Samo Kastelic's Blog

…190000 m2 of automobile.

This was the first international motor show that i went to and i must say it was fantastic. For car freak like me, this kind of event is opportunity to see cars in close view and for amateur photographer as i am, is opportunity to take photos of cars that you only see in magazines and on internet.

First i must say that if you want to get as much as you can from this show you must go there for at least 2 or 3 days. I went to Frankfurt with two friends for one day (10:00 till 17:00) and we see all, but not with the precision, we just fly by.

Secondly, organization of the show is on top-level, from parking to the entrance up to the exit. On the web page (www.iaa.de) you can get all the info you need for motor show and things like travelling, eating, resting,… so you don’t need to worry about anything, just maybe is better if you speak german (especially when you are looking for the parking place), but also no problem if you speak english. One of the “bad” things at show was lighting of some cars, which could be better at given situation and place, every exhibitor should know how to put light on their car, because wrong light can hide or misrepresent car lines.

Well, you got to see it, to feel it, so i recommend visit.

Below you can see photos of few cars that i like the most (click on photo to enlarge).

And you are welcome to comment.

Aston Martin gave answer to the competition with new four-door limousine Rapide. Beautiful car which also seems practical.

Legendary VW Golf in its strongest version, R version.

Volvo S60 concept was rewarded, by Auto Bild readers, as most beautiful concept car in 2009.

Electrical car Roadster Sport from Tesla is one of the fastest electrical cars.

Seat IbZ is a concept based on serial Ibiza, just with longer back and atractive lamps.

Rolls Royce Ghost is the smallest Rolls Royce (5,399 m) and also the cheapest (from 191.000 €, no tax included).

Renault Fluence Z.E. is one of  4 prototypes at Renault called Z.E. concept, which are all electrical and will be in serial production in 2012.

Porsche Panamera is newest model from Stuttgart, with 400 HP in 4S version.

Mini Morris is best case to show how to make car which will last forever. Mini is having 50 years birthday this year.

Mercedes-Benz present new SLS AMG in Frankfurt. As they said, SLS AMG is successor of legendary SL 300 gullwing. By my opinion it was the “hottest stuff” on Mercedes-Benz exhibiting place.

Second “hottest stuff” at Mercedes-Benz was E-class in all its versions E, E coupe and E T-model (on photo).

Jaguar XF announced a new era for Jaguar, when it was launched in 2008.

Lexus LF-Ch concept is hybrid study for European market.

Ferrari 599 GTB and 612 Scaglietti, no comment needed.

Ferrari replace 430 with 458 Italia, which was designed by pininfarina.

BMW vision EfficientDynamics is a concept that shows which direction BMW will go in the future.

BMW Alpina B7 Bi-Turbo has a twin-turbocharged, 4.4-liter V8 with 507 HP.

BMW 535i GranTurismo is new BMW model on market, which will refresh serie 5.

After a long time, again “real” Bentley; designed, planned and drawn in Crewe, England. A new Bentley Mulsane.

Audi e-tron concept is electric car from Audi, which should have range around 248 km.

…photos!

Yes i know, it was about time to put photos of Insignia on blog.

As i was writing, i was expecting Insignia on a weekend test and as you can see i got it 🙂 It was fantastic, me and my girls take trip to Kobarid, Slovenia where is a lot of turns and on a way back i also try it on a highway, fantastic.

As i write in previous post, Opel Insignia is a very good car with very good driving dinamics and this weekend test drive has just confirm this to me.

Hopely, new Astra will be as good as her bigger sister and also come to my blog 😉

Check photos below 🙂