I don't think that there is a better interface for what you are trying to do. First, like you have mentioned, this is the "classic" option - people have seen it and understand it, especially with your specific business case (selecting a vehicle model).
Second, the only real viable alternative to this is the "wizard" style control, which in this case is massive overkill because you are forcing the user to go through multiple pages just to select a single dropdown for each step. It is also less user friendly for that exact reason.
Depending on the number of options, you could test with select boxes (essentially dropdowns that show more than one item at a time and have an as-needed scrollbar) or radio buttons for each individual question. This might make the selection of the desired option easier, since it is easier to see what options are available, but this really isn't that different of an interface from the standard.