San Jose Mercury News Hybrids to Hotrods Automotive Showcase 9/24/11

Hybrids to Hotrods | 1st Annual Mercury News Automotive Showcase happening September 24, 2011

Heard about it from Official Auto Car Ride & Drive Events: - Page 7 - Slickdeals.net.

On the right side, it lists featured makers Piercey Toyota/Scion, Stevens Creek Toyota, Tesla Motors, Ford, Chrysler and Dodge.

I plan to be there. Anyone else?

 

Anyone?

It's unclear if the '12 Prius, PHV Prius, and '12 HyCam will be available for test drives.

 

So, did anyone here go besides me? I skipped the hotrods, for the most part. They had these hybrids/EVs on hand, but unavailable for test drives: Volt, Sonata Hybrid, Leaf.

I did test drive the Lexus CT, '12 HCH and '11 Insight. It was the first time I'd sat in and test drove the CT. It also the first time for me to drive any Honda hybrids. I tried the '12 HCH first and to me, it wasn't that bad. I expected terrible given the bashing it's gotten in reviews. I was (not surprisingly) not impressed by the Insight (rougher ride, harsher ICE, instrumentation, car felt cheap). The salesman warned me that I wouldn't be too impressed by it vs. the HCH.

I skipped the Toyota hybrids since I've driven them before. They had 3rd gen Priuses available for test drives but no '12 models, no Prius v and no PHV Prius. The PHV Prius there was just one of the demonstrators. They also had the current gen HyCam, not the '12.

I briefly got to meet Mr. Roadshow himself before he had to go do something. I knew he had a Prius and he mentioned had an 06 and not surprisingly had HID headlight probs. He said he was also loaned one of the PHV Priuses for 2 months and he seemed to like it.