Okay, so I snuck in early to the LA Auto Show!! Sorry, I don't have time for the next several days, so it was either go Friday evening or not go at all!
Anyhow, this year marks the 100th anniversary of the LA Auto Show....(well, technically, it would have been January 2007 as the 100th year)....However, to avoid competition with other big auto shows in January 2007 (e.g. Detroit Auto Show), LA decided to move it one month earlier.
There is an interesting section which shows the history of the LA Auto Show from 1907-now. There was one LA Auto Show in the 1930's when a spark from one of the cars started a fire (fortunately, no one died from it), but left over $1 millions worth of cars at that time damaged from the fire!!
http://www.laautoshow.com/show/
Now, I don't know because it was Friday night or because this is the first year the show has been in early December, but it wasn't as crowded as I had expected. I am sure during the weekend it will be more crowded but with Christmas shopping on everyone's mind, maybe it won't as crowded as in the past when it was done after the holidays!
So, here are the pictures from the LA Auto Show and I'll first show you some interesting pics of the E70 X5 if you haven't had a chance to check one out at your local BMW dealer.
First, you can see all the BMW X5 ads all over the LA Auto Show!
Also, you can see the button that opens the "split door" glove box.
You can see the rear cupholders!
You can see the rear bottom tailgate is now a manually operated door handle instead of the E53 X5's electric button and the E70 lower tailgate is much shorter in height.
Also, of note, you can see the side rear window sunshade is a one piece deal
There more air vents for the rear passenger (vents on the B-pillar) as well as the center vents with dual climate control for the rear passengers
You can see that the X5 finally has those fancy wipers!!