New York Auto Show 2016

New York is perhaps the best place where to go in case you missed the event in Geneva. Auto Makers have always some other special treat for journalists and enthusiasts alike: this Car show is the Dessert of the great meal that it is Geneva.

Take the new vitamin-C-filled Nissan GTR. It’s a very unexpected and very much orange new super sports car. The 911 competitor from the rising sun is once again out to terrorize the streets and shame more expensive supercars with its distinct brutality.

Still having a look around what’s coming from another Rising Sun Manufacturer you cannot fall in love with the gorgeous looking and exciting new Acura NSX  GT3. Developed in America like its road going counterpart, the new GT3 has abandoned its hybrid powertrain to allow only the twin turbo v6 to power it to victory. Besides being a lovely new thing, it would have been absolutely fantastic to see an hybrid Grand Touring car that is not a Le Mans LMP1. Wishes aside, finally we have a Honda racing car that will take on other championships other than the already exciting WTCC.

The iconic Mazda Miata now comes as a Targa. It’s not what you would expect from the most successful Jap-built roadster yet it looks just plain brilliant! And since it is presented in  a beautiful shade of gun metal grey it can now shut the mouths of all those detractors who think that the only color of present Mazda production is the lovely Soul Red.

And now, for the Yankee side, the complete display of the Triple Crown of muscle car is what we came to New York for. You come to the US for 3 things: In n’Out Hamburgers, Apple pies and Muscle Cars. How a Nation that has some of the lowest highway speed limits is capable of producing such bloody fast machines? Muscle car are the original performance car that you can use everyday. The  new ZL1 with 580 horses could be Detroit response to the GTR: it’s still conservative but it’s one of those things that is so good that doesn’t need to change: would you ever change the recipe for the perfect Grandma’s Apple Pie?

The new Mustang Shelby GT350R is still as venomous as it should be. It’s perhaps the best looking of all 3 muscle cars and it makes you forget about that Ecoboost stuff that is making a lot of people talk. forget it, muscle cars are not bought for saving gas. Racing stripes rule!

Mad&Bad: no need oher adjectives to describe the Challenger Hemi 392. Supercharger madness which is still less powerful to the mighty Hellcat…if nearly 500 horses are not enough for you.

Perhaps the American stunners of the show were the Ford GT (which steals any show anywhere, anytime), and the Buick Avista. The GT is very yellow and very much lovely: one question when will we see this beast around? The Avista is the elegant cupè we were waiting from an American company and if it goes into production, it could be one of the most distinctive choices on the market and one that we’d love to commute in. Great job Buick!

Alfa Romeo is back in the USA and New York is the perfect place to remind everyone that with that 33 Stradale on display we might be looking at the wrong cars all the time. Whether there is not any groundbreaking new car other than the gorgeous ones already presented the Alfa Stand it’s still where Automotive passion is still reigning. We all need an Alfa in our lives.

While not present in Geneva, BMW has brought the drop dead gorgeous M4 GTS alongside the announcement for the Competition Package for both the M3 and M4. Could be a color combination be more perfect than the grey with orance accent of the GTS? And the wheels? It looks that is ready to tear up the Ring in under 7 minutes! Well done BMW!

The last top pick for us would be the R8 Spyder. Why? It’s the perfect recipe that will simply fall into our wish list: Quattro four wheel drive, V10 engine and the oper roof. Audi are not exciting? Dead wrong.

Text by: Jacopo Villa

Photo by: Federico Bajetti