The class of 2004

Think of our relationship with the internal combustion engine as a roller coaster ride. We’ve had our ups and downs, but 2004 was the first year most people could see, clearly, that the tracks were out ahead. Californians saw gasoline hit $3 per gallon and not for the last time. American foreign policy is bloodily fixated on a region of the world whose single strategic value is oil. Even the Bush administration had to concede this year that there was something to all this talk of global warming. But automakers, suing to stop California’s new carbon-emission standards, are in greenhouse denial.

Whose air is it, anyway?

The future belongs to automakers who embrace change. Toyota surpassed Ford as the world’s No. 2 automaker in 2004 and will likely overtake GM in 2005, when it will sell more than 100,000 hybrid cars in the U.S. Some analysts predict a million hybrid sales per year by 2010. Who will build them? Well, that’s the very question.

It was a good year for machinery. We saw a gangsta Chrysler, a $90,000 VW, the Ford Mustang and Ford GT born in clouds of vaporized-rubber glory. We saw a 617-hp Mercedes-Benz SLR and the $450,000 Porsche Carrera GT -- these cars, collectively, might be called the Excess Express. For every one of these machines, there is an ideal buyer. On this page, some of the great cars of 2004 and the types of L.A. owners they might attract. Here’s hoping for better times and better cars in 2005.

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Ford Mustang: $19,410-$26,330 (base price range)

Perfect match: D-girl in need of a night out

A D-girl is a “development girl,” one of Hollywood’s army of ambitious, underpaid young women who move an entertainment project from idea to reality. For them there is the new, indisputably cool Ford Mustang for about $20,000. The new Mustang “re-imagines” -- as they say in Tinseltown -- the great Mustangs of the 1960s and early ‘70s, from the vertical tail lamps to the fast-forward nose. However, if the D-girl in question is a trust-funder, she may consider the hotter, 300-hp GT model with the V8 engine. In this town, it’s all about who’s hot.

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Maserati Quattroporte: $95,500

Perfect match: Broker-turned-restaurateur bent on losing money

You made your millions in the dot-com boom; now it’s time to follow your dream of owning an Italian restaurant, and driving it into the ground. For you, the new Maserati Quattroporte, a stunningly potent, wonderfully crafted sedan whose museum-quality lines make the competition from Stuttgart and Munich look positively Russian. The 394-hp Quattroporte’s performance is stellar, but it’s not a particularly easy car to drive. Its DuoSelect six-speed paddle-shifted gearbox makes parallel parking downright comical. But just look at it. Besides, if you were motivated by reason, you wouldn’t have gotten into the restaurant business, would you?

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Land Rover Range Rover: $72,285-$73,085

Perfect match: Discerning CAA agent

A good talent agent has to be a player, and in Beverly Hills, players drive Range Rovers. The Range Rover’s off-road credentials are impeccable -- it’s equipped with height-adjustable independent suspension, a torque-rich V8 and permanent four-wheel drive -- but the main attraction is the bold, beautiful styling: the shark-gill accents, “floating roof” design.... All in all, a wonderful, lordly perch from which to see and make the scene. The Range Rover takes a back seat to no one in amenities, offering integrated navigation, stereo and communications systems, including the Bluetooth phone capability without which no agent could breathe.

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Ferrari F430: $190,000 (estimated base price)

Perfect matches: Hollywood tyrants, hip-hop tyros

There are cars and then there are these cars -- Ferraris. The new F430 -- a 490-horsepower mid-engine Berlinetta -- goes from 0 to 60 in less than four seconds and from zero to ohmigod in less than that. People on the street get that gape-mouth, bulging-eye look -- like koi -- when they see it. A truly spectacular performer, the F430 features a variable dynamics system called a Manettino, a five-position switch that progressively raises the electronic thresholds of the traction and stability, suspension and engine management systems. Yes, the F430 stops traffic wherever it goes, but the Ferrari is happier when it just blows traffic off the road.

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Ferrari F430: $190,000 (estimated base price)

Perfect matches: Hollywood tyrants, hip-hop tyros

There are cars and then there are these cars -- Ferraris. The new F430 -- a 490-horsepower mid-engine Berlinetta -- goes from 0 to 60 in less than four seconds and from zero to ohmigod in less than that. People on the street get that gape-mouth, bulging-eye look -- like koi -- when they see it. A truly spectacular performer, the F430 features a variable dynamics system called a Manettino, a five-position switch that progressively raises the electronic thresholds of the traction and stability, suspension and engine management systems. Yes, the F430 stops traffic wherever it goes, but the Ferrari is happier when it just blows traffic off the road.

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Scion tC: $15,950-$16,750

Perfect match: Just about anyone needing a second childhood

The Scion brand was invented to appeal to a younger generation of buyers for whom the name Toyota might mean “Camry.” It didn’t take long for boomers to latch on, though, and the compact coupe tC illustrates why. As a value equation, this car is unbeatable. A maxed-out tC sells for about $19,500 and includes a 160-hp engine, 17-inch alloy wheels, side and curtain air bags, power everything, AM-FM-XM-CD audio, moon roof ... well, you get the idea. All of this goodness is poured into an attitude-intensive body that makes its econo-box competitors look like corrective shoes. The lesson here: value knows no demographic.

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Chevrolet Corvette: $44,510-$52,245

Perfect match: Hot-rodding Qantas pilot based at LAX

The new Corvette -- known as the C6, for sixth-generation Corvette -- is the best car built in America. End of story. The Corvette flat out embarrasses European GTs costing twice as much, and in terms of comfort and drivability makes the Dodge Viper feel like a truck. The new car is superbly engineered and built, beautifully designed and as close to perfect as a GT car gets. Americans might take the Corvette for granted, but an Australian airline pilot who has been around the globe a few times would know. What else goes 185 mph with four golf bags?

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Acura RL: $49,470

Perfect match: JPL project manager in need of a family car

The smartest guy in the room deserves the smartest car. The new RL is all that and a bag of microchips. Let’s crunch numbers: 300 horsepower, all-wheel-drive, five-speed automatic, 18/24 fuel economy, 0 to 60 in 6 seconds. A technological starship, the RL offers a list of amenities as gold-plated as the most shameless government project, including a satellite-based real-time traffic information system. Meanwhile, the RL cabin is handsomely executed in piano-quality wood and leather and limned in an effortlessly classic style. Since it’s such a quantum leap for Acura, perhaps the RL is really for nuclear physicists?

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Mini Cooper convertible: $21,500-$24,950

Perfect match: Sun-starved, third-year resident at Cedars-Sinai

The Mini Cooper, built by BMW in the Land of the Breakfast Sausage, is one of the great cars of the last decade, an indispensable lesson in form, function and the power of emotion. Still double-take cute after three years on the market, the Mini Cooper got a haircut this year with the introduction of the convertible. Sharing a lot of BMW’s drop-top components, the Mini Cooper convertible offers effortless access to the sun with the touch of a button. The polished aluminum roll bars in the back make an aesthetic virtue out of a safety necessity and the whole car has been given an extra dose of chrome. The car shines now more than ever.

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Honda Accord Hybrid: $29,990

Perfect match: UC Santa Barbara marine sciences professor

Hybrids are cool. Hybrids are sexy. In Los Angeles, for example, there is a six-month waiting list for the Toyota Prius and Ford Escape Hybrid. Just in time to be fashionable, the Honda Accord Hybrid arrives, offering everything a normal Accord does, only faster. The hybrid version of the car is a full second quicker to 60 mph and gets better gas mileage too (37 mpg highway, 29 mpg city). Some might argue that more expensive hybrids don’t pay for themselves in gas savings, but the Hybrid Accord neatly end-runs that argument. And history shows people will happily pay thousands more just to go a little bit faster.