This weekend I took an early weekend and returned home to surprise my brother for his birthday and to watch a school play. My parents and I were worried that my brother had caught on and knew I was coming, but our fears were not well-founded. He didn’t know and was very surprised.

The night I arrived, we went to the Greater Milwaukee Auto Show as it has been a tradition in my family to go [almost] every year. Over the past couple years, my interest in cars has been pushed aside somewhat by newer ones, so it was interesting to come back to it, especially with a little more design knowledge than in prior years.

One of the first cars I saw upon entering was the new Audi R8. I was stunned not only by the fact that it was at the Milwaukee Auto Show, but that they had even put it on the floor, rather than raised on a platform. It is a truly stunning car and a fine manifestation of the exotic Audi two door that I have been eagerly awaiting. I only wish that they had sold one at International Autos while I was working there. It would have been great to experience it firsthand.

While there, I stopped [briefly] at the Saturn showcase. I have never been a fan of American auto makers, and Saturn has always been among my least favorite. However, recently Saturn has introduced a new design aesthetic to their lineup and I must that I actually like it, perhaps more than Ford’s current designs. I wondered [was even optimistic enough to hope] that their utilitarian quality had improved along with the aesthetic. However, upon stepping into a Saturn Sky, I was quickly disappointed. The interior materials, especially the plastics, failed to meet or even attempt to keep up with its competitors’, such as the Mazda MX-5. This trend unfortunately carried over to GM’s prodigious Corvette Z06. The interior is notably improved since the prior generation, and has gotten rid of some of the GM blandness as a result of overly-universalized parts. However, despite the improvement it is still seriously lacking for a car with a price tag just south of $70,000. I think Saturn’s changes are a good move on GM’s part and they might profit from doing similar innovations with their other brands, but they also need to work on their material quality. After all, “details are not details. They make the product.” - Charles Eames

Another car I have mixed feelings about is the new Subaru Impreza. The first Imprezas were extremely attractive in my opinion, and the 2001 redesign made me ecstatic. However, it was a downhill journey from there. In 2004, the WRX received a face lift, which I initially disliked, but came to appreciate. However, I never did understand why it was necessary. Then, 2006 came around and everything went horribly wrong. The WRX once again received a redesigned front end, only this time I simply could not be as forgiving. Now Subaru has redesigned its Impreza once more. My first reaction upon seeing the redesign was that it looked like they had taken the current Toyota Corolla, smoothed it out, made it a little more aggressive, turned it into a station wagon, and changed the badging. Seeing the WRX STi in person changed my mind a little. Just a little. I took a brief seat in it and was pleased to find that the transmission seemed to have been updated to eliminate some of the notchy-ness and brute force required in earlier WRX’s. However, shortly after I wandered over to Mitsubishi’s display where I found the new Lancer Evo X. It is mean-looking, stylish, and has the power to back it up. Mitsubishi truly went out on a limb with this one. It is possibly the most change between model years seen with the Evo. Contrast this with Subaru. Presumably due to criticism received over the Impreza’s [numerous] redesigns, Subaru started with a clean slate and produced a new, fast, powerful…and bland Impreza. Meanwhile, Mitsubishi has completely redesigned their Evo with a very fresh and innovative look. Trying to please everyone, Subaru opted for the safe way out and produced a relatively plain WRX; not ugly, but not horribly attractive either. However, given the competition, safe isn’t safe for Subaru.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the auto show and had tons of fun just taking pictures. You can view all of them on my Flickr page. And just when I thought I had seen it all, I snapped this in the parking garage on the way back to our car.