Inside The Mind Of An Automotive Geek

Do you find it hard to find the right car for your teens? Or if you are a student, is choosing the most suitable car a pain in the neck?

Well, not to worry. About.com has shared its top 10 cars for students. Here’s the list:

1. Ford Focus ZX3
The Focus is one of my favorite small cars. Designed in Europe, it's roomy, cheap to run and a lot of fun to drive. The sporty ZX3 3-door hatchback will probably have the most appeal for young folks; it's good looking, easy to park, and has plenty of room in the back seat to haul friends.

2. Honda Civic
The Civic is easy to drive, extremely fuel efficient, will last forever if well cared for, and boasts an admirable commitment to safety: Antilock brakes, front-seat side airbags and side curtain airbags are standard on all models.

3. Honda Fit
When I was in college, small Honda Civic hatchbacks were the cars to have. Today the Civic has moved on to bigger and better things, and the hatchbacks are gone; they have been replaced (in spirit, that is) by the Fit.

4. Kia Optima
Not all students are single teens; many have families of their own. For them, the Kia Optima is a great choice; it has all the room and amenities of mainstream Japanese sedans, but it's significantly cheaper to buy and run.

5. Mazda 3
The Mazda 3 is cool to look at, great to drive, and available in both sedan and mini-wagon body styles. It has all the reliability you'd expect from a Japanese car with a bit more pizzazz.

6. Nissan Versa
Several excellent subcompacts have hit the market recently, and the Nissan Versa is one of my favorites for two reasons: Lots of space and lots of value. The former comes in handy for hauling a semester's worth of stuff to school (as does the fact that the Versa is available as both a hatchback and a sedan) as well as for hauling friends to off-campus excursions.

7. Pontiac G5
The G5 coupe is mechanically identical to the Chevrolet Cobalt, but its unique sheetmetal gives it a smidge more style. The G5 is inexpensive to buy, inexpensive to run, and is an easy car to drive thanks largely to its simple, distraction-free interior. Side airbags are available as an option; don't buy a G5 without them.

8. Subaru Impreza 2.5i
The Subaru Impreza 2.5i is the only car in its class to offer standard all-wheel-drive (AWD) -- an important and oft-overlooked safety feature that not only offers great foul-weather handling (a boon for kids raised in the sun belt going to school in the rust belt) but also helps keep the car on course in a panic swerve when the roads are dry.

9. Suzuki SX4
Suzuki's pint-sized SX4 is built in Japan, yet it offers a value-for-money equation similar to its Korean rivals. Not only is the SX4 the cheapest all-wheel-drive car you can buy, but it offers four-wheel antilock disc brakes, side airbags, CD/MP3 player and power everything for well under $16,000.

10. Toyota Corolla
If conservative clothes are more your style, the Corolla is a good choice; its grown-up image will serve its owner well through school, the job hunt, and the beginnings of a career.