While the Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and his Republican counterpart, John McCain, aren't driving anywhere while in a secret service motorcade, both candidates have cars -- even if they're not likely to use them anytime soon.

Obama, until recently, drove a Chrysler 300C with a powerful V-8 Hemi engine. Obama had been critical of the American automakers for falling behind foreign competition in making fuel efficient cars.

The Detroit News reported that Ford Motor Co. Chairman Bill Ford Jr. invited Obama to the company's Chicago assembly plant to see where vehicles more efficient than the 300C -- which gets 20 mpg on the highway -- were made.

Shortly after that, Obama switched to a Ford Escape hybrid, also driven by John Edwards, Al Gore and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Obama's nominee for vice president, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, told The Associated Press in an interview at the start of the 2008 campaign last year that he drives a 1967 Corvette that his father gave him as a wedding gift when he married his first wife.

McCain, in that same AP interview, said his first car was also a Corvette -- from 1958 -- but he now drives a Cadillac CTS sedan.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, McCain's vice presidential nominee, drives a diesel-powered Volkswagen Jetta, according to the San Francisco Examiner. For state business, she drives a Chevrolet Suburban. The Anchorage Daily News reported that Palin was in a four-car accident in July while driving the Suburban.

Palin's spokeswoman said that Palin slowed for traffic and was rear-ended, pushing her into the SUV in front of her. The Anchorage Daily News reported that the Suburban sustained several thousands of dollars' worth of damage, but Palin was unhurt.

The type of car that the candidate drives affects the public's perceptions -- even if the candidate doesn't have time to drive.

"As is the case with all things political, what you choose to drive should be consistent with your values and personality," Jim Dorsey, senior manager of media relations for Global Insight, a Lexington, Mass., research firm, told Forbes.com.

A branding expert told Forbes that the candidate's choice of car is a great way to define them.

"The cars that we have as consumers are public statements about ourselves," Scott Piergrossi, creative director of the Brand Institute, a brand consulting firm in Miami, told Forbes. "What are people going to think about the automotive choice that I've made? An automotive choice is a great way to define a candidate, since every decision a candidate makes about everything gets scrutinized."

Piergrossi said that Obama's move from the Chrysler to the Escape hybrid helps position himself as a candidate of change, while McCain's choice of a Cadillac projects patriotism.

"One cannot ask the American people to adjust their attitudes or behaviors if he himself is not willing to do so," he told Forbes. "This move helps him solidify his brand.

"The Cadillac is a classic American car, and it gives off the perception of luxury," Piergrossi said.