It seemed like yesterday I was yelling on top of the Sig Forum mountain welcoming my son's birth. Now he's getting ready to drive. I can't believe it. I'm incredibly proud of him, he's the starting wide receiver for his team's football team. He'll play both JV and Varsity his sophomore year. He's in AP, honors and accelerated classes and received the principal's award last semester. He's a little shit head sometimes but he got that from me; can't fault him for his dna.

I was thinking of a used subaru crosstrek. Would love to hear pros/cons/suggestions.

Safety first for me Dave. Obviously I'll leave the value determination to you but I wouldn't spend anything too crazy out of principle, which the Subaru wouldn't be.

Priority 1: Safety
Priority 2: Make em earn the nice car themselves.

WRT the Subaru, I owned one for a short time, decent, see em on the road a lot, depending on the year they got great reviews.

ETA: Remembering me as a 17 year old getting my first car I would have KILLED for a Subaru, I got a 1987 GMC S15 with no radio, no power steering, and no AC, But its also not a mustang that he'll be tempted to hot rod or show off in. Good selection all around to be honest.

I bought my daughter the sedan version of the crosstrek. It's a 2020 base Subaru Impreza. We're almost at 40k miles now with no issues. Regular oil changes every 6 months/6k miles. Only issues online is people say these engines were not meant for 87 octane.

Corolla or Camry.

A stick shift will keep thieves and borrowers away.

All the advice I got was don’t spend much because they will bang it up. My last 2 haven’t gotten into any fender benders so I may have gotten lucky.

As for Crosstreks. I own 2. First one a 2017 I handed down to my son as his first car and my 2021.

Neither one has had any issues. Both are great drivers. I don’t know what year Subaru started Apple Car Play I think it was 18 or 19. I consider that as big a safety feature as the actual safety features. Keeps kids from doing dumb things with their phone or at least gives them a hands free option.

Great cars. I’m a fan.

I'd go for a manual Mazda 3, but I'm a little biased having owned two. They're fun and easy to dive without being dangerously fast. They're reliable and inexpensive, and learning with a stick is a good thing IMO.

Subarus are pretty good vehicles, save the Forester. I'd stay with ones with less than 150,000 miles.

I'm a Toyota fan boy. The Rav 4 is a solid small SUV, that is capable of up to 300,000 miles if cared for.

Ask your insurance agent this question. Insurance for a new male driver is going to be $$.

From WAY OUT IN LEFT FIELD - since I don’t know you or your son -

Buy him an old, beater truck. Old as in 1970’s or maybe 1980’s. Ideally a manual transmission.

Easy to learn on and work on.
Parts are available, cheap.
Useful to him and the family.
Big enough to survive some abuse and even an accident.
No emissions.
Cheaper insurance.
Little inclination to race it.
No reason to get upset if it gets another ding in it.

I've always thought new drivers should be given underpowered VW Beetles in safety orange until they can afford their own car.

I went through this a few years ago. We decided on the following models to look for.

Toyota Corolla
Toyota Camry
Toyota Rav4
Honda Civic
Honda Accord
Honda CRV

We settled on a 2012 Toyota Rav4 Base AWD. It had around 100K on it and was in great shape. It has about 150K on it now, 4 years later and its still running great.

Things have changed dramatically since I faced this issue. I ended up getting my son a Dodge Dart slant six manual shift that he could work on to maintain and therefore protect and value it more than just any beater high school car.
But as said this was decades ago.

Cars these days aren't easily worked on. So yeah something reliable and safe like a Subie seems like a sound choice.

Mercedes E type - in black of course. Designed to walk away from crashes on the autobahn, and provides your jewelry store bonus PR.

Obviously I'm joking, but that would be one lucky kid.

I suspect the Crosstrek you mentioned would be a solid choice.

If you need AWD then Subaru not a bad choice. If you dont need AWD I would go Honda.

I bought a 2018 Crosstrek with the 5 speed manual transmission as my "last car I'll ever buy". It would have been except I got remarried and the new wife (correctly) pushed for us to only have 1 car now that we are retired. A few months ago we sold the Subaru to my son (26 yrs old).

It is a great car. I run mid grade gas here because for some reason the regular is 85 octane. I ran 5W-30 oil instead of 0W-20 which made it a bit quieter and zero oil consumption. The 0W-20 is so thin it tends to burn at higher rpm and with engine braking.

Earlier model years have a known issue of carbon accumulation on the intake valves. 2018 and later do not. It can be cleaned, but that's another chore, and another reason to use 5W-30 oil.

I am not a fan of CVT transmissions in general. I would avoid buying a CVT if it has a lot of miles on it. I believe the CVT is a weak link in all these modern cars, not just Subaru.

Changing spark plugs is a real knuckle buster. It is worth taking it to the dealer, or have your son do it.

Oil changes are super easy. Differential oil changes are also easy. Word on the forums is the CVT fluid change is tricky because people don't use the correct drain and fill locations, so use care if you service those yourself. Manual transmission oil change is super easy.

The CVT automatic is not the paragon of reliability, so if it has been flogged and neglected, it can be a problem. If you test drive one and the shifts feel funky, be wary. Maybe test drive a new one first to see what it is supposed to feel like.

- Bret

I would buy the biggest heaviest car you can find.

I bought my kid a grand marque.

When he got into an accident he received a minor scratch from broken glass.

The car was totaled.

He was sore and a little shaken up but fine.

That was many years ago, but I was and am happy with my decision.

Today a used full size SUV would be my choice.

My son’s first car was a used Subaru Legacy Wagon. A good safe car. You made a good choice with a Crosstrek.

I don't think a Crosstrek would be the worst option, but it is a little short on the fun scale. I'd suggest maybe a small pickup, at least you know the chick who accepts his invite is interested in him rather than the car.

Seriously, something he can work on himself. I have an Outback, a solid vehicle overall, but you have to pull the fender liner to change a headlight bulb (just an example of a owner-unfriendly design decision).