This is the third issue of a series of articles ranking cars in the AMHS school parking lot. After careful deliberation, a 50 point scale was developed to properly rate the cars:

• 10 points- Uniqueness (car stickers, car color, etc.) 
• 10 points- Overall cleanliness (exterior)
• 15 points- Car Design (vintage, recent model, etc.) 
• 15 points – Overall Aesthetics (appeal, satisfying finish)

After suggestions from a few peers, we have decided to be more strict when enforcing our ranking scale, and including adding multiple pictures of the cars featured. 

This white 4 Runner earns a decent score of 34/50. The car’s lowest score was in the overall aesthetics category, with just a meager 8 points. The black rims and dark tint are some of the only redeeming qualities on this car. Personally I do not enjoy the intentional (?) black paint design on the front of the car, shown below. Also, while some may think that the string of LED lights below the displeasing paint design may be an attractive feature, from personal experience I have found the LED lights to be quite annoying. If you ever find yourself behind this car on the way out of school, like I have many times, be prepared to be completely blinded by these awful lights. For the sake of all the student drivers at AMHS, please remove the lights immediately.

While I am not exactly sure of the model of this Acura, I am actually very much enjoying the little Christmas additions to this otherwise plain car. I would have given the car a perfect 10/10 points in the uniqueness category, but I had to subtract two points because of the off center red nose. I am actually surprised at how clean this car is, because black shows the most dirt. I wish I could give this car a higher overall score, but it only earns a 26/50. I also had to deduct points for the car’s parking job, because the front of the car is practically parked in the grass, as you can see below. I recommend that when you pull into your AMHS parking spot in the morning, you stop before you hear the bottom of your car scrap against the curb.

A truck is pretty rare to find in the AMHS parking lot, and this Toyota Tacoma is actually one of my favorite cars of this issue, and it earns an overall score of 28/50. In the car design category, the Tacoma earned an impressive 12/15 points, because Tacomas are my favorite kind of truck and I also enjoy the matte gray color. For the most part, I think this car really suffered in the aesthetics category, and I ultimately had no other choice than to give this car just 4/15 points. The main reason for this is the major dent on the side of the truck, shown on the left. Unlike the other cars of this issue, the dent is pretty significant, and has even partially detached the bumper from the tail light. I would definitely get this fixed before your bumper falls off!

I would describe the color of this car as a mixture of split pea soup and lime, but honestly I’m actually not hating this color. As I have never seen this color car on the road before, I would give this car 9/10 points in the uniqueness category. But, I am not the biggest fan of Toyota Camrys, because they are pretty much the default version of any car. Because of this, I would give this car a 5/15 points in the car design category. As shown in the second picture on the right, the Camry has a few dents and scratches near the front tire on the drivers side, probably from a failed parking job, but I am not exactly sure. This car earned a decent score of  25/50.

Something about this car really rubs me the wrong way, probably because it looks literally identical to a cockroach. The car earns an almost perfect 9 points in the overall cleanliness, as I could probably see my own reflection against the midnight blue exterior. Sadly, this car scored very low in the uniqueness and overall aesthetics category, mainly because there is really nothing really special about this car, besides the cockroach shape. I definitely could have scored this car lower than I did, but I did add a few extra points in the uniqueness category, because there is a Black Ice Little Tree in the car, which is personally my favorite scent of little trees. Overall, the car earned a total score of 27/50.

This Audi A4, found in the outskirts of the gravel lot, earns an impressive score of 36/50. I gave the car a perfect 15 out of 15 in the car design category, because everything about this car is very appealing: the soft top convertible, the old but not too old make, and the sleek gray color. I did subtract a few points in the cleanliness category, because the car definitely could use a car wash. But, this car truly suffered in the overall aesthetics category, because I feel as if the Hello Kitty bumper sticker and the flower encrusted license plate holder do not fit the aesthetic of the car design.

This green Subaru Outback is actually one of the highest scoring cars of this issue, earning a total of 38/50 points. It earned a 7/10 points in the uniqueness category, because while I do like the sticker placement on this car, the forest green color is slightly off putting to me. This car is definitely unique, especially because of the specialized “slave to the traffic light” license plate, which possibly implies that this person follows the traffic laws. In addition, the car looks dent and scratch free, which earns extra points in the uniqueness category.

We hope you enjoyed this third issue of Raptor Car Rankings! If you want your car to be rated, please email one of us, Mary Archambault (arcmar8543@ccsdschools.com) and Gracie Mochizuki (mocgra6372@ccsdschools.com) with your parking spot number as well as the car’s make and model. We would also like to give a shoutout to Mr. Cosgrove, who every month takes time out of his day to walk around the parking lot with us. See you next month!