Zlati Meyer

Detroit Free Press

The most-ticketed car by percent is the Subaru WRX%2C Insurance.com reported today.

Ranked second was the Pontiac GTO.

Three other Detroit Three cars made the list. The Mercury Topaz ranked seventh %2C the Pontiac G8 15th and the Saturn Aura%2C 18th.

If you have a need for speed, you likely also have gotten your share of tickets for everything from driving too fast to failing to yield.

That means there's a good chance you drive a Subaru WRX.

It's the most ticketed car by percent in the United States, according to a study Insurance.com release today.

One out of every three WRX drivers — or 33.6% — has reported receiving a traffic citation recently.

The Pontiac GTO came in second with 32.7%.

Rounding out the top five are the Scion FR-S with 32.6%, the Toyota Supra with 30.8% and the Subaru Tribeca with 29.7%.

Three other American cars also made the list: The Mercury Topaz ranked seventh with 28.8%, the Pontiac G8 ranked 15th with 27.7%, and the Saturn Aura ranked 18th with 27.1%

None of the four cars are manufactured anymore; Ford has discontinued the Mercury brand and the Topaz was last produced in 1994. General Motors abandoned Pontiac and Saturn in its 2009 bankruptcy restructuring.

Subaru disputed Insurance.com's finding. In an e-mail, the automaker said, "[W]e certainly hope that the insurance company in question's insurance quotes are more accurate than their surveys."

The most-ticketed brand by percent was Scion. Its IC was ranked eighth on the list with 28.8%, and xA 14th with 27.8%. According to Insurance.com, 27.5% of Scion owners has gotten a traffic violation.

To look up how your car ranks, visit http://www.insurance.com/auto-insurance/vehicle-shopping/cars-that-get-the-most-tickets.html. Listed are 526 models.

The list was calculated using online quote data from on car models with 50 or more queries from more than 557,000 drivers between January 2013 and this past July, Insurance.com said.

"There's a bias toward young drivers,I know for a fact that Scions and the Subaru WRX are appealing to young drivers who get tickets at a higher rate," Des Toups, managing editor at Insurance.com told the Free Press. " My presumption is is you're looking at cars that are the ones those drivers can afford."

Many of the models high on the list are ones that are no longer made. Younger drives could be driving used cars or hand-me- downs from parents,

"I love the fact that the Mazda2 is in the top 10. It's got 100 horsepower,. It's about as mild a car as you can imagine. The Toyota Prius C is, another car you might not expect to see, is in the top 20," he explaining, adding that at the same time, "the list confirms a lot of your notions."

That the Subaru WRX was No. 1 didn't surprise Vadim Zelikov, 42, of Farmington Hills, who bought his electric blue one in 2004. In the interim decade, he's gotten six tickets. — in a car that has only 52,000 miles on it, because he only drives it in the summer.

"it's because of the flamboyant loom of the car for starters, the fact that the car is popular with young adults and it tends to be on the sportier side, so it's got a lot of horsepower," said the former pub owner, who said he's often followed by police. "When I'm behind the wheel? I'm older now, so I feel younger. My girlfriend calls it calls it a Hot Wheels. It's like a red Corvette or a yellow Porsche. It stands out."

Contact Zlati Meyer: 313-223-4439 or zmeyer@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @ZlatiMeyer

Top 20 most ticketed cars (by percent of owners)

1. Subaru WRX – 33.6%

2. Pontiac GTO – 32.7%

3. Scion FR-S – 32.6%

4. Toyota Supra – 30.8%

5. Subaru Tribeca – 29.7%

6. Volkswagen Rabbit – 29.6%

7. Mercury Topaz – 28.8%

8. Scion tC – 28.8%

9. Toyota FJ Cruiser – 28.4%

10. Mazda2 – 28.1%

11. Hyundai Veloster – 28.1%

12. Volkswagen GTI – 28.1%

13. Suzuki Reno – 28.1%

14. Scion xA – 27.8%

15. Pontiac G8 – 27.7%

16. MINI Cooper S Countryman – 27.5%

17. Mitsubishi 3000 GT – 27.4%

18. Saturn Aura – 27.1%

19. Infiniti QX56/QX80 – 27.1%

20. Toyota Prius C – 27.0%

Source: Insurance.com