I just bought my 17 year old an eight year old Civic. Used car prices are absolutely on crack right now, but it had to be done.

The Crosstrek would be a cool first car, but you’re going to pay for the privilege.

I bought a 1990 Toyota Corolla SR5 two-door from my wife's brother in 2005. He is the original owner and had about 60k miles on it when I bought it for my daughter. It is a 5-speed manual and she could not learn to drive it. I drove it since now with 82k on the odometer. Got lots of cool features, but really is a young person's car. I no longer care to wedge my fat arse in and out ... but damn, it is a fun car to drive. Planning to sell at a very fair price to a young person, and I have the shop manual too (found in the library used book sale for a dollar ... helluva find).

I upgraded the brakes (brembo) and tires (Michelin) and grabbed front axles and pressure plate/clutch thing someday hard to find.

Buddy was part owner of an engineering research company who sucked some oil sending the sample to Caterpillar for analysis ... results excellent.

Wished I could get it down south to David from Seattle but problem makes more sense to sell to a young person up here.

As a note: we have a Subaru Forrester. Great car with boxer engine and love the CVT tranny (no Bud Light reference intended).

The Subaru is all wheel drive, and though a great car driving over our mountain pass in deep snow probably is not necessary in Southern California.

My vote would be for the Honda or Toyota.

And as a retired LEO with extensive training and experience in Accident Investigation both work and private sector ... I suggest having your son complete and extensive driving course whether you find a class or set up your own that I would be glad to design for you.

quote:

Originally posted by bobtheelf:
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.

Great suggestion^

Just got a 2023 Mazda3 with manual for my daughter in Dec. Great car, very nice interior and drives like a dream. Head's up display and lots of safety features. Only thing I didn't realize about the 2.5 4 banger is that it actually has 2 cylinder deactivation when cruising in low demand situations. I'd prefer to not have that, but it was pretty seemless in operation.

My kids started out on a 2006 Honda CR-V with manual and then in turn switched to a 2010 Acura TSX with a manual. Just sold that last month. I really like the idea of the kids knowing how to drive a stick and also keeping them more engaged with the driving process. Hard, but not impossible, to be goofing with a cell phone when you have to actually drive the car with both hands. Plus it does keep most of their friends from borrowing it.

My "kids" are now 26 and 28 and both are still driving manual cars. My daughter really likes the "cred" she gets from guys and friends for driving the stick. It also made her driver's test super easy, the examiner saw the stick and just had her drive around the block and park it. Figured if she could drive a stick she could easily pass the test.

Sticks are hard to find, but they are out there and worth the trouble to locate if you like them.

David - you probably know this already - ANY European car is a bottomless money pit. They are so expensive to service. I’ve had three Volvos and I don’t care how safe they are. I definitely agree with the recommendations for a Civic/Accord or a Corolla/Camry. That is, if you don’t go with a Subie.

The other bit of advice, before you buy call your insurance agent or go on the web page and see what adding that car with your son as primary driver will cost, you'd be amazed at the differences in insurance costs between not only brands, but models within a brand, and companies.

If the carrier has bad experience with stolen Honda Civics they may have higher rates than a different carrier.

Nothing like buying a $10,000 car and finding out you have a $4000 insurance premium per year after the deal is done...

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
The other bit of advice, before you buy call your insurance agent or go on the web page and see what adding that car with your son as primary driver will cost, you'd be amazed at the differences in insurance costs between not only brands, but models within a brand, and companies.

If the carrier has bad experience with stolen Honda Civics they may have higher rates than a different carrier.

Nothing like buying a $10,000 car and finding out you have a $4000 insurance premium per year after the deal is done...

Valid point…our 2020 Civic cost MORE to insure than our 2021 Subaru Ascent cost. I thought that was nuts.

Cannot go wrong with a Honda Civic but also the Accord Sport is really nice.

I started my sons with a Nissan Xterra. Good height to see, 4x4 for winter and fun. Solidly built. Not overly complicated to work on. Power to merge. With the crazy prices for vehicles I could sell it for very close to what I gave for it about 10 years ago.

A Crosstrek or Forester would both be high on my list.

Slow as fuck. Check.

AWD. Check. (AWD for every car, forever and ever. I want every single advantage, however small, for inclement weather).

Lesbian jokes forever. Check.

Low key, invisible to cops. Check.

Upright seating position for visibility. Check.

Boxer engine gives low center of gravity. Check.

Reliable, holds value, and cheap to fix. Check.

Not a Civic. No ricer. Check.

Same spot with my youngest who's 16 now, and lots of afterschool and summer activities. IF you want to go old, anything with GMs 3800 V6 or 4.3 vortec or Jeep inline 4.2 will run forever. As for Subaru, I'd look at 2010+ for less common head gasket issues, but new model's problem is oil consumption (so do/some don't). My head gasket failed in my 98 legacy. Nissan Altima (2.5 only) is fine, if you can find one where the CVT was maintained. The NA 2.5 engine hasn't really changed in 15 yrs. I gave my 2014 Altima to my oldest for HS/college. Mazda from 2014+ are good. Older years seem to rust more. Several family, friends, and I have Mazdas from 2016+.

I'm looking at anything in this list that I find near me on FB marketplace newer than 2007:
Volvo S40/V40/S60, Ford Fusion(4-cyl)/focus/escape, Altima, Mazda 3/6/CX, lexus ES/RX/GS, Camry/Avalon, Accord/civic/CRV, even an old Dakota. (I have a 2003 4.7, so I know the potential issues, and he's learning on it).

Old Volvo or old Mercedes diesel. Both are absolute tanks and very safe and underpowered. He will not be able to race them around.

If you want something less expensive to maintain, I'd vote for a 4-cylinder Camry. Very reliable and also underpowered.

Because I have an Autotrader problem I found this:
2006 Scion Xa (60k miles, 1 owner) at Karros Burbank, $9,988.

I'll be doing the same thing soon with my 15 year old.

I will check with insurance first. Some cars will be excluded just because of the cost to insure.

Next exclusion will be anything older than about 10 years. The car must have multiple air bags, anti lock brakes and all the other recent safety advances. My daughter would love nothing more than a 25 year old Jeep Wrangler, but it will not happen due to this exclusion.

After that, price and if my daughter likes it.

Just went down this road. My daughter is 15, turns out that since she doesnt have a full license you don't pay insurance for her while she has a permit. I got her a used Volvo XC40, with a 10 year bumper to bumper warranty from volvo.

All in was about 26K. Every safety feature you can think of and it drives like a dream. It's an over the top first car in terms of fit and finish but it has every possible safety feature,my wife and I made that our first requirement. Its also going to cost a hell of a lot less to fix a ding than if she whacks my X7.

Safety features are really incredible. Traffic here in S Florida is just insane and dangerous and we wanted to give her every advantage possible of not getting in a wreck. Easy to drive, stops on a dime, i highly recommend looking at one.