I spotted a NEW (insert make/model) today!

thebean

Saw my first Lucid Air in the wild today. Don’t know which model it was, but the color was cool - dark purple with a light gray top.

Then, about two hours later, saw a Rivian R1T in my town. Not many chargers here, so he is probably charging at home mostly.

fintail

Took the wagon in for winter tire switchover today, was able to hang around the dealer a bit. A couple of new for me spots on the showroom floor - first, new style SL63 AMG, 178K MSRP I think:



And its engine, a village of plastic covers:




EQB MSRP 63K I think, with a newly arrived special order (sold) G550 in the background - G was a fairly non-bling spec around 155K, which I prefer:

fintail

Probably not the newest thing, but I had a new style WRX sedan beside me in traffic today. Maybe I have overlooked them before, as for a split second I thought it was some kind of souped up Corolla

stickguy

parked next to a nice brighter medium blue 3 series today. only realized it was unique when I read the badging. It was an i4 edrive40 (quite the mouthful). Interesting to see in the Hanaford supermarket parking lot!

texases

I followed a Lucid Air into the garage today. One this stood out - the rear wrap-around window is all window, not a big black border around the edge. Visibility should be pretty good!

texases

New 2023 CR-V, I like the new design.

fintail

Saw another Rivian today, a few around now - still kind of "new" here as this is not a cutting edge market.

That reminds me, around the Seatac car rental center, I saw a couple of new HRV a couple weeks ago - very basic spec and a very bland looking car, apparently in rental fleets now.

stickguy

texases said:

New 2023 CR-V, I like the new design.

I saw one recently and also really liked it. will stop and check one out in person someday.

Sandman6472

Sorry, but think the new HR-V is about as boring as a vehicle can get...looks like a big egg rolling down the road! The previous model at least had some lines that made it look very much like a small SUV. Really liked it except for it's lack of oommph going down the road. The few I drove were really "meh" to be honest, it did nothing really that good. The Toyota Rav4 is so much better in every respect to be honest. With the new 2023, looks like Honda decided to make a very bland vehicle and don't think it'll sell very well...the Rav4 will probably leave it in the dust!
Speaking of a bland vehicle, Toyota needs to blow up the Corolla playbook and start with something fresh & new for the market place. Boring is the best I could say about the current Corolla which needs a total makeover inside & out. Even the Nissan Sentra blows the Corolla away in the looks department. Looks, feels & drives like an old mans vehicle and they really need to start from scratch going forward. Folks like me who really like & want a smaller vehicle need something with some style and good driving dynamics, something the current Corolla does not possess. I know Toyota can fix this issue and hope they do soon as I'm going to be in the market in a year or two. And now, after driving the 2022 Corolla Cross, the only one I'd even consider is the hybrid model coming out in 2023. It really needs some more power off the line & up through the power band, the current CVT transmission isn't helping much either. In my case, I'd rather spend the extra bucks and go with the Mini Cooper Countryman at this point. It looks so much better & I think, drives so much better also. Sitting a little higher up is perfect for someone like myself and have to believe there are more folks like me who want a stylish & fun smaller vehicle to drive. And right now, the M C Countryman is at the top of my short list and I'd buy one tomorrow in the right color combo with certain features I won't compromise on. Those days are over, settling because I'd rather save a few bucks, because in the long run, I feel like I cheated myself to be honest. Knowing that this next vehicle I purchase could very well be my last one makes me not want to f-ck it up honestly!

andres3

Maybe I'm out of the loop, but I saw an extremely rare oddball Nissan today, appeared to be brand new with temp license plates.

It was a Nissan Altima.... SR model.... you might say nothing odd or rare about that, but it also had an AWD label on the trunk back. Since when did Altima's offer AWD?

I know Nissan made some oddball AWD SUV's but don't think I've seen it on the Altima before.

stickguy

fairly recent addition.

Michaell

AWD only available with the 2.5 engine. The 2.0 turbo is FWD only.

fintail

Maybe not brand new, spotted a Toyota Hilux SRV on the road today, Mexico plates - snowy Spokane is a long way from home.

Pic snapped at the last second, as I was a passenger in a car and we were turning immediately ahead:

Sandman6472

Look at that snow! Haven't seen any since I was in Baltimore in 1977. Left New York when I was just about to turn 15 so had experience living in snow country but still miss it to this day. Don't miss the cold weather, I'm freezing when it sometime gets down to the 40's here in South Florida, but think I could live in an area that had colder winters as long as we had heat in the house!

fintail

Sandman6472 said:

Look at that snow! Haven't seen any since I was in Baltimore in 1977. Left New York when I was just about to turn 15 so had experience living in snow country but still miss it to this day. Don't miss the cold weather, I'm freezing when it sometime gets down to the 40's here in South Florida, but think I could live in an area that had colder winters as long as we had heat in the house!

And that was just an inch or two. Roads are all bare and dry now. We had constant snow for awhile in December, it was piling up - then we had a warm few weeks and 80% of it melted. It's back now, going to be cold next week, single digit lows. I like the snow, although how dirty it makes my car due to the love of sand/grit here irks me.

laurasdada

Yesterday, a black Lucid Air. Imposing, impressive.

texases

I'm not brave enough to buy one so early in the company's lifetime. Neat car, though.

laurasdada

Agreed, I don't even buy first model year cars from established marques!

sda

An Audi etron with Alaska plates in SC! @xwesx did you sneak by with a new ride incognito?

xwesx

sda said:

An Audi etron with Alaska plates in SC! @xwesx did you sneak by with a new ride incognito?

Sadly, no. And, I doubt that person actually drove out of Alaska with that car! Maybe, but it takes the patient driver to brave the journey out (unless they cheated and took the ferry to Bellingham)!

tifighter

Silver id.buzz van in Oslo. Take the bright colors away and it looks like another anonymous van. But that can be a good thing I guess…

fintail

Saw a new style CRV, taking anonymous to a new level.

stickguy

It looks nice to me. It’s a compact family car. Not much you can do with that without compromising functionality. And at least the front end doesn’t look like a razor toothed bass.

texases

I'm fine with the new one, wasn't a fan of the prior version.

stickguy

I do think the new one looks sharper. I’ll be getting more close up experience with one too since my son Has one now!

fintail

Fair point, Honda is finally slowly moving away from the underbite front end, and it also lacks the weird trim flourish on the C-pillar rear quarter window area of the sedans. It's a fine transportation pod, just invisible - but that can be better than offensive.

stickguy

most people want their car to work, and not be noticeable.

fintail

I don't know, all of the pseudo-butch cladding on so many CUVs (which have replaced traditional cars for many) can't be coincidence - at least some focus groups said they thought it was cool. Same for leering eye front ends - either bad designers have been given free reign, or someone thinks there is demand.

kyfdx

Best CR-V


Next best CR-V

fintail

Maybe time and nostalgia are kind, but I like the first CRV and RAV4 both.

kyfdx

fintail said:

Maybe time and nostalgia are kind, but I like the first CRV and RAV4 both.

I owned each of the first two generations of CR-V. 10 years total as my daily driver. Seems weird, now.

stickguy

they were small. especially the 1st 2 door Rav. Tiny little thing.

andres3

stickguy said:

they were small. especially the 1st 2 door Rav. Tiny little thing.

Was going to say, the 1st generations of those reminded me of the Geo Tracker.

Sandman6472

Drove past a couple of new Corolla Cross's earlier and they aren't that small to be honest. Smaller than the Rav4 but still, not a small vehicle. Have it on my short list but now, not so sure. If I do get one, think it'll have to be the hybrid model as just not ready to do an EV vehicle yet. Just don't think the U S is ready for us all to have them. Infrastructure just isn't ready yet & that might take many years to make them a viable alternative. As much as my driving style being a perfect candidate for one, just not ready to jump quite yet.

stickguy

the Cross is definitely above your size limit. as are all the compact sedans (civic, corolla, etc.)

you need to stick with sub-compact.

tifighter

While I've seen lots of the trucks, today marked my first sighting of the Rivian R1s SUV in person. Launch green color. I like it. I'm sure more are coming soon - my own reservation is slated for Q4 this year.

Michaell

Speaking of EVs, I've spotted 2 Lucid Airs in the past week. One was being taken for a test drive (it was labeled as such on the doors), and the other may have been a personal vehicle.

Large, imposing vehicles, for sure.

texases

Followed a new Wagoneer for a while, a big boring box IMO.