Good starter car for a newly licensed 16 year old?

[alkemyst]

You are aware that the mom of this 16 year old is driving an 11 year old Toyota Sequoia, right? I don't think a Porsche, Ferrari, or anything of the like is in this kid's future.

Also, a 12k budget for a kid car when the parent's car is worth a mere 10k in itself is pretty idiotic. I could see your little debate if we're talking about a mom whose daily driver is a 2011 Porsche/Benz/etc, but this sounds much more like the average American soccer mom. 12k could be put in a lot better places than her son's first vehicle. Something like, oh, I dunno, a start to a college education?

My dad was driving a late 80's something his company gave him for a commuter. My friends dad was driving an early 80's cadillac. What does the parent's car have to do with helping their kid have a fun first car?

Now you are assuming they couldn't pay for college?

jeesh.

 

[ballmode]

RWD miata, anything else FWD and economy

 

[dawp]

You have to be very lucky finding a 3-5k car that isn't a maintenance nightmare. Some people have more time than others. Others just want to pay to play.

No, you have to be diligent and examine each and every car you look at and not buy the first one you look at. With a little patients you can find a good, cheap car. you don't have to spend $10-15k.

and to say all $3-5k cars are money pits is just, plain BS.

The car I bought for my daughter was $600, with the cost of some minor repairs I did myself it was around $1k including registration and licensing fees. I haven't done any repairs to it since then, which was around 2 years ago.

 

[QueBert]

No teenage boy would want to be caught driving a fiat 500.

Ummm he's a teenager and it'll be his 1st car. I had a friend in HS (1992) who had a old POS Maverick and he looooooved it like it was a top of the line new car. I had another friend with Ford Festiva, while a fiat 500 might not be the #1 pick. It's a new car and I'm sure many teenagers would die to have one. We use to ride around everywhere in my friends Maverick, the fact that we could get all over town made it the shit. I'd say a Fiat 500's a big step up from something like a Maverick, which today's older equivalent would be what, a Metro or Esprint maybe? When I was in HS a "girly car" would have been a VW Rabbit, but I'm pretty sure me and most of my friends would have been fine driving one if it had been given to us.

 

[Doppel]

Not really...I was in adult nightclubs by the time I was 16.

It's got to do more with maturity, but most younger dudes even until early 20's act like 12 year olds.

Also had a lot to do with me falling into bed with chicks usually 5-10 years older than me until about my mid 20's.

You said not really but then that most younger dudes act like a 12 year old, so do you agree with me that 16 year olds shouldn't be driving or not? Of course it has to do with maturity.

I wouldn't get kids a beater, they are unsafe, nor their own car. I'd give them access to mine as most parents do. This ensures they have a safer vehicle and also you have more control over it. Also, I would put a GPS tracker in there to analyze their driving characteristics and let them know about that as well. If my parents had done that to me I would not have been tapping out the electronic governor on my vehicle or drifting around corners on the highway. It's a miracle from above I am alive to write this to be honest, somehow none of us even injured ourselves with our silly sh*t we used to do.

Your first car can set the stage for your life.

haha, not sure if srs

At my high school most kids from my neighborhood (we had to be bused to a cesspool for race adjustment) all had newer cars...mostly 3-4 year old $20k+ cars.

It sucks for the kid that didn't have that kind of priviledge and they were not getting invited to any of the parties. In fact if they showed up at just a field party, they'd usually be beaten up.

That's the reality of life

Maybe the reality of your life, and explains why you are as you are, but not the reality the rest of us are in.

 

[alkemyst]

No, you have to be diligent and examine each and every car you look at and not buy the first one you look at. With a little patients you can find a good, cheap car. you don't have to spend $10-15k.

and to say all $3-5k cars are money pits is just, plain BS.

The car I bought for my daughter was $600, with the cost of some minor repairs I did myself it was around $1k including registration and licensing fees. I haven't done any repairs to it since then, which was around 2 years ago.

What did you buy her?

 

[dawp]

What did you buy her?

it was stated earlier in the thread, a '93 taurus sho that had 172,000 mi. on it.

 

[mvbighead]

My dad was driving a late 80's something his company gave him for a commuter. My friends dad was driving an early 80's cadillac. What does the parent's car have to do with helping their kid have a fun first car?

Now you are assuming they couldn't pay for college?

jeesh.

The parents car can generally be a good indicator of wealth/income. If they're raking it in, chances are she wouldn't be driving around in an 11 year old vehicle that would wind up getting her kicked out of her friend's house because it leaks oil on her driveway. And this is not to say that they can't have lots of money, simply that the general indicator is that people that have a good amount tend to own newer vehicles. In any case, 10-12k will buy something nicer and newer than the parent's vehicle. There is no reason for a CHILD to have a vehicle that is nicer/newer than their parents.

As for them not being able to pay for college, never said that. Just simply that the money could be better spent somewhere else, such as college. Hell, it could help them put a down payment on a nice small house near the kid's school of choice. The plain simple truth is that it's a silly "investment" to put 10-12k into the purchase of a kid's first car.

And as I've pointed out numerous times, there are a number of safe/reliable vehicles at a much lower price point. Why spend anything more for a first timer? Oh, that's right, because it sets the stage for their adult life.

EDIT: One last point. "Fun first car..." You do realize that any first car is going to be fun regardless of what it is, right? Quebert put that out there pretty well IMO. But anytime you go from relying on mom and dad to get you from A to B, to being able to do it yourself, it's fun no matter how you look at it.

 

[HAL9000]

500 is too expensive for a teenage driver and an original mini is uncommon stateside. that is you're talking a 60's era mini.

I was, that's a shame. OK then I change my answer to a Ford KA, perfect learners car and it was my first car!

59 Bhp
0-60 14.3s
Top speed: 96 mph
48 mpg

What more could you want in your first car?

 

[alkemyst]

I was, that's a shame. OK then I change my answer to a Ford KA, perfect learners car and it was my first car!

59 Bhp
0-60 14.3s
Top speed: 96 mph
48 mpg

What more could you want in your first car?

HAL, you know that isn't available in the US either.

 

[HAL9000]

HAL, you know that isn't available in the US either.

Damn it, I did not.

 

[PhoKingGuy]

Damn it, I did not.

Of course you did, you just want to be an ass as usual and post shit up that has no relevance to anything at all.

Seriously, I was in England for 4 months and I never met anyone as thick headed/stupid as you are.

 

[HAL9000]

Of course you did, you just want to be an ass as usual and post shit up that has no relevance to anything at all.

Wow! You know exactly what's going on in my head! AMAZING! What am I thinking about now? What do I want for dinner? Should I get that thing I've been thinking about buying?

Seriously, I was in England for 4 months and I never met anyone as thick headed/stupid as you are.

Cool.

 

[Anubis]

You have to be very lucky finding a 3-5k car that isn't a maintenance nightmare. Some people have more time than others. Others just want to pay to play.

.

my ford tempo cost 5k it ran fine for 12 years after i purchased it and it was 8 years old when i got it

hell my volvo 240 was even older and cost even less and is still running just fine without a single issue

 

[jmarti445]

Geo Metro for the lose. Sorry, but those things are death traps. A couple I know had some major injuries just putting theirs in a ditch. I would not advise any inexperienced driver in something like that, as there is simply no body there to take on the brunt of the damage in any accident.

The pre-95 Metro's I agree, the 95+ Metro's were one of the safest cars on the road that year, first car to meet side impact standards.

 

[jlee]

You have to be very lucky finding a 3-5k car that isn't a maintenance nightmare.

http://orlando.craigslist.org/search/cto?query=corolla&srchType=T&minAsk=3000&maxAsk=5000

 

[mvbighead]

http://orlando.craigslist.org/search/cto?query=corolla&srchType=T&minAsk=3000&maxAsk=5000

I dunno there jlee... are you sure a 8-12 year old Corolla isn't going to leak fluid all over some poor kid's parent's driveway, and get him pummeled, and cause his ego to deflate until the point at which he curls into the fetal position and never leaves his room again for fear of being ridiculed? You really should reconsider that suggestion and find something more along the lines of, say, this:

http://orlando.craigslist.org/search/sss?query=bmw&srchType=A&minAsk=10000&maxAsk=12000

 

[ultimatebob]

Wow! You know exactly what's going on in my head! AMAZING! What am I thinking about now? What do I want for dinner? Should I get that thing I've been thinking about buying?

Cool.

Ah, it's nice to see that HAL has expanded his trolling outside of ATOT, and is still getting people to fall for it...

 

[Bacstar]

My sister's first car was a slightly used BMW 315IS or SI, can't remember which, my Mom handed down to her for her last year in highschool...This is back in the early 90's. At the time she got it, it was great, mom was still paying for it and was still in warranty. However, once she got into college and the warranty expired. She quickly learned that maintenance and repairs were expensive and regretted ever getting that car.

I know she hasn't forgotten that experience, and she and her husband will be smarter about the car they choose for their son.

 

[alkemyst]

It's funny, when people are looking for a car they always say avoid used, cheap ones because they are nothing but problems...esp. someone else's.

Yet here all old cars are still running like tops and the owner's practically are giving them away.

I just sold my wife's Saturn. 2000 for about $1700. Thing is is it's going to need a clutch and some CV's soon. That's going to approach the value of the car. It'd be a great car, but I'd rather come in higher with something worth it to maintain.

Plus a nice first car is remembered forever.

 

[janas19]

It's funny, when people are looking for a car they always say avoid used, cheap ones because they are nothing but problems...esp. someone else's.

I've never heard that. There's a lot of inexpensive, reliable imports to be had. People might be getting rid of them simply because they want a new car. You can buy a used Toyota or Honda for under 2K that will run for years with only standard maintenance and a new part here and there. I've owned a few so I know.

 

[IGemini]

I've heard the opposite argument made not to buy new because there they haven't been road tested and various parts could be faulty/lemons. Logical consequence of mass production. Even my 2000 Impala had an issued recall mere months after I bought it, and this was way after GM had moved into 3rd Gen W-body car production (recall's kinda generous, the fix was apparently pretty simple). I had never heard of this issue happening beforehand. I'm always wary of new line releases which is why I'd suggested a used car instead of a Dart. The name may not be new but the model certainly is.

Bottom line is that regardless, the owner (and driver, in this case) have the ultimate responsibility of caring for whatever the purchase will be. It's an entitlement mentality only if they treat a relatively inexpensive car as cheap or disposable.

 

[mvbighead]

It's funny, when people are looking for a car they always say avoid used, cheap ones because they are nothing but problems...esp. someone else's.

Yet here all old cars are still running like tops and the owner's practically are giving them away.

I just sold my wife's Saturn. 2000 for about $1700. Thing is is it's going to need a clutch and some CV's soon. That's going to approach the value of the car. It'd be a great car, but I'd rather come in higher with something worth it to maintain.

Plus a nice first car is remembered forever.

Typically, people on these forums have a strong idea about what they want. Whether it is towing capacity, HP, torque, hatchback, vert, or other. They've been through a few cars and have an idea of what they are interested in. They're seldom told to avoid used, cheap cars, but seldom does a used, cheap car fit what they are looking for.

You like to exaggerate. A LOT. On one end, you say that we're saying that all old cars are running like tops and owners are giving them away. On the other, you say that a 2-4k dollar car is going to be leaking fluid all over someone's driveway, getting a kid pummeled, and making him have self esteem issues.

We're not talking about vehicles that are going cross country or being used to commute 80 miles round trip to work. We're talking about A to B cars that get driven no more than 30 miles a day usually. Hell, my folks live out in the country, and I doubt I was driving more than 20 miles a day (except for the days I was cruising around with friends).

You see alky, there are these people called mechanics. Typically, when you're looking at buying a car, you take what you're looking at to them to have them look it over. If anything stands out, they'll let you know. But in general, if they give you the ok, you're going to have a reliable enough A to B car that doesn't leak fluid. Magical isn't it?