by Scott Corlett
Our intrepid reporter, Scott Corlett, took time from his comparative studies of the European gay male to represent Gaywheels.com at the Paris Auto Show. Here are the top five vehicles relevant to the U.S. market plus one that we are begging to arrive sooner.
Street Smarts
The American automotive IQ will soon to get a boost from the long overdue arrival on this side of the pond of DaimlerChrysler’s smart car (Daimler’s marketing folks must think this car is either too small or too cool for capital letters). Not only can this designer micro-mini two-seater whiz around city streets at nearly 50 mpg (according to Daimler’s engineers), but the smart is short enough that two fit—perpendicular and side-by-side—in the space necessary to parallel park one VW Beetle. Pricing for the smart, which is due to hit dealer lots next year, is not yet announced; however, look for a base under $15k. Now, if only we could figure out a way to fit dates with two, high-mileage, little hotties into one, jolly-good Friday night.
Dodge Ball
In 2000, few tears were shed when Dodge’s Avenger badge went on hiatus after a five-year run and the Dodge Stratus picked up the ball. In Paris, the Dodge Avenger concept was another story—the new Avenger was giving off heat. The Avenger’s metal hews to the lines of its Charger and Caliber sibs and, while the reveal was billed as a concept, there’s little doubt the beefy midsize sedan will soon hit American streets. With its newly muscular frame, the Avenger is clearly ready to carry the ball again—with luck, its footwork will be a bit fancier than that of its predecessor and the Avenger will stay in the game a little longer this time around.
Swedish Meatball
Generally, we like our Swedes big, tall, and blond, but the new subcompact Volvo C30 forces us to revisit this premise. The C30 reminds us of the little meaty spheres that graced restaurant plates in the Swedish neighborhoods of our days in Chicago: this three-door hatchback is hearty, no-nonsense, and richly flavored. Like its Volvo siblings, the C30 combines simple luxury, high safety, and Swedish practicality. Volvo’s timing is impeccable, too. Americans’ newfound taste for small cars and the relative dearth of subcompact luxury vehicles available on the US market mean that the C30 will have an open road ahead when it goes on sale in the summer of 2007.
Too Bad
There are so many things that we like about Honda vehicles—they’re ultra-reliable, fuel-efficient, easy on greenhouse-gas emissions, practical, and stylish (for Japanese cars, at least); however, sadly, Honda doesn’t provide domestic partner benefits to its employees. This fact pained us all the more in Paris where the Honda CR-V was the most important reveal of the show. Fully redesigned for 2007, the CR-V is Honda’s sleek and styling compact SUV. Even though the CR-V is a great little hauler, we suggest that you look first to one of the gay-friendly UTEs, like the Mitsubishi Outlander, Toyota RAV4, or Saturn Vue.
Getting Friendly?
Being in Paris for the Le Mondial de l’Automobile made us think of dreamy Matt Damon driving a battered, late-model Mini Cooper down that flight of Parisian stone steps in the action-thriller, The Bourne Identity. BMW’s tight-handling, iconoclastic MINI is the urban car of choice for hipsters and speedsters alike. For 2007, the MINI gains a few inches here and there, better interior finishes, and—if rumors are true—gay-friendly creds sometime in 2007 to match its street ones (stay tuned to hear more about THAT!). We almost wish that the haze of cigarette smoke in the exposition hall had been just a bit thicker, then we could’ve snuck out one of the new MINIs and gone for our own stair ride.
Pretty Please
Ever since Alfa Romeo pulled out of the US in 1995, it’s been quite a hike to the nearest dealer of these Italian dream machines, whose sexy beauty is matched only by their damning unreliability. But then, the pretty ones are always a bit higher maintenance. Even if we had to visit the mechanic every week, we’d still want a super-hot, form-over-function Alfa Romeo Spyder convertible in our stable any day. Alfa seems set to return to the US market near the end of the … decade. We’re not ones to beg, but, Alfa, can’t you get here a little sooner, please.