Back to The Future

Ford's MyKey allows parents to limit the top speed when their teen is driving to 80 mph, set warning beeps at 45, 55, or 65 mph, restrict the car's stereo volume to 44% of the maximum, and warns the driver and mutes the radio until seat belts are fastened. (Starting this year MyKey will be a standard feature in the Ford Focus.)

The "Most Efficient Car in the World"

Weighing in at a mere 650 lbs, VW's L1 Hybrid "sips diesel to the tune of 1.4 liters per 100 kilometers (61 miles)." (Available in 2010.)

I'd rather be driving . . .

an Audi e-tron.

It's four-wheel drive and gets 150 miles per charge (with air-conditioning). (But production models won't be out until 2012).