Mommies on Minivans: Practical, but where’s the style?

Toyota can call the Sienna a swagger wagon all it wants, but the slogan isn’t going to make moms any happier about hopping behind the wheel. According to The Detroit Free Press, most mothers aren’t fooled by gimmicky marketing or the latest attempts to redesign the minivan as a stylish piece of transportation. Reporter Krista Jahnke followed a group of mothers from Detroit.MomsLikeMe.com as they toured the Detroit Auto Show to critique the latest wave of minivans.

What did they think? While the vast majority appreciated the added creature comforts of the newest generation of family haulers, they still seemed to feel that the minivan was always going to be a practical choice first and an aesthetic one dead last.

One woman even admitted that she cried the first time she had to drive a minivan. Admittedly, we feel her pain.

The crew took the time to check out the all-new Ford C-Max, Honda Odyssey, Toyota Sienna, Dodge Grand Caravan and Volkswagen Routan, and was kind enough share its opinion on each. Despite its significantly smaller size, the C-Max fared well amongst those who know minivans best, while the Grand Caravan was penalized for its cavernous, grime-trapping center console. Head over to The Detroit Free Press to see all of their impressions.

Thieves swipe $140K BMW 7 Series in Detroit during auto show

The 2011 Detroit Auto Show is proving to be more eventful for BMW than the automaker had originally intended. As workers were preparing to load a BMW 7 Series onto a transport truck near Detroit’s Westin Book Cadillac hotel, a pair of thieves jumped in and drove off with the German luxury sedan. The car is said to be worth $140,000, and as of this writing, local police have had no luck tracking down the stolen vehicle. Thankfully, this 7 Series is equipped with BMW Assist, which locates a vehicle if it’s stolen, so it’s only a matter of time before cops close in on the BMW bandits.

If some brand new 7 Series parts wind up on Craigslist’s Detroit-area ‘for sale’ section, we’re willing to bet the sale price is too-good-to-be-true for a reason.

Detroit Auto Show: VW Passat CC parks itself

 

 

So you’re all very impressed with the Lexus LS and its Self-Parking option huh? Well watch out Lexus because here comes Volkswagen with the new Passat CC, which was unveiled at the 2008 Detroit Auto Show, and it also parks itself.

Available as an option on the Passat CC, the “Park Assist” feature ‘automatically guides the Passat CC into a parking space at the push of a button. The driver no longer needs to steer in this case, but instead just accelerates and brakes.’

In the U.S., the Passat CC coupe lineup will start with a 2.0 TSI unit that produces 197 hp and a 3.6 FSI V6 that produces 276hp. Both engines are mated with a 6-speed automatic Triptronic transmission. The Passat CC 3.6 V6 FSI is offered with 4MOTION all-wheel drive as standard equipment and has the ability to do 0-62 mph in 6.6 seconds.