A pleasure to live with, not just gawk at

Grand automotive displays, such as the 2015 Washington Auto Show underway at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington through Feb. 1, are perfect venues for checking out the latest products the global automobile industry has to offer. But you can get lost in the glitz, sidetracked by the glamour of super-expensive automobiles such as Lamborghinis, Porsches, Ferraris or special AMG models from Mercedes-Benz.

Those are halo cars brought to the show specifically to draw a crowd. They are the Kim Kardashian-booty-Justin Bieber factor of automotive marketing — attractive, but ultimately of little real value to you and your family.

After ogling the halo cars, take a close look at the real stuff — the accessible, generally affordable models from Ford, Fiat Chrysler, Nissan, Infiniti, Volkswagen, Hyundai, Kia, Toyota, Lexus, General Motors, Acura, Honda, Volvo, BMW, Lincoln and Mercedes.

Those are the companies supplying most of the vehicles we actually buy and drive. All those companies are offering new products for 2015 — often enhanced by advanced electronic safety, communications and entertainment technologies. Most of their cars and trucks are considerably more fuel-efficient than their predecessors of a decade ago. Most are available as gasoline-electric hybrids, plug-in electrics or pure electrics. And — happy day for my personal preferences — more and more companies are bringing their diesel-fueled products to our area.

You will notice a theme, reflective of a globally corporate split personality. Car companies, like all companies, exist to make money. They passionately pursue every penny in every marketing segment. If there is someone willing to spend big bucks on a fuel-consumptive big-bucks supersports model, car companies will supply it. Witness the new Acura NSX and Ford GT unveiled with great fanfare early this month at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

Acura and Ford officials interviewed in Detroit said they would like to bring those models to the Washington show but would probably be constrained by time, cost and the availability of show models. No matter. The new NSX starts at $150,000. The Washington show also includes the splendid new Volkswagen Jetta GLI SEL, available for about $30,000.

Now, here’s the thing. Almost every functional technology available on an automobile that is quadruple the cost of a Jetta GLI SEL is found on a fully loaded Jetta GLI SEL. The Volkswagen lacks the prestige and persona of a considerably more expensive model — a factor only if you place a high value on ephemeral prestige. Equipped with a turbocharged (forced air) 2-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine that produces 210 horsepower, the Jetta GLI SEL is a wimp in comparison with models stacked with engines that can pump out 500 horsepower and more.

But I’ve driven many of those super-horsepower cars. This is what I find: You can be stuck in a traffic jam in a 700-horsepower car just as easily as you can be stuck in one with a 200-horsepower automobile. Of all the speeding tickets I’ve received in my 30-year-plus career, not one was issued by a law enforcement officer who asked me about the horsepower of the car in possession. I average 41,000 miles annually on the road globally. I’ve seen people die and been critically injured in highhorsepower cars as well as those with pitifully weak horsepower.

WARREN BROWN — THE WASHINGTON POST The 2015Volkswagen Jetta GLI SEL is a great midsize family sedan, comfortable, safe, reasonably fuel-efficient and affordable.