GM's Mainstreet in Motion

[DC Car Examiner]

For those of you unfamiliar with the event, GM brings dozens of its own products and selected competitors to a big open area, sets out cones, and sends you off. Register free here; highly recommended: http://www.mainstreetinmotion.com/

 

At the D.C. area event, in the FedEx Field parking lot, there were separate courses for:

 

-Chevrolet mainstream cars and crossovers, plus some competitors: Corolla, Civic, Camry, Accord, Maxima, Taurus, CR-V, RAV4, Explorer

 

-Buick and GMC cars and crossovers, plus Acura TSX, TL and MDX; Nissan Murano, Hyundai Santa Fe, Lexus ES350

 

^I spent most of my time at those two. There were also courses for pickups / truck-based SUVs (one course for Chevrolets, one apparently identical course nearby for GMCs, and various competitors at each) and for performance cars (just Camaro and Corvette, no competitors; I skipped this because of a long line of elderly folks). Volts took a short circle on the street.

 

The Chevrolet car and both pickup courses were very small with tight turns, leaving little room to get up to speed. (I mostly skipped the pickups, because there's little to be learned from maneuvering them around at less than 10 miles per hour.) Buick / GMC crossover course was much better, with some broader turns and more room to get up to a high speed.

 

Unfortunately for GM, the courses -- Chevrolet especially; Buick still to some extent -- highlight the typical GM weak points rather than strong points. At low speeds, you get overboosted steering and a relatively big, heavy feel in everything from the Cruze to the Traverse. The Corolla, the smallest and lightest car GM brought to the event, was the most at home under the Chevrolet course conditions -- you don't get up to the speeds where it starts to feel too light and the Cruze nice and solid and steady.

 

The Buicks felt similarly behind on their bigger, faster course, but mostly because it was still too tight to get a Lexus ES350 out of its pleasant-cruising element. In this particular course, both the ES350 and the MDX felt better than either Buick sedan; the TL was no contest. (Didn't brave the long line for the TSX, but I'm not a fan of the current model's steering feel.)

 

From higher-speed drives, it becomes obvious where the GM composure shines -- cruising and higher speed turns, at speeds where their cars' steering has firmed up nicely -- but Mainstreet in Motion may be getting butts in the seats only to send drivers on course layouts that show the competition in a better light.

 

On another note, it looked as though the Camry was going to go for its usual win for worst uneven panel gaps, but one of the Malibus was even worse.

 

 

A big parking lot with cones on it isn't very photogenic (when you're out of a car, you're very far from the "track" area, so without an excellent camera lens you won't get much of individual cars), but here are a few:

 

 

 

 

 

[aneekr]

Thanks for the review and photos! Sounds like a fun experience. I may attend the event at Canterbury Park in October.

 

From what you could discern, was there more enthusiasm for the GM vehicles or the competitive set among the attendees?

[DC Car Examiner]

Thanks for the review and photos! Sounds like a fun experience. I may attend the event at Canterbury Park in October.

 

From what you could discern, was there more enthusiasm for the GM vehicles or the competitive set among the attendees?

 

Hard to say. The most popular cars to drive were the performance cars (Corvette and Camaro), but there was no competition there to be enthusiastic about, just a minute of driving a car with a big engine really fast. On the other courses, there seemed to be the most enthusiasm for the Acuras; even one of the course employees was talking with visitors about how much she liked the MDX.

 

I did go on a weekday morning to avoid the crowds though, and tried to avoid standing in lines whenever there was a car free that didn't have a wait, so I can't speak to too much about what others were thinking.

 

And definitely attend if you get the opportunity.

[Ron W.]

she liked the MDX

 

 

Is that the blue pill or the purple ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry couldn't resist taking a shot at what I consider nonsense names.

[aneekr]

And definitely attend if you get the opportunity.

Apparently all remaining Mainstreet in Motion events have been cancelled.