Motor Show 2004

[SMW]

Yesterday I went to the Motor Show at Birmingham and thought I’d share my views of the show with you. Firstly I travelled by train and would recommend this to anyone – the train station is right inside the exhibition centre and you avoid all the nasty motorway jams. If you are driving be aware the car park charge is £8.50 per car.

Once inside I found the show laid out much better than it previous years – there are extra exhibition halls available which means that manufacturers seem to have more space on their stands. For most stands there was only a very short wait to get into the cars – although the likes of Ferrari, Aston and Porsche still had 20 minute plus wait times.

Toytota stand was impressive – very large and well laid out. I got chatting to the guy there are he let me through to hospitality where I got some nice coffee in a purpose built area of the stand with an excellent viewing gallery of the show.

Almost immediately next door was Lexus and a very nice concept on display. The salesman here also said that all new IS sold from July in the UK would come with a complete styling kit as standard – nice. More hospitality here – this time fairly posh – buffet lunch and waitress service. Got chatting to a couple of dealers from Chester – very pleasant people.

The rest of the show – new Evo V111 was impressive and was the first time I have sat in one. The Ford stand was impressive and took half an exhibition hall – included a lake and live show. Their theme was Thunderbirds and you could see some vehicles from the new film on display. Ford also get my prize for biggest rip off though - £9.95 to have your photo taken in a pink Ka (WTF). Ford did well getting a GT40 on display but had it roped off with a security guard by it so no chance of a close look – or even better a ‘sit in’.

Funniest moment was the new Pug 407 launch – a Simon Cowell lookalike prancing round saying how wonderful this new car is (‘it’s time to stop playing, the new 407 is simply beautiful’ etc.) and lets face it – it’s a 406 with a new grille. this was accompanied by 2 young girls prancing around in a load of smoke and lights – so bad it was cringe worthy.

Loads more to mention but overall I’d say well worth a visit – if only for the Top Gear stand where you will find the Hi Lux that Top Gear burnt, crushed etc. in the last series.

A great day out – enjoy.

[Nizan]

sounds cool thanks for the review,

shame i missed it maybe next year

Niz

[Demonic Angel]

I agree SMW - was a very good day, very knackering though!

Did you manage to take any pics? I took nearly 200 but some of them didnt come out very well!

I got a go on the Toyota F1 Simulator but crashed miserably several times! lol

The Ford stand was impressive - I didnt realise they were charging a tenner for a sit in that pink StreetKa - I saw a large queue for it - there was a bigger queue for that than for FAB1!

Heres my report of it all - and pics! Hope your pics are better than mine!

http://toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=16547

Although we couldnt get the train as all services between Rugby to Birmingham on the west coast mainline are cancelled due to works - where did you come from? We ended up driving but the traffic wasnt so bad at 8.30 am! :D

[SMW]

Ah DA - did you go Sunday then ? Could have met up !

Anyways - I went from Cheltenham (40 min 1 stop train journey).

I took about 60 pics but haven't downloaded / looked at 'em yet - will post any good 'uns.

[Demonic Angel]

Nahh I went on Saturday SMW - plus even if I did go Sunday it was so busy there that would never have seen you anyway! :D

It was a good day though - although the food was quite expensive - we had 2 Full Englishes and even with £2 off coupons we still had to pay a tenner for them!

It was a nice brekkie though! :D

[Fidgits]

Nice review SMW.. any pics?