London Motor Show 2006

So (getting really behind again with my blogging), back to Saturday, and Flyingpops and I headed off to the Docklands to see the 2006 London Motor Show (free tickets - woo hoo!)...took the train into London Bridge, then hopped on the Jubilee Line until Canning Town, then onto the DLR to Custom House -

- (only my second ever journey on that line! ;) Very quick and efficient service...(from what I saw, anyway)...Never been to ExCel before, very impressive entrance, no queue to speak of even though there were *lots* of people arriving -

- then quickly in through the imposing entrance -

- now, there are two halls of this size (enormous) -

- one on the right and one on the left separated by a wide, tall corridor littered with numerous overpriced ways to sell food and drink to the visitors (take sarnies), saw lots of regular road cars (and sat in a number of them), and loads of amazing concept vehicles -

- a number of F1 cars -

- and even a small waterfall that Range Rover had thoughtfully provided -

- then outside to watch the 4x4's doing their thing -

Suffice it to say, the *proper* Range Rovers did a *lot* better than the Chelsea tractors - it was quite scary to see how poor some of them really were when faced with a small ramp...then around the corner to watch some guys messing about on the river (in spectacular fashion) -

- then it started to rain, so we checked out the last few cars (the Merc I tried on for size fitted like a glove, but I discovered that I had left my £97,995 pocket change at home, so I had to leave it) and then headed back home... ;)

Conclusion?

• If you were here seriously in the market for a car there would simply be far too much on offer, it would be a dizzying and terrifying prospect unless you had a clear idea of exactly what you wanted to try out for size before leaving home...but then you might as well do your research and go to the relevant dealerships...
• If you are along just for the experience (like me), there actually wasn't a huge amount on offer, there are only so many cars you want to try sitting in "for a laugh"...however, we got in for free, so I can't moan too much... ;)
• If you are a rabid petrol-head (i.e. as long as there are 4 wheels on it you want to hold it and kiss it?) - Dream day out...

Oh, and I took loads more pics than this lot, if you like this kind (latter category I guess) of thing the Flickr stream is here...

Bug Jam pics later... ;)