LA Trip

Took a day trip to Los Angeles Saturday for the LA Autoshow. First....I miss flying. Love staying home with Natali....but I miss flying.

Great day. Spent 4 1/2 hours walking around the show. Double my average time. Like a kid in a candy store.

The trip showed my The VW CC is not really a car for me. The CC sits much lower than I thought.

I did REALLY like the 2011 Kia Optima. Yeah I said it...a Kia.

The 2011 Optima is an entirely different car. Nothing in common with the 2010 beyond the name (which I think should have been changed as there is not much street cred in Optima).

When I saw the photos on line, I thought they were just being generous. Nope. The styling is very masculine and tech. The features on the car blow away anything available on the Camry, Accord, Altima etc. Only the Hyundai Sonata (which shares everything under the skin on the Kia) can compare. I previously blogged about the Sonata....but now that the Optima is out...wow.

Heated and Cooled seats, heated rear seats, heated steering wheel, dual sunroofs with power covers, 34 MPG highway, french stitched leather seat, faux leather dashboard, dual climate control....the list goes on. The Optima has more features than the new Acura TSX....for less money. The base Optima has the same amount of horsepower as the TSX...the turbo Optima is within a few ponies of the V6 TSX. For less money.

Now I know...."You said you were keeping the Mazda5". Yeah I know. Bleh. I don't know.

Chevrolet also had a few Volts on the floor that were powered on. The Volts interior was more tech than I thought they would be. The menu systems were very snappy (the Ford MyTouch system was VERY slow...to the point of being distracting!). I guess I never paid attention in the past, but the Volt is only a 4 seater. Most mid-sized sedans can't hold more than 4 adults anyway.

Beyond the Optima and Volt, I still like the Toyota Venza. Who knows.

While flying out to Los Angeles I noticed I was no longer labeled as being able to sit in the cockpit jump seat. This is likely due to the fact that I am on leave. Kinda sad though....also makes travel slightly more complicated.

Got the backyard camera in. Went with a different manufacturer than the porch camera mostly because the daytime colors are off quite a bit on the porch camera. The backyard camera is a FosCam....and it's beefy. Should be able to position it in the corner and get a view of the entire yard.

This will be the 6th camera. I am still loving my software from Blue Iris. The guy that writes the software updates often and is very receptive to issues. Well worth the $60 I paid for it.