My older turns 16 this October, and we are looking for a vehicle that he can get to school and transport his younger siblings to activities.
Daddy taxi service is getting tired.
Let's keep things under 3000.
Wife found a 2001 BMW 325 4dr with a manual for 2500. Seems a little high.
I'm not scared of a fly and drive if anyone here has something interesting. I'm in W. Michigan. but happy to travel for low/rust free vehicles this summer.
Florida is a weekend, California is a possibility.
same thing I tell everyone. Nicest Corolla you can find in that range. Gutless, safe, dead nuts reliable. My first car, and one of my middle cars, and my current car.
I was going to say the best honda 5 speed you can find. The only problem with Corolla's are the PO's of those cars. Most are never maintained and my wife and I use to joke that they came from the factory predented.
I did this for my nephew and $2150 later, he had a 4 door integra that is still pretty low miles.
No matter what car you get for your teenager. It’s the insurance bill that gonna get you. My suggestion is a Volvo 240/740 or 940 series. Good luck on your search.
bmw88rider said:I was going to say the best honda 5 speed you can find. The only problem with Corolla's are the PO's of those cars. Most are never maintained and my wife and I use to joke that they came from the factory predented.
I did this for my nephew and $2150 later, he had a 4 door integra that is still pretty low miles.
Yeah, there is that. Hondas and toyotas are equally E36 M3 beaten here....and I prefer toyotas. Either would work.
Grandpa hand me down cars. Buick LeSabre, Taurus, ES300, Avalon. Insurance is as cheap as you can get and they last essentially forever.
Fairly unexciting but understressed components and un-abused in their previous lives. I like shopping Tennessee for rust free cars.
Kazoo Jr's first car was a Protege5, which I would highly recommend. (His, unfortunately, got totaled recently by an unlicensed/uninsured driver) Most seem to be 5 speeds, gas mileage is decent, it's not so sluggish as to be a hazard, but not "fast" by any stretch of the imagination. It was capable of hauling large amounts of crapola (he and his brother play the trombone and baritone, respectively) but still had a relatively small footprint in the driveway. BTW - this can be a bigger deal than you think. "Car Tetris" isn't a lot of fun. According to my son, a lot of his classmates thought his car was cool/interesting. It was probably the single best "snow car" I've ever driven, especially once we added snow tires.
The down side, as you are probably aware, is rust. I'm pretty sure we bought the last clean one in the midwest, so you'll have to go south.
EDIT: Nice examples available in your price range. Plan to slather the back half with POR-15.
Neon. Cheap to buy, cheap to insure (non srt4), cheap to fix.
Similar to the same year toyota/honda at about 1/5 the cost. Lets face it, 90% of first cars only last 1-2 years. It just doesn't make sense to drop a lot of coin on purchase/repair/maintenance.
Also, look at trucks. Cheap, old, work truck spec trucks. Same reason as a neon, with less passengers capacity and more utility for moving/band/dad stealing for home depot.
In reply to Grtechguy :
A little over budget but a whole nicer than any Subaru you would find locally up north and a whole lot cheaper.
...if it's not sold yet.
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