I don't know what that second car is, but most people couldn't dream of owning it at any point in their lives, much less at a young age.
It's an 04 BMW Z4 which retailed for $33,600 (comparatively speaking a 2004 Cadillac Escalade was $55,535) and apparently had very good sells,and considering Abby's dad owns the mall*, and her mom is a marketing consultant
LA, CA here. Nobody I knew in High School (Class of '06) got a brand new car while still in HS (at least, not anything they bragged about on campus). Some drove, but almost always with rights to the family vehicle. That's part of why I suggested "A hand-me-down, but a COOL hand-me-down that the character likes"
Which part of LA?
The postings in this thread
http://www.city-data.com/forum/automoti ... -cars.html and this list has ford mustang at number 6
https://jalopnik.com/5847230/the-ten-ul ... rich-kids/Rich kids have been buying Mustangs for years, and every time a new one comes out, you can find them in countless high school parking lots, often with window louvers tacked on for some semblance of originality. While Mustangs don't exactly speak to the black-AMEX-and-country-club rich, there's still enough upper-middle wealth in this country to support a healthy population of poseur Mustang drivers,
I should let you all know that so far the only other car that I have mentioned is a 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee nicknamed "Tank" and Abby will be heading to Puerto Vallarta for spring break staying at an all-inclusive resort.
EDIT: What's the ugliest color you're ever seen on a car? I'm thinking puke green....