First Car for a teenager

loosecannon said:

It's been proven that teenagers have a much higher accident rate when driving with friends so the fewer passenger seats, the better. Also, a manual transmission will prevent a lot of the driving and looking at the phone that plagues people these days.

2 seats and a manual sounds more like a Miata to me. :)

1988RedT2 said:

In reply to 06HHR (Forum Supporter) :

I agree.  I guess I could have phrased it differently.  Another way of looking at it is that our kids will often live up to our expectations of them.  We should never set those expectations low.

Unfortunately, that's what many parents do. Not saying any one here is doing that, but many parents do. And for actions to have consequences there has to be someone to provide consequences.

A little anecdote to elaborate on both points:

In fall of '21 my mom was rear ended by a 16yo girl who had been licensed for 4-days. It was the girl's third accident in four days. The damage was minimal (bent tailgate and rear fascia on mom's CX5*). Girl was driving a new Honda CRV. The girl's parents wanted to pay for the repairs out of pocket. They had gotten the other two accident victims to agree. After getting the facts, I had my mom file an insurance claim.

It was clear to me that the parents weren't enforcing consequences on the girl or heck getting consequences for their own choices. They could afford to pay cash for car damages, they can afford to pay higher insurance premiums for a long time. The parents were mad, because it turns out Girl's Mom also has a history of accidents and their insurance dropped them for too many claims. Actions meet consequences.

*Postscript to this story. Because of supply chain issues, running design changes, and a few other things mom's '19 CX5 ended up buying bought back by Mazda, after they couldn't get the parts in to repair it for 9-months. After that length of time a combo of calls from insurance company and my mom - Mazda Corporate had the dealer sell her a new Premium '22 at dealer cost. But if mom had not had the backing of girl's insurance company to make that go away? Who knows? 

codrus (Forum Supporter) said:

loosecannon said:

It's been proven that teenagers have a much higher accident rate when driving with friends so the fewer passenger seats, the better. Also, a manual transmission will prevent a lot of the driving and looking at the phone that plagues people these days.

2 seats and a manual sounds more like a Miata to me. :)

 

single cab pickups are a good option as well. 

Miata was always in my mind as a perfect 1st car because of the aforementioned 1 passenger option, low power, and relatively affordable.  With that said, I would be more concerned with safety in a crash with a Miata vs. something bigger.  

A first car is a good opportunity to teach a child that life can be challenging and some things will never work out no matter how much time, energy, and money you dump into them. 

https://richmond.craigslist.org/cto/d/wakefield-1986-maserati-425/7611059315.html

Get them something big that they can carry lots of people and stuff in. Better if it has fold down seats in case they get tired and need to take a nap. Oh, wait, don't do that.  That said, a minivan is a pretty safe vehicle. Except for the too many passengers and late nights with the girlfriend/boyfriend thing.

jharry3 said:

Something with low insurance, high crash protection, good brakes and tires.

And nothing so big that the seats can fold up to make a bed in the back.

1979 Celica hatchback with fold down rear seats and a nice big poncho blanket ready to go.

Good times - Good times

There are so many "right" answers here that nobody could pick just one.  It may be easier to list bad ideas.  I won't get into old cars because from OPs post that seems unlikely.  Here's my list of bad ideas...

SUV 

Pick up 

The perfect kids first car is a Mercedes 300d. Great dependable car, a tank, not fast & lots of friends won't want to ride in it so no distractions, has a big trunk & deck for a nice stereo, , speakers & sub.

My first car was a 1988 e30 convertible in 2012. Pretty sure my dad picked it up for about $2500 at Carlisle the spring before my 16th birthday. The radio was broken, and the backseat was so sweaty that no one ever rode back there. I LOVED that car, even though it leaked every time it rained. 

When someone stopped short in front of me in the high school parking lot, the giant chrome bumpers meant that I didn't have a scratch on the car. 

All this to say, get the kid something that feels super cool and impressive (cut to me telling my friends I drive a vintage BMW) but that isn't too distracting and can take a bit of a beating without being a beater. If the kid loves the car, they'll take better care of it. 

In reply to Katie Wilson :

Yeah, having the kid like the car will help them in taking good care of it properly. Growing up my driver was the family 1999 Oldsmobile Intrigue with a shortstar V6 and chrome wheels that lost PSI literally every hour; I HATED that thing because of it's constant mechanical issues so I didn't feel too bad about drifiting it in football fields. But our Lexus RX300? She got the GOOD treatment, I remember looking up how to detail clean using paintbrushes around the switches just for that SUV.

I also think a Nissan Leaf- if you can get one cheap enough- is also a good idea. Puts them on a short leash but now maintenence costs evaporate and it has good storage capacity, just a shame it looks like a dorkmobile.

In my opinion, the best car for a teenager is the one he/she buys with money he/she earned. 
out of the kids I knew that had daddy buy them a car, exactly none of them treated it with respect. 
when you know that you'll have to work XX hours to earn enough to repair it, you tend to treat it differently. 
yea, there are exceptions to that rule, but most everyone will agree that buying and maintaining your car is a HUGE responsibility. When you do it, it's a big shot in the arm.