Photo by Lindsey Laing The 2008 Hummer H3 display dazzles visitors at the Washington Auto Show. This mid-size sport utility vehicle comes with a 300-horsepower 5.3-liter, V8 engine.

The Walter E. Washington Convention Center hosted 42 domestic and import car manufacturers Jan. 23-27, showing over 700 cars, trucks, minivans and sport utility vehicles. From fuel-efficient hybrids to classic unattainable sports cars, if it had wheels, it was featured on over 750,000 square feet of indoor floor space.

Attending the show was like going to a massive dealership without the pesky salespeople bothering you. Consumers could literally jump from Nissan to Toyota to Chrysler and compare models without driving off the lot. Besides, how often do you get to fantasize while sitting in a brand new, fully-loaded Cadillac Escalade when you know you can only afford a Jeep Liberty?

While the top floor featured many of the more popular vehicle makers – Dodge, Chrysler, Mazda, (you know, the kind the average, hard-working person drives), the lower floor heaved with car enthusiasts hypnotized by the six-figure beauty of Ducatis, Bentleys and Maseratis.

Like the parking lot at a casino in Monaco, that infamous playground for the rich and titled, $100,000 cars appeared as if double-parked on the showcase floor. You could almost envision the owner tossing the keys to the nearest valet parking attendant. People hired to make certain that the sparkling finish on a Ferrari was never marred by a speck of lint, dusted it constantly while the rare car slowly spun around and around.

Besides the flashy import cars, roped off like they belonged in the Smithsonian (no doubt there to keep people from fogging up the paint job), other show highlights included the Nissan GT-R, a popular Japanese sports car available for the first time in the U.S., and the Pontiac G8, which packs a fuel-saving V8 engine. Future car technology, like hybrids, flex-fuel or flexible fuel vehicles, clean diesels, and hydrogen fuel cells were also featured in many of the new models.

While green cars generally make people think of a Toyota Prius, not a gas-guzzling road hog, this year’s show surprised consumers with the Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid, a full-sized sport utility vehicle and winner of the 2008 Green Car of the Year Award. It looks like a greener future is on the horizon for all car manufacturers.

Ever the outdoorsy company, the Jeep showcase took the event to another level with their outdoor-inspired, indoor off-road test-driving course. Visitors were allowed to experience the handling of the new Jeep’s firsthand on the trail display covering 100,000 square feet and reaching 16 feet in height, constructed inside the center. A smaller track allowed families to share the experience on a mini-driving course.

Whether visitors to the Washington Auto Show were there for a glimpse of an impossible dream car, families looking for a new grocery-getter, or gear heads thirsty for the newest technology, this year’s event satisfied them all. The only thing missing were the exhaust fumes – and the pesky salespeople. But nobody missed them.