It's February already???!!!


One of the highlights of the winter in Portland (if there are any), for me, is the Portland Auto Show. As I'm sure I mentioned in last year's blog post it's an excellent opportunity to see a ton of vehicles in one setting and (for the most part) have an opportunity to actually experience them. What's more is there is generally staff in each vendor's area that's (semi) knowledgeable about them.


Our group headed to the show Thursday evening to see what the 2023 installment had to offer. I'll share some thoughts and images here. First, I've got to give it to Ford. They, by far, had the most compelling experience at the whole show. They had most of their line up in attendance and you were able to sit in nearly all of them. A super exciting highlight was indoor ride alongs in the Lighting Platinum with one of Ford's drivers. We got up to nearly 40 MPH indoors in a small space. The acceleration in that thing is impressive and unnerving as something that big and heavy has no business being that fast!!! I'd have liked to see a Pro model as that's a serious contender for me...well it was until Ford essentially raised their pricing commensurate with the new tax incentives. Not cool, Ford. They had the Bronco Raptor which was one Tracy wanted to see-she liked it. They also had the new 2024 Mustang on display.


I continue to be underwhelmed because of the manufacturers that were missing:

  • Acura
  • Audi
  • Buick (maybe they were there...are they still in business?)
  • Lexus
  • Mazda
  • Tesla (seriously, why aren't they here?)

I liked the "Electric Avenue" area where they highlighted some of the electric offerings and allowed you to experience many of them. I liked being able to see the Polestar 2, sadly it's too small for this guy. The highlight for me was the Hyundai IONIQ 5. I love the styling, it's roomy, offers good range, and it's pretty quick (especially if you spring for the N Spec version)...sadly (as I understand it) it won't qualify for tax incentives based on it's South Korean manufacture. Volvo, not surprisingly, had their other models locked. Hate that. There was another Ford Lightning in the Lariat trim which was nearly 70k-yikes! I'd really like for Ford to offer the Pro and have the ability to add adaptive cruise control-I'd be all over that.


As we wandered back in we came across the Maserati booth and their affiliate completely ignored us and offered no help. Thanks Maserati. Maybe I should have dressed better and the gals should have had obvious Botox and collagen for service? Toyota had some really cool trucks and SUVs...I regret not taking a photo of the 4Runner with the Ivan Stewart inspired livery. We also didn't buy the matching orange 4Runner and Tacoma so that's a win. They also had their new Crown in attendance...of course you can't check out the interior because it was locked. Toyota, if you're going to tempt us with your new flagship please let us sit in the the thing. The new Supra is pretty awesome-though I didn't attempt the contortion required to get in. They had a Corolla GR and that's a sharp looking little car.


We completely skipped, Dodge, Chrysler, GMC, Chevrolet, Subaru, and VW as there wasn't much we wanted to see from them. Wait, we checked out the C8 Corvette which, again, was locked this year. Kia had a pretty awesome booth-though the Stinger was lacking. They did, however, have the EV6 GT with 576 HP!!!! Considering it's priced in the mid 60's that's a decent price for that performance. Sadly, as with the Hyundai, I don't believe it qualifies for the incentives.

Randoms and wrap up...


One of the cool things about the Portland Auto Show is there's usually a lot of cool cars from various owners and vendors and this year's show was no exception. My favorite, and perhaps my favorite of the whole show, was this Cadillac on air bags. We also really dug that modified Audi R8 V10-think it had a supercharger. Sheesh.


Good friends made for a good experience in spite of an underwhelming offering from most manufacturers and maybe it's supply chain or whatever, but I hope this auto show improves. Loved the Ford Lighting, Hyundai IONIQ 5, and bagged Caddy.