Auto shows are totally fun, don't get me wrong. My favorites at LA 2010 were the Lotus Esprit—aggressive, powerful, gorgeous—Jaguar's C-X75 concept, and the Fisker Karma. Those machines are true works of art, and make me feel all dizzy inside. Of course, there are more attainable rides I lust after too. The BMW M3 is such a perfect piece of machinery that it almost doesn't warrant talking about, Caddy's CTS-V practically defines new American cool, and the Mazda Miata shows that the company isn't just paying enthusiasts lip service with its "Zoom Zoom" campaign. But honestly? I couldn't care less about 95% of the stuff on the floor, and judging from the bitching I heard in the press room, neither did most of the other folks covering the show.

With the Viper gone, the Challenger now years old and the 300C dating back to the Jurassic era, the excitement in Ma Mopar's area came from new corporate owner Fiat's American-spec 500. The Italians brought along a '60s model for comparison, but it's saying something that even next to the button-cute classic, the younger sibling more than held its own. It's not perfect, by any means—trunk storage looks negligible, some of the door trim is kind of hard, rear seats are minuscule—but there’s a lot to love about the 500.

While I was walking around with Mr. Angry yesterday, we swung through the General's booth. The usual suspects like the Cruze and the Volt were predictably well represented, and there were also a couple of cool urban-themed concepts, like Cadillac's Urban Luxury vehicle (pictured after the jump) on display. But both of us really just wanted to look at 2011 Camaro Convertible. On the way, we kept joking about how "revolutionary" the idea of a car with a folding roof was, but all kidding aside, this baby looks great. With the hard top gone, the rear fenders have a much more aggressive flare, and the spoiler isn't too in-your-face. I'm not a fan of spoilers, but I thought it was a cool exterior cue.  

Ford has been on such a winning streak lately with the Mustang, Fiesta and the Focus, that you wouldn’t expect it booth to be filled with radically different stuff, and it isn't. I gawked over the Fiestas and Mustangs last year, so this baby was the ride I gravitated toward. Sure, it has the word "concept" in its name, but Ford seems to be applying the word loosely with the Focus Touring Car Concept. When I think of concept cars, I think of fantastic rides which haven’t been dumbed down by the bean counting department or ever-intrusive safety requirements. Since this is a race machine which will campaign in the 2011 British Touring Car championship, I guess the concept is to make it lighter, safer and faster around the track, and semantics aside, it looks dope.

First off, I'm not one of those people who think amenities like carpeting, padded seats or whiz-bang technologies like AM/FM radio ruin the "purity" of a Lotus. But I still kind of hated the Evora, because the 2+2's styling seemed like soy milk next to the fiery habanero looks of the Exige and Elise--and bland isn't beautiful. So when I heard Lotus was revamping its design language, I was a little nervous. But I didn’t have anything to fear, because the new Lotus Esprit looks like a Lambo! And I totally love Lambos!

Mike Musto and I were standing in the back of the room when Porsche debuted its new Cayman R, and even though we're both well over six feet tall, the crowd prevented us from seeing the six different models—one representing each decade of Porsche's US presence—who pulled off a series of covers to reveal its new baby. While I'm not much for Porsche's styling, I've always liked the look of the Cayman, and while the color might not be for everyone, it's hard to argue with the numbers. 

For anyone who's read my posts, this will probably come as complete shock, but after walking the floor here in LA, the first thing I wanted to write about was Jaguar's stunning C-X75 Concept. It was unveiled at the Paris Motor Show back in September, but this is the first time this rare Kitty has set its paws on this side of the Pond, and onlookers flanked it on all sides, regarding it like they might have regarded an alien craft asking that landed to ask directions. Maybe it’s because I’m dressed like a bike messenger, or because my camera is Barbie pink—seriously—but I must look like an expert, because I got asked some variation of “are they gonna to make that?” like ten times. The answer, as you can imagine, is no way. Here’s what else I know.

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