The 2009 Washington Auto Show kicked off with an early and abysmal display. Yet again, the car company putting forth the most effort for enthousiasts and fans was Toyota Scion who wins, yet again, the best display award from us. The main cars to note at this show was the Nissan 370Z which fixes all the difficulties and annoyances with the 350, in a sleeker body. It totes a no lift shift feature and automatic rev matching on its 6sp manual transmission. This car was on display, however it was wrapped in a hideous leather car bra detracting its aesthetic appeal and creating less than mediocre buzz around it. The Audi display had the new S4 Supercharge on display as well as the v10 R8. The R8 was in some very strange glass fish tank looking contraption that made it difficult to acquire a good photo of the car. Volkswagen delivered the Super Blue as promised. This sporty looking Volkswagen convertible is still a prototype, but with looks like that is sure to make a splash on the dealers lots. The same cars from Chevrolet and Ford were on display as last year, the new Camaro that has yet to be released, while ford had the same mediocre line up. They did have a few concept cars on display that we can only hope do not make it into production line up. Chevrolet did not have a volt on display, and the Cruze was nowhere to be found. Instead they had the 2009 Cobalt SS on display, which is not going to be produced beyond this year. The dodge Challenger was on display while Pontiac stole the american side of the fence with the Solstice hard top Coupe. All in all, the Washington Auto Show continues to disappoint by comparison to the other auto shows on the east coast.

Photos by Tim Magalis

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