Pontiac Vibe

There are a lot of reasons to love the Pontiac Vibe. First, it's versatile, with a tall, roomy interior, mini-wagon body, and a hard-plastic-lined cargo bay. Second, it's safe -- all versions of the Vibe have electronic stability control as standard, and all-wheel-drive is optional. And third, it's a Toyota. Okay, it's not actually a Toyota -- the Pontiac Vibe is a joint collaboration between Toyota and General Motors, but the mechanical bits are Toyota-sourced and the car is built at the joint GM-Toyota NUMMI plant in California, which has been turning out high-quality cars (including the Toyota Corolla and Tacoma pickup) for over twenty years. Toyota has their own version -- the also-new-for-2009 Matrix -- but the Pontiac Vibe is better.