Porsche 356B cabriolet parked at the Porsche display. It’s a one-owner vehicle from the private collection of Herb Kramer and comes with a whimsical exterior luggage rack that you could buy as an accessory at the time,” opined Los Angeles Bureau Chief Brian Wong.
4. Interactivity at Nissan, Toyota
Nissan and Toyota both have so much room for activities at their respective displays, and they’ve taken advantage. Nissan has a game testing your skills using the Leaf’s e-Pedal. We’ve already tested it in a Monday-morning commute; give it a shot without all the pressure.
Senior Consumer Affairs Editor Kelsey Mays recommends another experience nearby.
“Nissan is demonstrating ProPilot Assist, its suite of semi-autonomous driving technologies, through an augmented reality exhibit that will run during the show’s public days,” Mays said. “AR, popularized by everything from Pokemon Go to Google Glass, drapes a scale model of the Leaf with animations of ProPilot technologies when you strap on Nissan’s glasses. It’s not the best integration — some animations look a bit hokey, and the in-glasses viewing screen is tiny — but it’s an interesting way to learn how ProPilot works. Pssst … You can also read our primer on the feature.”
Meanwhile, over at Toyota, you can take a — virtual — ride in the Fine-Comfort Ride fuel-cell car, which is likely to be both a fine and comfortable experience. There’s one more trick up Toyota’s sleeve, too, and it happens outside the show floor: The Find Your Impossible Photo Op.
“In case you somehow missed it, Toyota was the main sponsor for the Olympics and Paralympics. Swing by their booth outside of the show entrance to ‘start your impossible.’ It’s a ball!” enthuses Multimedia Coordinator Leslie Cunningham.
5. Our Best in Show, the Lincoln Aviator
We didn’t name it Best in Show as a joke. The Aviator is stunning, and with a few tweaks, it will be rolling down streets across the country by the end of 2019. The three-row SUV borrows heavily from last year’s New York auto-show star, the Lincoln Navigator, but it does so in a way that makes it clear the Aviator isn’t just a shrunken Navigator. Our three judges — Bragman, Wong and Washington, D.C., Bureau Chief Fred Meier — use words like “stately” and “luxurious” consistently when describing it. Give it a look and see why we’re so impressed.
Cars.com’s Editorial department is your source for automotive news and reviews. In line with Cars.com’s long-standing ethics policy, editors and reviewers don’t accept gifts or free trips from automakers. The Editorial department is independent of Cars.com’s advertising, sales and sponsored content departments.
