2016 Calgary Auto Show – Part 3

McLarens in the cover photo must be a good sign, right? You bet! The front hall did have some expensive and high-end vehicles but the back hall – where the coverage moves to now – housed brands like Ferrari, Aston Martin, and Jaguar.

The downside was that a large number of the vehicles here were roped off and/or locked, but that was of course expected. Regardless it was an opportunity to see some amazing machines (somewhat) up close including the new M4 GTS and NSX – photos of both of those will be in Part 4 incidentally. For today, I hope you enjoy the first half of the second hall, starting things off with Lamborghini.

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This trio of Lambos was on hand to welcome visitors to the back hall, and not surprisingly it also caused a bit of a traffic jam. Not only was there a Huracan Spyder (blue), but the red example was the new RWD version.

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Ruf had a small display opposite the Lambos – very small, in fact. This was it!

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This Exige was a limited edition called the LF1 which was designed to pay homage to Lotus’ Formula 1 cars. Apparently there are only 81 of these so it was a rather special sight.

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This Boxster Spyder and GTI weren’t part of the new-car side of the show but were rather on display for a vendor. They were definitely photo-worthy though!

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Lexus’ LF-C2 concept was hard to miss for many reasons, so it certainly attracted plenty of attention. I don’t even know how long I stood there staring at it but I was quite happy to spend my time taking in as many little details as I could.

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That grille though – it’s so intricate!

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Talking with friends following the show, opinions about this were rather mixed. Wheels aside I personally liked it a lot. I admire Lexus for the increasingly bold and in-your-face designs they’re putting out.

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It seems they were also being bold with paint too. This RC-F was finished in what was definitely the strangest colour of any vehicle at the show. It wasn’t quite orange, wasn’t quite pink. I think the best way to describe it is ‘Salmon-coloured’.

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Opinion-splitting styling, and colours too!

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There were also more traditional and restrained colours on display, though the blue on this GS-F was quite vibrant still.

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It was open so I made sure to hop in. I then learned that the GS-F has what is probably the world’s least useful analogue speedometer. Zero to illegal in about 90 degrees.

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So much want. From a styling standpoint the new RX 350 has to be my favourite SUV on sale today.

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Alex (Lauper, not Leslie) had asked me to grab some photos of this modified TLX in the Acura display. I happily obliged.

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The details – not a long mod list, but effective.

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The contrast between the True Blood vinyl and carbon fiber trim was really rather nice and I think the colour suited the car well. Hey Alex? I’m grabbing some of this vinyl and we’re wrapping your TL in it. Cool? Cool.

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When the name of the vehicle written out is almost as long as the vehicle itself, you have an issue. Haha. I get that automakers are always trying to find and capitalize on the next niche, but I’ll admit I don’t understand category into which the Mercedes-AMG GLE 63 S 4Matic CoupethatisreallyanSUVbutlesspracticalthananormalversion falls.

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More than you can afford pal.*

*I’m sorry, I had to. I just had to.

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I don’t have a Fast and Furious reference for this side, though there was a pair of Ghiblis…

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The star of this stand was undoubtedly this yellow 458 Speciale. Lots of cameras were focused on it.

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A few McLarens had been brought out including the new baby, the 570S. I really (really, really) want to see a 675LT at some point – hopefully one winds up in Calgary if there isn’t already one here.

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It’s a shame that power cord had to be right there. Haha

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I rather liked colour combo on this 650S. The orange calipers tied in to the orange stitching and piping inside.

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650S Spider…

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Like Subaru, photo coverage of Porsche is extremely limited due to people blocking most of the vehicles. Sorry!

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Do a couple of photos of Aston Martins make up for that? Hopefully. If not, as always complaints can be sent to me via the contact page. Haha.

I hope that everyone has been enjoying the auto show coverage! The fourth and final part will follow soon, starting off with Lincoln and what I thought was one of the most impressive cars of the show, the new Continental. Once this has been wrapped up I have something rather special to share, for which I need to extend a big thank you to Josh Sivadas. He has provided me with some photos from his trip to Japan which I think many will find interesting…but I’m getting ahead of myself.

M4 GTS, F-Pace, NSX, and Rocket Bunny – all coming in part 4!

-Bill

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