New models on display at Motor Trend auto show – sticker shock included

Gary Vetter liked the leather interior and overall design of the 2013 BMW 650i Gran Coupe he saw Friday at the Motor Trend International Auto Show in Las Vegas.

It looks luxurious and sporty with a twin-turbo V-8 engine and sleekly contoured surface. It's equipped with rain-sensing windshield wipers that work at various speeds and dynamic stability control with brake-fade compensation.

Then came the sticker shock: $110,000.

"I come here every year to see what's coming for new cars, even if I'm not in the market," said Vetter, retired from the U.S. Air Force and Clark County School District. "The prices keep going up, of course. Since I live in the desert, I have an SUV as one of my cars, so I keep up with those."

More than 200 models of new cars and trucks are on display at the Motor Trend International Auto Show, which runs through Sunday at the Las Vegas Convention Center and is open to the public. Nearly every major automobile manufacturer is represented at the show .

Officials would not release attendance figures , though the numbers appear to have grown during the past 13 years.

Showgoers were opening doors and trunks, climbing into the driver's seat and checking out how much room they would have for groceries, luggage and cargo. They looked at the manufacturer's suggested retail price, along with options and gasoline mileage ratings.

Alan Zeffer of Tucson, Ariz., was particularly interested in the 2013 Dodge Dart with a base price of $18,000.

"I remember the original Dart, you could get three people in the front and four in the back," he said. "They got smaller and smaller, but they say they're bigger now. This one feels good. It surrounds you, but you're not feeling claustrophobic like the Hyundai."

Zeffer said he's been to the Motor Trend show in Phoenix, but he felt pressured by dealers trying to sell him a car.

Ty Shigemoto from Findlay Acura in Henderson talked up the technology found on the $40,000 2013 Acura RDX, including a hard-drive system for downloading CDs and a satellite radar map providing real-time weather and traffic updates. It has streaming Bluetooth audio played through a surround-sound system with 10 speakers. The advanced package offers adaptive cruise control and a brake warning system, he said.

Chevrolet product specialist Brent Steeves was fielding a lot of questions about the 2013 Spark, a subcompact with 31 cubic feet of cargo space, more than the Fiat 500 and Scion iQ.

"It's sporty and economical and the colors are vibrant like this jalapeno green," Steeves said. "People want an economy car with sporty features and good gas mileage and it doesn't look like dad's Honda Civic. The dash and gauges and headlights are motorcycle-style."

The Spark's base price of $12,995 is attractive, though the car on display was bumped up to $16,720 with rocker moldings, spoiler and other options. What's really selling the car is 37 miles per gallon, Steeves said.

Toyota had the largest exhibit at the show, with the new 2013 Avalon spotlighted at the front. It showed a base price of about $40,000 with a $1,750 technology package that includes dynamic radar cruise control, automatic high-beam and a precollision system.

Also getting a lot of looks at the Toyota exhibit was the Toyota Prius-c. It's a smaller, introductory version of the Prius, which is the best-selling hybrid car on the market, said Brad Blomquist, sales agent with Fletcher Jones Toyota in Las Vegas.

"One of the best things with the hybrids is the low maintenance cost," he said. "There's no starter, no alternator, no power steering pump, no transmission."

Contact reporter Hubble Smith at hsmith@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0491.