High School Daze

Learning to drive and acquiring that first set of wheels are the inalienable rights of the American teenager. Yet, no one ever said it was easy.

What do pending adults want to drive? What do parents feel they should drive? How does the teen/parent unit sort through factors like safety, practicality, economy, performance, affordability, and all-important coolness? The choices are endless.

Our homework assignment: Take eight new vehicles, whose respective manufacturers claim appeal to young adult buyers, to a local high school and let students look, touch, fiddle, and honk (and honk and honk...) horns for a lunch period. When the PeeChee dust settled, we learned that some automakers did their own homework--and others failed the final.

Teenagers are today's most-studied and marketed-to societal group, so we asked experts in and out of the car business for insight as to what kids want or don't want, like or hate. We've also included buying tips and insurance information in this story to help with pocketbook protection.

Here's the class of 2003.

Location and students courtesy Crescenta Valley High School, La Crescenta, California.