Let's brainstorm: $4000 max possibilities for an 18-year-old

Instead of E36 M3ting on the thread as ive been in the habit of lately, ill be the voice of reason.

Out of the stuff pointed out so far..

I think the i30, mazda6, and s60 are the most realistic choices that a non-enthusiast 'image conscious' female might actually like. And in spite of that, they are even passable, semi-interesting cars!

A lot of the stuff being recommended here has BIG image problems if you're not an enthusiast. One thing to keep in mind is that to the uninitiated, something thats old but not old enough to be antique or retro is almost always not cool. So pretty much the entire 80s and 90s are out.

A current 16 yr old would have been born in 1996. Any car older than that will be seen as older than the beginning of time (at least their time.)

My guess is a 16 yr old private school girl thinks she should be driving a SUV and to drive anything less is "unsafe."

Thank you for playing and glad I could help. As a departing contestant you'll go home with several consolation prizes, including the home version of our game!

My vote is a base rsx. I've seen them dip down into the 4000s on craigslist. It sports the acura nameplate, many girls i talk to love the looks, and it is definitely safer than most of the pre 2000 cars listed.

novaderrik wrote: Cavalier.. get a 10 year old one in good shape and it will leave her $2k for cool things like wheels and a wing on the trunk.

That would probably only work if this is her private school

In similar humor, a co-worker has a Pontiac G5 (Sunfire) that he calls a Kotex box on wheels.

I dont get why people are pushing a lexus sc. That thing had image problems when it was brand new (namely that it's ugly), let alone now that its 20 years of beat up old.

Which group does she identify with? If you want to get her a car that her peers like, we need to know who she hangs out with. Since she says she doesn't care what she gets, she probably doesn't want to be bothered with maintaining it, so I'd look for something that is known for handling long service intervals well.

Vigo wrote: I dont get why people are pushing a lexus sc. That thing had image problems when it was brand new (namely that it's ugly), let alone now that its 20 years of beat up old.

Well, that's just, like, your opinion, man.

But really, most teenagers are not good arbiters of car taste. I loved the sc when I was a teen. I still don't think it's a bad looking car.

1986 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham Hearse 75562 original miles $3500 Call 407-341-8129 Leave Message

In reply to AngryCorvair:

I'd imagine that dead isn't her style.

fast_eddie_72 wrote: Thank you for playing and glad I could help. As a departing contestant you'll go home with several consolation prizes, including the home version of our game!

Lexus SCs were never good looking.

My first car was a 65 Olds that I slaved and saved and worked for years to buy when I turned 16. I still think the best car for a teenager is whatever they save to buy on their own OR a base model ten year old HonToyNisVolvabaru pass-me-down-a-mobile. "Image" is a complete non-factor...BUT I am a father of two girls and I cant think of any group that I have less in common with than 16 year old girls.

I'm doing the same basic thing, only (thank dog) mine isn't image conscious. She will be reimbursing the First National Bank of Dad for said vehicle, too.

Short list in ascending order: Civic, Sentra, Corolla, Protege. For $4k if you can't find one of those that isn't a 'crap can full of rust holes' why you need to just quit looking.

Based on many years of experience in the repair business, I am avoiding Euro cars like they are plague ships and that includes Volvos. That's because they are ticking time bombs just waiting to go off in someone's wallet and it ain't gonna be mine or hers.

The Pacific rim luxo cars are much more reliable than their Euro counterparts, but like the Euro cars Infinitis, Lexus et al are all well and good until the repair bill fairy shows up. Suddenly image comes very dear.

Getting here late, so I'm not going to repeat the good things everyone else said:

The celica styling is really hit or miss but id say thats a fairly fantastic car for a young lady who's not really an enthusiast but wants a bit of style. You have to be in the camp that likes that styling, though. The other camp flat out hates it.

for the record, i really like those cars.

Yeah, I'm going to hop on the "last generation Celica" bandwagon here.

I think the i30, mazda6, and s60 are the most realistic choices that a non-enthusiast 'image conscious' female

Why, because every 18 year old girl wants to own the same car as her mother?

Acura RSX, Miata or perhaps a Mustang.

My niece drove a Volvo thru college and it was a maintenance nightmare. Proving that she hadnt learned anything in college, she wanted a Range Rover as her graduation present. WTF??? Luckily her parents chose a Jeep Compass which actually is not a bad vehicle. My choice personally would be Toyota, Honda or Mazda. Private school princess probably would want the RR.

Why, because every 18 year old girl wants to own the same car as her mother?

Because they're decent looking new enough and generalized enough that i think the person in question is more likely to like them than a lot of the other stuff mentioned in this thread...

Nobody wants an old ugly lexus dong-mobile or an ancient Benz roadster or an 80s claptrap mustang or old bugeye WRX or a 1997 cavalier unless they come out and SAY it. Those are not things that normal car buyers go 'gee, i hadnt considered that', they're things that normal car buyers look at and go TOO UGLY, TOO OLD, TOO IMPRACTICAL, TOO BAD OF CONDITION, TOO LURCHY, etc etc.

Vigo wrote: Nobody wants an old ugly lexus dong-mobile

The guy who photoshopped this might

I'm still thinking E36 318i. Slow, good mileage, name brand, easy to fix.

Perfect! http://atlanta.craigslist.org/nat/cto/3198576124.html

My daughter has been a fan of the Maximas we have owned.

Datsun1500 wrote:

dculberson wrote:

Vigo wrote: I dont get why people are pushing a lexus sc. That thing had image problems when it was brand new (namely that it's ugly), let alone now that its 20 years of beat up old.

Well, that's just, like, your opinion, man. But really, most teenagers are not good arbiters of car taste. I loved the sc when I was a teen. I still don't think it's a bad looking car.

But for some reason you keep mentioning a stick shift one. The original request is no stick. Infiniti G20 was the first to pop in my head

But for some reason you didn't actually read the original request. "She doesn't know stickshift, so automatic is preferred. If the car was available in a stick, that's a plus; I'm going to work on them about that, so it being an option makes my job easier."