2015 New York International Auto Show Round-Up

• Ben Williams


• 6 Apr 2015

With the 2015 New York International Auto Show underway, it is time to look at some of the Auto Show’s biggest reveals and concepts that we have not covered yet.  For the reveals that we already covered click here.

2016 Porsche Boxster Spyder

Porsche, without releasing anything prior, brought their new Boxster Spyder to make its debut at New York.  The Boxster Spyder, despite its changes, keeps a lot of the similar characteristics as the previous model, especially when it comes to performance.  For example, in order to save weight, the convertible top can only be opened and closed by hand, and the car is still only available with a manual transmission.   The new Spyder’s performance focus also includes sport suspension, a low ride height, the brakes from the 911 Carrera S, and a 3.8 L Flat-6 that produces 375 hp.

The new Spyder’s interior has also been improved to be increase driving pleasure.  Among the changes are new Sports Seats Plus, and a smaller diameter steering wheel.  However, because this is a Boxster Spyder, the roadster does not come with a radio nor an air conditioner.   All of the performance parts and weight-reduction methods make the new Boxster is the lightest and the most powerful Boxster yet.  The new Spyder will be launched in dealerships later this year.

 

2016 McLaren 570S

McLaren, as part of their three tier range, has introduced their new sports car.  The new 570S Coupe will be the first model in their “Sports Series.”  The new sports car is very much of what you can expect from a McLaren vehicle.  Following McLaren’s nomenclature, the 570S’s 3.8L twin-turbo V8 will produce around 570 bhp.  The 570S’s aerodynamic body is made from carbon fiber, and is the typical mid-engine rear-wheel drive design that you would expect.  With all these performance options mean that the 570S does a 0-60 time of about 3.2 seconds and a top speed of about 204 mph.

McLaren promises that the new 570S will be their most useable vehicle to date.  The 570S feature a new suspension system that will work on both the road and the track.  Basically the entire suspension is independent of each other, and will have the typical handling settings: Normal, Sport, and Track.  The practicality of the 570S continues to the interior.  Instead of racing seats, the 570S has leather upholstered “sport seats” that are much more focused on day-to-day comfort and support.  The new model also has a full infotainment system that includes a digital instrument cluster, a large stereo system, and touch screens that have been integrated with media and climate controls. At this time, McLaren has not released until details about when the 570S will be available in dealerships.

 

2016 Chevrolet Malibu

Chevy has been teasing their new mid-sized sedan Malibu release at the NYIAS for the past few weeks.  The all-new Malibu has completely redesigned and engineered to offer more efficiency, connectivity, and advanced safety features that were available on previous Malibu models.   This new Malibu accomplishes this while being both longer and lighter than previous models, allowing for both more practicality and fuel-economy.  The new Malibu will be available in a multitude of trim levels, and as a hybrid model.

The all-new Malibu will have a wide variety of safety features, with the most interesting being a Teen Driver mode.  The Teen Driver mode features a couple of different safety measures that will help build safe driving habits.  These measures include muting the audio or any device paired to the vehicle when someone in the front seat does not have a seat belt on, audible and visual warning when the speed limit has been pasted, and a system that lets parents/guardians see how their teenage is actually driving by recording when the car goes over the speed limit, the distance traveled and when other active safety features were activated.

One of Chevy’s goals with the new Malibu was to provide both performance and fuel economy.  The engines for the Malibu include a standard 1.5L Ecotec engine that produces 160 hp and an estimated 27 mpg in the city, and a 2.0L turbo-charged engine that produces 230 hp and an estimated 22 mph in the city.  The Hybrid model uses the same system as the Chevy Volt, and will have an estimated 47 mpg while maintaining the same driving dynamics as its gas powered brethren.   All of the Malibu trim levels will be available later this fall while the Malibu Hybrid will be available in early 2016.

 

Subaru BRZ STI Concept

Recently, Subaru Tecnica International (STI) Aftermarket parts have been moving into the U.S. market.  In order to show off what they have to offer, STI Performance brought their new Subaru BRZ STI Concept to show off at New York.  Basically, the STI took a regular BRZ and outfitted it with their range of suspension, performance, braking, chassis and aerodynamic upgrades in order to turn it into this concept.  One of these changes is the engine swap to a monster BRZ SuperGT spec, 2.0L turbocharged EJ20 racing engine that produces 345hp and 323 ft-lb of torque.  There is, however, talk that the concept actually makes 450hp thanks to some additional STI tuning.   However, what is important to remember about this concept, is that this is still a concept.  Subaru will want to change and tune a lot more before we can actually expect a pre-production version.  It will probably be next year before we see anything close to this.

 

10^th-Generation Honda Civic Concept

If you thought the Mini’s joke Chrome Exterior would be hard to look at, check out the color of Honda’s new Civic Concept.   Honda it brought its new Civic Concept to New York without any prior build-up to it.  What is different about this concept is that it will make its way to be the latest production model sometime later this year.  The new Civic will of course include the typical Civic line-up, including the Sedan, Coupe, and 5-door Hatchback body types, as well as Si and Type-R versions.

Honda is calling this generation of Civic their sportiest version ever, and has changed the styling to reflex that, adding more aggressive features.  The sportiness continues with the new Earth Dreams Technology powertrains that Honda was talking about at the earlier this year.  This includes the new, direct injected 1.5L VTEC Turbo engine, making the newest Civic the first U.S. model to have the engine.  The Concept also features a short-shifting 6-speed manual transmission, a variety of safety features, and Honda’s next-generation Advanced Compatibility Engineering body structure.  We will have to wait to get a full run down of the new Civic’s performance until its launch.