2011 New York Auto Show: Visitor's Guide

New York City isn't a town where very many people drive cars, yet it is still the place where you go to show off your car. When the NASCAR driving champion comes to town, stock cars do burnouts in the street, and the same goes for the drag racers and Indycar drivers. There will probably be no burnouts at the 2011 New York Auto Show, but some 1.2 million people — more than the attendance of any other auto show in the country — are expected to take a look at the cars.

The 2011 New York Auto Show takes place April 22-May 1 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in midtown Manhattan, which overlooks the Hudson River. It's the final big-time car show until everyone meets in Paris this summer. We've looked at every car, and we're prepared to give you all the important news.

There's an end-of-term feel to the New York show, as all the secret concepts have been uncovered, all the news has percolated to the surface and there's more talk about next year than this one. Even so, this is an opportunity to see all the important showcars of the season, and there are more than 1,000 vehicles of all persuasions within Javits Center's 846,000 square feet.

As always, the public days for the show are a free-for-all of both hype and glamour, with the daily prizes, drawings, a sweepstakes and even a contest to get a personal guided tour of the show by television personality Jerry Springer. Camp Jeep even lets you experience some of the terror of off-roading, though the portable mountains, fake fallen logs and faux stone bridges won't intimidate anyone who has ever driven through a construction zone on a New York city street.

The Javits Center puts the displays on different floors, and if you know where to look, you'll find some pretty cool stuff. Down on Level 1, you'll discover a selection of custom cars with big wheels at the DUB stand, and you can get a glimpse of the similarly edifying Medusa, a flame-spouting '69 Chevelle. Find your way to Level 3 and you'll see the Bugatti Veyron, not to mention the Bentley Continental Supersports Convertible ISR that just set a world record in ice. And if you get lost, just download the new iPhone app for the New York auto show and it will set you straight.

Then again, maybe you'd like to look at something you can actually think about driving:

2012 Audi A7: Although it's a five-door hatchback, the 2012 Audi A7 is a preview of what we can expect from the redesigned 2012 Audi A6 both in size and driving characteristics. Because Audi plans to market the A7 as a coupe, the seating layout is for four only and the car will launch as a four-seater even in the U.S.

2013 Chevrolet Malibu: The 2013 Chevrolet Malibu is now a "world car," so instead of building different versions for markets around the world, this Malibu will be more or less the same whether it's at a dealer in Beijing or French Lick (which is not in France, by the way). Along with a smaller overall size, the 2013 Chevrolet Malibu will also downsize its engine lineup to a new 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine only.

2012 Fiat 500C: The Fiat 500C's power-operated cloth top retracts up to the rear spoiler at speeds up to 60 mph, so you can open a great big sunroof as soon as the sun peeks out from behind the clouds. Some 14 exterior color choices, 12 seat color choices and two interior treatments will be available when the car goes on sale, which will be as soon as the weather clears up this spring.

2013 Ford Taurus: When the 2013 Ford Taurus goes on sale a year from now, its model lineup will range from a new fuel-efficient model with a 2.0-liter EcoBoost engine to a sportier Taurus SHO model. The Taurus with the EcoBoost engine is expected to deliver 31 mpg on the highway — a significant increase over the 2011 Ford Taurus with a 3.5-liter V6 engine that delivers 28 mpg on the highway.

2012 Honda Civic: The 2012 Honda Civic returns with a more flowing, if amorphous, exterior design and 40-mpg fuel economy to match revamped rivals like the Ford Focus and Hyundai Elantra. As before, there's a Civic for everyone, whether you're a speed freak, hypermiler or pragmatic people hauler.

2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8: The 2012 Grand Cherokee SRT8 is the most powerful Jeep ever. And when it arrives in dealers this summer with a 6.4-liter V8 cranking out 465 horsepower and 465 pound-feet of torque, few will argue. Sitting an inch lower and featuring a ducted hood, body-color wheel arches and a large rear spoiler, the new Jeep also has a purposeful look.

Mercedes-Benz Concept A-Class: A forerunner of the next-generation Mercedes-Benz A-Class due in 2012 has been revealed concurrently at the New York and Shanghai auto shows. It features a 210-hp turbocharged, direct-injection 2.0-liter gasoline inline-4 engine mated to a dual-clutch transmission. It looks like Mercedes is seriously considering bringing the next-generation A-Class to the States.

Scion FR-S Concept: Scion finally debuts the FR-S Concept, the long-awaited rear-wheel-drive, Subaru-powered coupe that enthusiasts hope will revive the spirit of Scion. This small but dramatic concept car has a 2.0-liter flat-4 under the hood, and it'll be matched with a choice of a six-speed manual or automatic transmission when it goes on sale next year.

2012 Volkswagen Beetle: VW had teased a silhouette of the revamped Beetle that could have served as an advertisement for the 1949 model and explained that it wanted to develop the new car around the earliest Beetle profile rather than the 1998 New Beetle with its friendly theme of semicircles. This Beetle looks like a 1960s VW hot rod: a little longer, a little wider and a little lower. It's still a Golf under the skin, and that means the likelihood of as much as 200 hp under the hood.

Volkswagen Bulli Concept: Fresh from its unveiling at the Geneva auto show, the Bulli concept holds out hope that VW might yet revive its project to re-create a latter-day Microbus for introduction in 2013-'14. The automaker previously showed a Microbus concept 10 years ago at the Detroit show, but later canceled production plans. The Bulli is equipped with an electric motor that generates 114 hp and gets its power from a lithium-ion battery. VW says the Bulli has a range of 186 miles — surprisingly high versus most EVs.