Those small Powershots like the A540 make nice little visual notebooks and are fun to play with in manual mode. I think one can get pretty creative with those cameras... Nice photo, BTW.
Ooooh, I find this photo very interesting. I would have given it decent marks had I voted (sorry!) I really like the way the lights on the car in front seem to be melting in an almost Dali-esque fashion. Mainly I think it is a good photo because the eye is instantly drawn to the brightest area (the "melty" lights) and then have a chance to take everything in. Not a very DPC-friendly photo, but some of my favorites aren't frankly very DPC-friendly. Great job.
I think this is a great picture. I like the exposure and the angle. The rain drops make the image. I think it is just missing a central subject to tie it together, like some person running in front of your car. That would have made the image for me, however this image is still deserving of a higher score.