This year the club had a special Auto Show event with Tom S., the BMW M Brand manager. Held the morning of Saturday February 10, we were able to enjoy a crowd-free hour before the show opened to the public. BMW brought and introduced the new M3 convertible, and Tom was kind enough to open up the hood and let the club members get a close look at all the goodies. He assured everyone that BMW had found the source of the new M3 engine problems and told us to expect the new cars, including the convertible, to be available in April (of course, you may have a long wait in line behind those on the long waiting lists). After extolling the features of the new convertible, Tom talked about the other M cars on display including the M5 and the M Coupe and Roadster which get a 315hp version of the new M3 engine. The only reason for the slight drop in power was due to the fact that BMW had to use a smaller air box on these cars. Tom later answered questions on a variety of topics including the promising performance of the M5 engine run at 24 hours of Daytona. One of PTG's customers put a mostly stock M5 engine in an E46 M3 and led for most of the race by 20+ laps until a cylinder gave way with 5 hours to go. This is an exceptional first-time showing for a non race tested engine. When it comes to expanding the V8's role in M cars, BMW seems to have done an about-face. Things look very strong for a 4-liter M version V8 in the near future so BMW can participate in and win more race series. Many club members were disappointed that BMW chose not to bring the Mini to the auto show. Tom indicated, at least from the M Brand perspective, that BMW wants to try to promote an independent identity for the Mini. The marketing for this car will very definitely be hip and towards a youth market. Clearly the price point and styling are meant to rival the VW Bug and attract first time buyers, but the nostalgia for the old Mini will certainly fuel purchasing decisions for many others.

In general the manufacturers have followed BMW's lead in many respects as many introduced what I would call sport vehicles. The giant SUV's and truck-a-saurs were not as prevalent this year in favor of smaller 4-seat 4-wheel-drive activity vehicles. These smaller vehicles are definitely designed for the urban youth market for the weekend getaway to mountain bike or snowboard. The Jeep display made a big splash - literally. It featured an amazing waterfall with jets that created shapes using water. The effect was like a sideways ticker tape but in water. Oh yeah - the new Jeep Liberty is pretty cool. You could see some of the new Daimler influence in the design. One vendor that made a major step up over years past was the Hummer exhibit. In past years maybe one or two were there and were pretty much off limits. Now that they are owned by GM they had a big display with 4 models that were readily accessible. Too bad the prices are still in the 6 figures. Surprisingly, they did not bring the smaller Hummer II.

Very prominent this year was the return to the station wagon but not the Griswolds of the early 70's. BMW, Volvo, and Audi all have very compact wagons, most with 4 wheel drive options. These cars retain most of the sport feel of their sister sedans but offer very creative and efficient use of space to provide lots of storage.

Formula One cars and Cart sleds made a big showing this year. Jaguar brought its 2001 F1 car for all to see. Other vendors brought the recently retired F1 cars from last season. New rules and the switch to new tires this year meant that all new cars had to be developed. Rally competition has not caught on in the US yet but several Japanese vendors brought their rally cars. These little buzz bombs will out perform most of the cars at the show but most were oblivious. The vendors would have been smart to show large screen videos with the cars in action.

Our thanks to Barbara Neuerman for all her hard work in putting together a great event.

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