Hot Cars, Cool Rides at the Detroit Auto Show

Jan. 7, 2007 — -- Detroit, the "Motor City," is living up to its name this week as it hosts the annual North American International Auto Show, where big auto makers show off their best, newest and most innovative vehicles.

The show opens to the public next week, but Csaba Csere, editor-in-chief of Car and Driver magazine took "Good Morning America Weekend Edition" on a sneak preview of three cars.

Although the minivan segment is shrinking, it still sells 800,000 vehicles a year. Some people may pick at its image, but if you have a family, a minivan is the thing you want. Chrysler has been the minivan leader for a while now.

What's new about the Caravan is the new seating arrangement available. The second-row seats can swivel around to face backward and there's a collapsible table so that the two rows of seats can face each other and passengers can use the table to play cards together. It can be really useful for those road trips when you need to keep the kids entertained.

The Bevel is a kind of a minivan, but it's a minivan that's cool. The shape is not just a big box. The interior is easy to reconfigure and has seats that can fold completely flat on the floor. If you need to transport something big, you can move the seats to accommodate it.

The Chevy Volt is a plug-in hybrid and, like most hybrids, can run on electric power or gasoline power. But the Volt has a large battery and can go up to 40 miles on the battery alone without using gasoline and without any harmful emissions. For most people, that will covers the average commute to and from their offices. For drivers who want to go further than that, the Volt still gets 50 miles per gallon by using the engine to convert gasoline into electricity and thereby extending its range.

The Volt is so efficient, it could be possible to make the 650-mile trip from Detroit to New York on one tank of gas.

Because the big battery the car needs is so expensive, it could be five to 10 years before the Volt hits the market.