2015 Montreal Car Show

I think I found the winning formula for visiting the car show this year: I go alone for about an hour, than Alex and my mother meet me with the kids a bit later, and I go through a second time. The first round lets me go through alone and take as many pictures as I can, and then it doesn't matter if I am rushed through the second time through. As was the case last year, the highlight for Jules is to sit in as many cars as possible. The highlight for me was a little gem tucked away at the back of the Honda stand (see photos below). A couple of other nice surprises made this one of the better car shows in recent memory.

Note: these photos were taken with my phone, as I only got my DSLR lens back from the repair shop today (doh!).

The new AMG C63... still understated, but no more 6.2 liter V8

Jules behind the wheel of a Police interceptor Dodge Charger

The gang in and around a Jeep Wrangler

Jules driving Alex and Oscar in the new Honda Fit

For some reason, Jules did not want to leave this electric Ford Focus

Jules enjoys the Audi R8

And he has a go in the Jaguar F-Type

Lexus concept car... I don't like the wheels

Mazda really got the styling right on the current Mazda 3.

The car looks especially good with dark-coloured wheels

I never liked the Mini Coupe, but as a race car, it sort of works

The interior of the Mini... I had never seen these protective "walls" for the feet before

It doesn't look right in the photo, but this is one of my favourite BMW colours: Dakar yellow

You can still be stylish in a wagon, says BMW

I still prefer the new M3 to the M4, although Alex prefers coupes

The i8, still looking like a car from the future

Weird matte colour for this M6...

... but for some reason, it works

One of the surprises of the day... I did not know that the Alfa Romeo 4C would be sold in Canada

Viper, you're still cool in my book

Under the lights, this colour was striking

This car just looked right

Nissan: still building cars for the enthusiast

This Juke Nismo seems to have run in the Targa Newfoundland

Here is a mockup of the cars that will soon be racing in the Micra Cup

Highlight of the show for me: 1964 Honda formula 1 car

Not especially pretty, but the Civic Si is still an excellent car

Toyota concept car

Weird Ford Ecotec buggy

No nonsense: the Camaro Z28

... and its big brother, the Corvette Z06

... complete with plastic fender lips in front for the wider rubber.

Not that pretty, but still impressive-looking

Not all tuner cars are Japanese or German

RWB style 911... is it a real RWB?

What's special about this GTR?

Carbon fiber!

Lamborghini Gallardo race car

... and Lambo street cars. The Aventador and Huracan are hard to tell apart

The Huracan is the one with the massive air scoops behind the door.

This Magnum Mk5 looks neat. Will it see production?

Whoever drives one will have to be pretty friendly with her/his passenger, as they will be almost touching each other

911 Carrera 4 GTS... nice, but what's with the white taillights?

The Cayman is a better-looking car, in my opinion

Over-the top Jaguar XF-RS... disappointing rear legroom for such a large car

It's cold outside!

Even though my Civic was actually sold a few weeks ago, I only had it delivered it to its new owner yesterday. It was sad to see it go, but at some point, there will be a new project to replace it.

My birthday came and went in a flash last week, as I was very busy with work. We did go to two different restaurants on Saturday to make up for it.

Jules is always willing to help out in the garage. Here he is helping me set the proper tire pressures in the M3.

Jules got his first taste of a beanbag chair at the Outremont library. I'm not sure if he is sold on the idea yet...

Another area where Jules likes to help is with making cookies. I have to say, he's a pretty good sport, considering that he doesn't even eat cookies!

Oscar doesn't mind hanging out in the kitchen, but he chooses not to help with the cooking.

The winter weather has not kept Montrealers from driving some cool cars this winter, as is evidenced by this trio.

Alpina wheels on this lovely 6-series

You don't see many of these SL's in winter

This must be the first Ferrari I've ever seen on ice-covered roads

... it's nice to see the car used as the designers hoped it would be!

Time flies during the holidays!

It's hard to believe that the holidays are over and that Oscar is already one month old. He has been sleeping longer stints in the last couple of days and as a result, Alex and I have been sleeping more as well.

Oscar is one month old

We have tried to get out of the house as much as possible despite Oscar's young age and the cold weather. We went to the Musée des beaux arts the other day, and to the ecological farm at Cap-St-Jacques. We also watched a lot of "Ciné-Cadeau" cartoons on TV.

Although we tried not to go overboard, Jules still ended up with a lot of presents this holiday season. We will have to find new places to store his numerous toys and books.

Jules tries on some hand made socks

Jules and Alex at the Cap-St-Jacques farm

Checking out some chickens 

Lovely farm house

Jules and a moose in the museum district

Chilling in the Musée des beaux arts

Jules and Alex enjoying some art

Alex and the boys

Almost a smile

A definite smile at Christmas dinner

Opening gifts on Christmas morning

Alex had the good sense to buy Jules many little books

But there were also toys!

Grandpa comes for a visit

Alex, Oscar, Jules and Papi

Jules helps me count the cookies we baked

Jules likes to say "Hi" to Oscar and give him fist bumps

Goofing around

Jules and Uncle Fred

Only one car thing to mention: respect to the person who was driving their Ferrari F12 in Montreal between Christmas and New Year's day!

The busy days before the holidays

A combination of snow and constant temperature allowed the snow to stick to trees for days, which really made for some nice scenery in the city. 

It has also been warm enough on some days that we could take Jules and Oscar out for walks without freezing.

... Although Oscar mainly spends his days in his "office" at home.

He is able to sleep in many different positions, although he sleeps much better in the day than at night.

Jules has really been getting into the Christmas spirit this year. He even came with me to pick out the tree!

  

He also quite enjoyed a holiday train ride with Alex at Complexe Desjardins. 

We have had quite a bit of snow. Look how much fell in the few minutes it took to walk home from Jules' daycare!

Jules had his face painted at daycare.

We will have a lot of time together during the holidays, but it won't be that relaxing! I look forward to the little guy sleeping a bit more at night.

As far as car stuff goes, not much has gone on. I scraped up my knuckles nicely changing the driver-side door lock actuator on the M3 (3 hours and lots of swearing), but the car finally recognizes when the door is open (thus lowering the window a couple of millimeters and turning on the dome light) after years of working only sporadically. I still need to change the brakes, re-apply the rustproofing and get a wheel alignment with the winter tires.

New M4 does not have a ton of presence...

Tastefully modified Golf with retro Porsche "Turbo" badge

There's a new member in our family!

... and his name is Oscar Basile. He was born December 3rd weighing just under 7 pounds. He and Alex are doing great and we are readjusting to a sleep-deprived existence. Jules is also doing really well and seems to understand that he is a big brother now.

Today we had our first car ride as a family. For those who are wondering, you can fit two baby seats and a (cramped) adult in the back of an E46 BMW M3.

Jules giving Oscar a fist bump

Writing with bananas is fun!