My Automotive  Year 2019 kicked off nicely with the annual Vienna Autoshow.

We moved to Austria in August 2018, so this was my very first Vienna Autoshow. For the past 4 years I have attended the Brussels Motor Show and I was interested to see how the Viennese one would fare in comparison.

The Vienna Autoshow takes place every January in Messe Wien, which can be reached nicely with metro U2 Krieau or Messe-Prater.

Leave the car home

I had taken kids to school by car and decided to give it a try and drive to the Messe Wien parking. As I predicted, not a good idea.

People tend to drive to a car show, so all the street leading to the area were already congested. I gave it a go, but the calculated risk materialised.

After a quick situation analysis, I made a U-turn and drove back to Kaisermühlen parking and hopped onto the U-bahn.

German automakers well-represented

The Big Three of the German car manufacturers had a substantial presence:

• Daimler (Mercedes-Benz, AMG and Smart),
• Volkswagen Group (Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini, Porsche, SEAT, Škoda) and
• BMW (BMW, Mini, Rolls-Royce)

These brands took most of one exhibition hall and the endless array of the shiny, latest models of Mercs, Beamers, Audis and Škodas caused a bit of fatigue. The swarming crowds meant that one could hardly sit in or photograph any of the popular brands.

It would have been nice to have a good look at the new Audi e-tron, but apart from that I didn’t have much appetite to drool over the latest RS models or the latest ‘M’ from the BMW line-up.

There were some tasty Mercs at the AMG stand, but my nod of approval went to the AMG G-series that whispers confidently: “I know, there is this thing called ‘aerodynamics’, but I do not care…”.

Sensible daily runners

There was a bit more space to move around in the next exhibition hall that had basically the rest: PSA Group, FCA, Suzuki, Renault, Ford, Mitsubishi, Honda, etc.

The Alfas were cool, especially the Quadrifoglios. I’ve had a diesel Giulia as a rental here in Vienna, so I can only imagine how fun it would be in petrol Quadrifoglio spec.

Fiat had cool 4×4 Pandas and the 124 Spider would be my choice for a child-free weekend getaway to some spa with the Mrs.

Mitsubishi had sensible hybrids and Honda had Civics with big spoilers. The new Ford Focus must be a good car, but I’m not planning to buy one, so these stands had little to offer me.

The coolest thing at the Honda stand was the Honda Monkey 125cc and that kind of proves my point.

The French Connection

I was intrigued to see the new Peugeout 508 live, but I wasn’t the only one; there was a line to sit in the driver’s seat.  However, it’s well tasty.

Nothing to see here, move along

Although I have a soft spot for Citroën, having owned a Saxo and a first-gen C5, there was nothing to see really.

Citroën produces amazing  concept cars, but once these ideas reach production line, they’re diluted into the likes of C3 Aircross.

I would have liked to have a sit in the new C5 Aircross, but so did others, so I walked away. C5 Aircross could have been a game-changer for Citroën were it not for the looks.

The interior looked pretty fine and interesting, but the exterior is lacking sharpness, that je ne sais quoi. It sits on the same EMP2 platform as the Peugeot 5008 that looks like a statement, whereas C5 Aircross looks apologetic.

If I were to buy an interesting looking French car that has 5-7 seats and an elevated ride height, I’d go for Peugeot.

C5 Aircross has the new Progressive Hydraulic Cushions suspension that should provide a better ride, but I’m a fan on the good-old Hydractive 3+ so I remain skeptical until I drive one. But C5 Aircross is relatively new and it remains to be seen how it will sell.

Regarding rest of the PSA Group: I must have had a look at some Opels but can’t remember anything but the 1954 Kapitän.

Effortless Everywhere

There were some Lambos, Bentley and compulsory Porsches on show, but I must say that Rolls Royce stole the show with their first ever SUV, the Cullinan.

So has the world changed that even Rolls Royce had to make an SUV to keep up with the times. I’ve learned that the Cullinan owners are more likely to sit behind the wheel than those of average Rolls’, so it is more driver-oriented.

My invitation for a Cullinan test drive must have gotten lost in the mail, so I would’t know.

Refreshingly Retro

One car that I was eager to see and feel was the new Suzuki Jimny. When I was in my teens, we had an SJ410 in the family and when I got my driving licence we had an SJ413 that I took off-road quite often.

Jimny was also too popular for me to have a sit in, but it looked the business. It’s a tiny proper offroader and refreshingly back-to-basics with a ladder frame chassis and a low-range transfer box. Calling this an SUV would be an insult.

Caravans and silver foxes

Maybe it’s a sign of reaching a new age, but I found the mobile homes rather interesting. All the fancy vans turned into mobile homes seemed to be very popular with the grey-haired population too.

But with the average price of a mobile home, it’s hardly surprising that they are the realm of the cohort who have already sent their kids to the uni and only have grandchildren to look after.

In addition to the plain white boxes on wheels, mostly built on the base of Fiat Ducato, there were plenty of integrated solutions and other gimmicks to marvel at.

The roof top tents and the field kitchens were very interesting in a geeky kind of way. Maybe it’s romanticism reserved to the likes of me who’ve never had to endure caravan life in their childhood.

Travelling without moving

Once I had walked through all the halls of the Autoshow, I realised that there was also an international fair for holidays, travel and leisure, Ferien-Messe Wien at the same time and with the same ticket.

One hall was for domestic exhibitors and the other one for the international ones.

I ended up hoarding a lot of useful outdoor maps from different Austrian regions – and there are many – and spent a lot of time in the Slovenian stand in the international section.

The Travel show was a nice break from the car show. Then I gave the auto show a final glance and left with a backpack full of brochures and freebies.

A day well spent. I will be back again next year.

Definitely.