Most years at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit it is easy to pick a personal best and a worst. There is usually at least one car designed with such a fresh approach and attention to detail that it becomes a clear favorite. On the other end of the spectrum, there is usually a car that is so "advanced" that one suspects extraterrestrial origin, like from a planet where they drive giant sea sponges.

This year's NAIAS was bereft of both of those categories for me. Most of the cars displayed were variations on the themes of sports car or SUV that ranged from attractive to very attractive. Two did stand out, but the fairest characterization for them would be most promising and most disappointing, not best and worst.

Most Promising—Honda Model X

Model X, from Honda, is my pick for the most promising of the auto show not because of its styling, which is similar to a handful of other boxy, utilitarian concept vehicles, but because it is a study in smart packaging that is imminently manufacturable. No other vehicle at NAIAS incorporates so many practical features into one neat box than does Model X.

Model X - Kermit thinks Honda hits the nail on the head in trying to attract young buyers.

In recent years, many companies have come up with vehicle concepts that attempt to be the ultimate in versatility and utility. What inevitably gets translated into sheet metal is a sport utility vehicle with a short truck bed tacked onto the back. Honda has gone a different way with its Model X concept. The company used its target demographic of the active twentysomething male to justify features that many customers outside of the backwards ball cap wearing brigades will find useful. The rear portion of the roof retracts to accommodate tall items like surfboards (or Christmas trees). The elimination of the B-pillar and the suicide door configuration of the rear side doors create a huge opening for the quick egress of your rock climbing buddies (or for taking your kids out of their car seats without becoming a contortionist). And the wide, flat floor made of textured resin allows for a quick clean up of the mud from your hiking expedition (or of the untimely return of your preschooler's chili dog).

Model X is not going to win any beauty contests, but its box-on-wheels styling is just different enough to appeal to Gen X and Honda's real target: Gen Y. While conducting focus groups with college students, Honda found that the SUV is beginning to be identified as a soccer mom vehicle by young people just like its predecessor the minivan. In a culture where peer acceptance is paramount, that is the kiss of death. Honda reckons that Model X is the best way to avoid a liplock with Don Corleone. It is different enough from a minivan or an SUV to be accepted by the youth market while maintaining the space and versatility that keeps those vehicles at the tops of so many car buyers' shopping lists. And if America's youth are as eco-conscious as we all hear, then packing all of this space into a box with modest exterior dimensions that can be powered by a small fuel efficient engine (Honda's next generation I-VTEC) should be the marketing coup de grace.

Bringing young first time buyers into the family has become the Holy Grail for automakers. If Honda produces Model X, and given their track record with concept vehicles it seems likely, it will be the company's best foray yet into capturing the coveted youth market. That's phat.

Most Disappointing—Volkswagen Microbus

Microbus - There is much to be praised, but Kermit requests a return to the CAD/CAM system before production begins.

After the remarkable success of the concept car that eventually became the New Beetle, some people hoped that Volkswagen would be able to repeat its successful updating of a classic with its Microbus concept. Alas, lightning did not strike twice: The Microbus unveiled in Detroit, while not unattractive, doesn't evoke the Beetle- (or Beatle-) like nostagia. Where the Beetle is rounded and organic the Microbus is angular and mechanical. The thin headlights and grille and the lines that connect them give the Microbus the look of a lantern-jawed cartoon character with the big VW badge as its button nose.

VW’s California design team purposely rejected some styling elements of the old Microbus, like round headlights, in order to set their creation apart, but in so doing have lost some of the appeal of the original, despite keeping some elements like the thick D pillars and the gill-like vent holes.

The overwhelmingly positive reception of the Beetle concept led to quick production of what has become a new classic. Hopefully the reception of the Microbus concept will lead to a re-thinking of a promising idea instead of a rush to the factory.