First car for teenager

A very good friend of mine has a daughter who just turned 16. She's not really a driver, so performance is not required by her, and likely the parents don't want it either. They are very non-mechanical people so reliability and low cost of ownership (including insurance) is paramount.

They asked my help picking her a car. Budget is 5-6k and it should be an automatic (much to my dismay). I want to pick something super reliable, slow, safe, and makes my "niece" look good at prom.

Her mom said "no coffin on wheels, but not a gas guzzler either" so she equates bigger with safer. She'll likely look at crash test ratings and MPG, so no tiny cars. Think Camry instead of Corolla.

I'm in the middle of talking to the new driver to see what she wants, but honestly her idea of a car is a thing that has four wheels and gets her back and forth to her boyfriend's house. But if I can get some details out of her I can pick her a car that makes her happy and is respected by the other adolescents in the school parking lot.

aaannd... GO.

Four cylinder Accord, as new as possible.

My daughter and her passenger walked away from this after "swerving to avoid a raccoon" and hitting a bridge abutment. Prior to this event, it got her home every day for six years without a mechanical failure. It had over 100k miles on it when she started driving it.

Woody wrote: Four cylinder Accord, as new as possible. My daughter and her passenger walked away from this after "swerving to avoid a raccoon" and hitting a bridge abutment. Prior to this event, it got her home every day for six years without a mechanical failure. It had over 100k miles on it when she started driving it.

This, Camry, Subaru.

Volvo

Sine_Qua_Non wrote: Volvo

Really? I ask that honestly... after running repair shops for so long, I don't know if I can get behind that from a reliability standpoint.

mndsm wrote:

Woody wrote: Four cylinder Accord, as new as possible. My daughter and her passenger walked away from this after "swerving to avoid a raccoon" and hitting a bridge abutment. Prior to this event, it got her home every day for six years without a mechanical failure. It had over 100k miles on it when she started driving it.

This, Camry, Subaru.

I do like the accords, except for expensive (and more frequent than average) transmission failure. Subaru in that price range seems like a head gasket waiting to fail.

and by the way... I'm not doubting the wisdom, just asking for more discussion on the topic.

When someone says reliable, my experience with Toyotas (two tercels, three Siennas, one Corolla, one Tacoma, one Echo, and one Scion xB) have been so reliable that I find it hard to sway from them. Running transmission and general repair shops have backed that up.

Whatever flavor of GM 3800 serious 2 FWD barge is most common in your area. Buy the nicest $2k one you can find, plan on $1500 worth of tires, brakes, and intake manifold, and pocket the rest of the budget to pay someone else to do any additional maintenance that might come up for the next decade.

I vote for Camry.

GM fwd did cross my mind. At least when it fails its cheap to fix.

Truck. Full frame, limited passengers, ultimately useful. Reg cab long bed.

My niece got hers as a 77 f150.

Bonus points if you can find her a midsize 6 cyl. I loved my dakotas.

Newest, nicest Accamry you can find.

/thread

I can tell you, my first car was an AE101 corolla. My current DD is an AE101 corolla. They're slow, but reliable as gravity, cost peanuts to run, they only made about 86 billion of them, and they hold up to whatever a teenager can dish out. If I was putting my kid in a car, today- it'd likely be either a 101 or a 103. I REALLY like them. A small step up would be to go to an ES300 of that era- the girl gets the lexus name badge, you get one of the most reliable camrys on the planet underneath, mom and dad get the perception of lexus safety. That being said, if I was looking at cheap, reliable, ultimately throwaway transport as kids are want to trash cars- I'd probably look at GM w or H body. I've casually been scouting them as a replacement for the wifes current ghetto hoopty- which is a rapidly decaying 103 corolla.

Another for Camry

Camry.

The nicest Camry (or whatever the Lexus version is called) they can find for that price.

How about "pretty much any midsize rental fleet car"? Thus far unmentioned is the Taurus. A 2000-2004 Taurus for 3 grand will be as safe as anything and run forever. And be cheaper to insure (I suspect) than the import faction.

KyAllroad wrote: How about "pretty much any midsize rental fleet car"? Thus far unmentioned is the Taurus. A 2000-2004 Taurus for 3 grand will be as safe as anything and run forever. And be cheaper to insure (I suspect) than the import faction.

The duratrc is a killer motor, but the transmissions are ticking time bombs after 125k.

KyAllroad wrote: How about "pretty much any midsize rental fleet car"? Thus far unmentioned is the Taurus. A 2000-2004 Taurus for 3 grand will be as safe as anything and run forever. And be cheaper to insure (I suspect) than the import faction.

This. I would go any year 4th gen, the newest being '07 and at that point still only 8 years old. Personally I would recommend a vulcan powered version. Sufficient power for the car without promoting hoonery and in my experience twice as durable as an anvil. 28-30 MPG was what I had seen.

Mazda3 or Mazda6 are my vote. Same crash reliability with better handling to swerve and avoid an accident.

I'm not sure a 2000-2004 Taurus is really that safe compared to it's foreign competition, especially once you factor in the rust belt and Ford steel of the era.

My go-to disposable first car is usually a Taurus. Solid, very crash worthy with decent mpg and power. Good handling but not a car that will inspire hooliganism. Decent in the snow and there are millions to chose from.

Would never recommend a Corolla based on crash-worthiness. They are flimsy and turn to scrap very quickly when hit. Reliable? Yes. That's about all they have going for them.

Nothing stronger than a Volvo but the maintenance will kill you.

Chrysler Sebring/200 is pretty decent also. I've had a few as company fleet cars and they perform far better than I expected. The ones I've seen wrecked have also held up well.

For a girl who's "not really a driver," the very first box to check off on my list would be stability control. FWIW, I believe that excludes the (otherwise ideal) GM W-bodies until the 07s or so, when it was optional on the Impala.

Another vote for either a single cam taurus or a 3800 powered gm. 25-30 mpg, will run forever, and have a cheap buy in. You really get a lot of car for the money.