I have gone to every single Toronto show since it started in 1974 but after this year I'm really starting to wonder whether it is worth it any more.  I was just discussing this with 65Camino today, the only reason I felt I had to go was to keep my streak alive.

The show was noticeably scaled back this year.  The recession has something to do with it but I notice the show seems to be getting less splashy with less vehicles each year.  There were a lot of wide open spaces this year.  The cruise nationals and the classic Corvette display were probably the best parts.  Most of the manufacturers have stopped giving out brochures all together offering to mail you something if you fill out a form or tell you to just look at the internet.  One of the classic reasons for going to a show is slowly fading away.  I am amazed that so many of the cars are still locked up - isn't the idea to sell cars?  Hard to sell something if you don't give people to a chance to completely check it out. 

I spent a lot of time looking at the Camaro and the Challenger and talking to the sales reps.  I always go on Monday night because the show is usually dead and you can get lots of access to the cars without any crowds.  Both of them are a lot porkier than the original versions, in both size and weight.  They had a couple of R/Ts and they looked good and both priced out at about $40K.  One had the optional polished Torque Thrust type wheels and they were a $2,000 option!  I don't know who they think are going to buy these things with prices like that. 

The Camaro is a bit trimmer but now that I've seen a genuine production model, I can't say that I'm blown away.  There are parts of the interior that still look incredibly cheap for a $40,000 car.  I think that rear end is butt ugly and looks chopped off but I guess that is just my opinion.  The trunk opening is an absolute joke; I don't think it is even 4 feet wide.  Another thing that bugged me is that so much of the car is electrified that nothing works if the battery isn't hooked up, you can't even flip the front seats forward to get in the back seat because they are all controlled by electro-magnets.  People criticized the 4th gen because a lot of people felt you sat too low, especially women.  Well let me tell you, this new 5th gen is no better, the door sills and dash are still very high plus there is a very high door sill to get over, not as bad as the one on a 4th gen vette but close.  I'll check out a used convertible in a couple of years if they ever make it into production, and if GM lasts that long.  Heard rumours of Chapter 11 again today.  Actually the car that impressed me the most was the Malibu.  Anybody looking for a family car, I tell them to look at this first.  Interior quality and design were top notch, and even a lot better than the Camaro. 

Almost half of Ford's display were their new pick-ups. I dunno, with that massive front end, they don't do much for me.  Porsche was the most noticeable absence, they even ran an ad in the paper saying come to their dealers to see their new models, saying "no waiting", "no line-ups".  With what happened in Detroit this year as well, is this the beginning of the end of the modern auto show?

-- Edited by Astro Jet at 00:00, 2009-02-17