Young stars and their cars

Pop sensation Justin Bieber is no stranger to audacious autos. He had a minor crash in a matte-black Ferrari F430, a loaner from friend and mentor Usher. He owns an inexplicably Batman-themed, custom-built Cadillac CTS-V coupe with suicide doors. And he received this chromed Fisker Karma as a gift from his manager, Scooter Braun. The gaudy plug-in hybrid has attracted attention worldwide, including some unwanted notice from law enforcement; the singer was given a speeding ticket for driving 100 mph in the machine in July 2012.

2009 Ferrari 430 Scuderia

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Left to his own devices, singer and actor Zac Efron is an Audi man. He has owned an A6, an S6 and, more recently, a 2011 S5 coupe. Here, he's just making do by driving his "High School Musical" co-star — and then-girlfriend — Vanessa Hudgens around Burbank, Calif., in her rented Porsche Cayenne. Spacious yet road-tuned, the Cayenne remains one of the go-to trucks in Hollywood.

2012 Porsche Cayenne

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The restoration work makes it hard to pin down the exact model year of Nick Jonas' Shelby Cobra GT. Maybe it's a '67 with misleading headlamps or a '68 GT350 with a modified hood scoop. Either way, it's a gorgeous, classic, Shelby-ized Mustang, so who cares? The musician has since abandoned such vintage pony perfection for a 2009 Dodge Charger and the even more bewildering 2010 limited-edition Ford Harley Davidson F-150 pickup.

2013 Ford Shelby GT500

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It's tempting to imagine that in the "post-teen, married dude" phase of his life, Kevin Jonas is making a statement with this Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid. While the pop star was given a Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder back in 2008, he has mothballed it in favor of everyman Americana, such as the Jeep Commander and, more recently, a 2010 Chevrolet Camaro.

2013 Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid

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Exhibiting a surprising level of taste for someone whose day job involves wearing a cheerleader outfit — she stars in the CW's "Hellcats" — Ashley Tisdale drives a Porsche Boxster. It's a step down in size but a bigger step up in appropriate starlet transportation from her Mercedes-Benz G550 SUV. Tisdale is seen here with "High School Musical" co-star Vanessa Hudgens.

2013 Porsche Boxster

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When she was a girl, Miley Cyrus drove girlish things — her mom's Porsche Cayenne GTS, for example, and her own nifty little black Toyota Prius, which she was proud to tell reporters was "good for the environment." Now Cyrus is a woman, and she drives a Mercedes-Benz SL550, like the black one shown here, or the white convertible model that she picked up in early 2012.

2013 Mercedes-Benz SL-Class

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Way back in 2008, before Selena Gomez was old enough to drive, it beckoned from her driveway: a Ford Escape Hybrid. In 2009, she talked about that very Escape, her planned first car: "A lot of people call it a soccer mom car, but I think it's a safe ride." The singer's dream came true, as she now drives a silver 2009 Ford Escape Hybrid, which, for the record, is a truck.

2012 Ford Escape Hybrid

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Brenda Song, who starred in the long-running TV series "The Suite Life of Zach and Cody" and co-starred in the movie "The Social Network," drives a Mercedes G500, a white one she bought in 2012. Song clearly loves the G-Class SUV, declaring in a 2009 interview, "I wanted this car, like, my whole life, and it's amazing."

2013 Mercedes-Benz G-Class

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Like ex-boyfriend Zac Efron, actress Vanessa Hudgens has brand loyalty to Audi, having owned both an S4 cabriolet and her latest, an S5, also a convertible. She may have had a crisis of conscience back in 2008, when Hudgens motored around in a Lexus 400h, the first luxury SUV hybrid, but it was a phase. And all along, she's managed to have a steady stream of accidents, none serious but all embarrassing.

2013 Audi S5

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For more information on the vehicles in this slideshow, click the links below:

-Porsche Cayenne
-Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid
-Porsche Boxster
-Ford Escape Hybrid
-Mercedes-Benz G-Class
-Mercedes-Benz SL-Class
-Audi S5

Based out of the Boston area, Erik Sofge is frequent contributor to Popular Mechanics and Slate.com. He specializes in everything scientific and technical.