2014 Washington Auto Show

"willkinton247" (willkinton247) 02/03/2014 at 13:02 • Filed to: Washington Auto Show, Auto Shows, Photodumps

0

10

So this past Saturday my dad and I went to the Washington Auto Show, and I took some pictures! There were some pretty cool cars there, but it was neat seeing and sitting in some of these cars that I've only seen pictures of in person.

The new Subaru WRX STi is actually pretty good looking in person, especially with the Blue and Gold. My dad and I looked sat in a WRX, and he noted that the clutch felt incredibly heavy, and he didn't like the interior or the fake vent behind the front wheels.

Subaru also cut a Forester in half for some reason.

Mazda brought along !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and this thing looked brand new, right out of the show room. They also had an awesome Laguna Seca Spec-Miata simulator with three pedals, manual transmission, racing seat, and accurate steering. I managed to get third place on the leader board! I think the only reason for this was because I was familiar with the track layout and most people crashed out and DNF'd. I even managed the Corkscrew pretty well. I didn't do it perfectly, but I didn't go off and I got pretty close to both apexes.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

The BMW i3 is bigger that it looks in pictures. I thought it would be slightly bigger than a Smart Car, but it's actually about the size of a Mini Cooper Countryman. The interior is filled with unfinished looking wood that looks incredibly susceptible to getting stains from chilled beverages. If you plan on drinking ice water in an i3 and you don't want to use the cup holder, bring a coaster.

Audi showed up with some gems. They brought an R8 V10 that, unlike last year, you could walk up to. I'm a huge fan of the R8, but I was most taken aback by the matte blue that this one was painted in. Also, it's impossible to take great pictures of these cars without people being in the way. But seriously, that paint job was fantastic.

They also brought an RS7, which didn't get nearly as much attention from the little kids, but it was a great looking car. I was impressed by the huge amount of trunk space it had due to the fastback.

I sat in an A3, and this was one of the first things I noticed:

I was a bit disappointed. Over all, the car seemed pretty comfortable. Audi also had an Allroad there, and slathered some fake dirt decals on it.

Jaguar brought the F-Type coupe, and it is a great looking car in person. I was a bit nonplussed when I saw pictures of it, but it looks fantastic in person. This was actually a theme of the show for me.

The historically registered Shelby Daytona Coupe was there, and man this thing is fantastic. Great looking car. My big takeaway was how big the tires are.

There were a bunch of older cars there, including this beautiful Viper GTS in the ideal paint color. I had an R/C car as a kid that looked exactly like this. This was the best picture I could get, because there were so many people gawking at it.

We made our way over to the Ford section, and you know what? I love the Flex. It may be my favorite car that Ford makes. It's got so much room, it's very comfortable, it looks great (in my opinion), and its very well equipped. You can get it with individual rear moonroofs for the middle seats, which I still think are really cool, and I wish more people bought them. It's way better than any minivan out there, and I would totally rock one. Look at that space! Also wonderful from Ford were the Recaros in the Fiesta ST. Those seats were wonderful.

The Dodge Durango glovebox is pretty big, and the coating is quite nice feeling.

The Corvette C7 Stingray looks very good in person, and it looks very good in blue. The seats are very comfortable, and it was definitely attracting a crowd. Unfortunately there was no Z06.

And finally, the SRT Viper. This was the only picture I could get of it due to the huge number of people around it. It was very comfortable, the interior was quite nice, and I'm still in love. I want one. The guy who was sitting in it at the same time as me was taking a bunch of selfies in it with an iPad.

And that's it. There were a lot more cars there of course, but these were the ones I took pictures of. They had the 2015 Mustang there, but I couldn't get any pictures of it due to crowds. But yes, it looks so much better in person. It definitely does not look like a Fusion Coupe or an Accord Coupe.

It looks like a Mustang.

I talk about cars and racing a lot on Twitter. Feel free to follow me there at !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . If you want me to look into a particular series or topic, or have any feedback, let me know!

Gpivovarov > willkinton247 02/03/2014 at 13:06

1

I saw that RS7 and R8 in Boston, they looked so damn good sitting next to each other, both in blue. Probably my favorite part of the show.

Tom McParland > willkinton247 02/03/2014 at 13:08

1

Estoril Blue....drool

The Real Dacia Sandero > willkinton247 02/03/2014 at 13:18

1

There was a lot of stuff I wasn't really impressed with. I did get to sit in the Lotus Elise at the show. I talked to the main guy at the booth and asked if I could sit in it and he said yes. It was awesome. I'm 6'5" and once in, fit nicely. The pedals were a bit close, but I had 2.5" of headroom. Those Lotus seats are low. Burry SR20.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Tom McParland 02/03/2014 at 13:47

0

Looks great. And here I thought Estoril was a BMW color...

Tom McParland > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 02/03/2014 at 13:48

0

It is as well, but a different shade of blue.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Tom McParland 02/03/2014 at 13:52

0

Yeah, I know, and tend to like it (better than frickin' Yas Marina, anyway!). I was about to "correct" you, but I looked it up first, and you just happened to have posted a superior blue of the same name!

Rico > willkinton247 02/04/2014 at 22:36

0

Take me to your leader!

willkinton247 > Rico 02/05/2014 at 08:24

1

So much Kinja.

Rico > willkinton247 02/05/2014 at 09:45

1

Take me to your leader Goddammit!

willkinton247 > Rico 02/05/2014 at 09:57

1

hahaha yesss