Looking for a car for teen

[sze5003]

I need to find a car for my sister. She will be starting college soon and I'm tired of taking her to work every weekend, having to drive from my place to my mother's house to pick her up, etc.

What looks good and is reliable? My mother will be paying for it and I'll be helping out if I can. She works during the weekends so I'm not sure if she has anything saved up but I'll expect she spends most of the money at the mall.

She has been sending me craigslist posts for infinity g35's and sporty cars that are out of the price range.

I've looked at Honda civic coupes and scions so far. She doesn't really like anything else. My mother is looking to spend 8k. I would add to that but I've had too many medical bills lately. So I need some ideas.

 

[Yuriman]

Seems a bit expensive for a teen's first car, a lot of young drivers get in a few accidents and are better off with a beater.

If she wants a sports car, a Honda S2000 about fits the bill. If they haven't been abused or modified they're extremely reliable cars, and tend to get upper 20's with mixed driving. For something a little more practical but still fun, you might look into an Acura RSX.

 

[sze5003]

Seems a bit expensive for a teen's first car, a lot of young drivers are in a few accidents and are better off with a beater.

If she wants a sports car, a Honda S2000 about fits the bill. If they haven't been abused or modified they're very reliable cars, and tend to get upper 20's with mixed driving. For something a little more practical but still fun, you might look into an Acura RSX.

Oh man I forgot about the s2000. She already rear ended someone with my mom's car a month or two back. But she won't listen to me or my mom. I keep trying to tell her that the cars she wants like the infinity with high mileage are no good for a teen and cost a lot to repair. I have a good salary and can't afford an infinity lol.

 

[amdhunter]

Coupe? Show her a later year RSX. Awesome balance between gas mileage, power and looks. Might be closer to the $10k range, but not over. There's a little bit of trunk space. Engines are pretty reliable also.

Only thing might be insurance.

 

[Yuriman]

The K20 engine in the RSX is rock solid, it's what they use in the Ariel Atom and are often swapped into Lotuses (Loti?). The Type-S has an extra 40-50 horsepower and gets a little worse gas mileage. Base trim is still very fun to drive.

 

[sze5003]

Yup and I can find some decent rsx models here in Philly for lower than 8k if not very close. Hopefully she likes them. I'm trying to avoid driving to Jersey looking for cars. Had to do that when my parents got divorced and my mother moved here when she needed a car. What a waste of weekends that was. Didn't find and Honda s2000's. I used to be in to sporty cars but I guess I've grown out of them and forgot all about these models.

 

[sze5003]

Also, forgot to add what's a good mileage to look for? Trying to convince a teen girl that the cars she wants aren't good choices...ugh glad I don't have kids.

 

[mmntech]

Remember, luxury car, luxury maintenance. A G35 will be expensive if it needs any repairs. Not something you want to deal with while going to college. IIRC, they take premium too, which is getting mucho expensive too.

If she's still a fairly novice driver, I'd look at a Honda Civic, Mazda 3, Honda Fit, or Toyota Yaris. I like the Kia Rio and Ford Fiesta as well, though I'm not sure what the used market is like for those.

If your mom is paying for it, your sister has no say in what she gets.

 

[sze5003]

Remember, luxury car, luxury maintenance. A G35 will be expensive if it needs any repairs. Not something you want to deal with while going to college. IIRC, they take premium too, which is getting mucho expensive too.

If she's still a fairly novice driver, I'd look at a Honda Civic, Mazda 3, Honda Fit, or Toyota Yaris. I like the Kia Rio and Ford Fiesta as well, though I'm not sure what the used market is like for those.

If your mom is paying for it, your sister has no say in what she gets.

Yea that's what I keep telling her. She doesn't like Mazda 3 or the fit, any of those. I'm going to continue looking for civic coupes and rsx's. There are some really nice acuras for the price range but mileage is crazy high.

 

[dguy6789]

Any sort of fast car or expensive to repair/maintain car + teen = very bad idea. Corolla or Civic or Fit or Yaris are good ideas.

 

[sze5003]

I totally agree. Now that I'm older I wish I had money when I first finished college and had gotten a Honda or some other used car. Having a car payment is annoying and then I drive a ton so having to pay for unexpected repairs at the same time sucks.

Problem is all her rich friends her age have nice cars and she wants the same. I feel bad for her but nothing you can do. My mom knows nothing about cars but will not buy something with high miles because she thinks they will have issues.

I can see why because when I was 17 i had a 3000gt with over 115k miles and I always had something to repair in that car.

 

[Yuriman]

Any sort of fast car or expensive to repair/maintain car + teen = very bad idea. Corolla or Civic or Fit or Yaris are good ideas.

Generally speaking, yeah, but the RSX is basically the same platform as the Civic Si. They share a floorplan and a lot of underhood parts so anything that bolts to the floor is interchangeable (though not necessarily the same specific part).

I think after the RSX, Honda moved all of their "younger audience" cars out of the Acura brand.

EDIT: As for miles, my experience has been that a Honda that's properly maintained with 100-150,000 miles can be expected to be relatively low maintenance until around 200-220k. She'll probably be out of college and on her own before her car needs much work if you find her something with ~125k. Even heavily abused motors will run well until 200k, and I occasionally see the more economy versions with taller transmissions (Civic VX, CRX HF) with 400-500k miles and good compression.

EDIT 2: That said, I personally would like to be given a base trim Civic rather than an RSX or Si. With the cost of gas going up, it frees up money to do other fun things.

 

[aShufflinZombie]

It's a first car its not going to be pretty. That being said, look at crown vic/grand marquis/town car.

 

[NutBucket]

Ford Focus or Chevy Cruze (not sure if you can get a non-rental Cruze for $8k). Cheap and solid.

If she doesn't want a free car she can take the bus.

 

[sze5003]

Going to also look at the cruze. The Honda si is nice but pricey. My mother's experience with her Honda oddesy was bad and it had high mileage with a lot of issues. Trying to convince two women about mileage and cars is annoying.

If she plans on staying in the nursing field in school I told her she will have a bmw before I do so the first car won't matter. She will be using the car to commute to school which isn't far if she goes 2 years to community then a university locally to finish the nursing degree. So I don't expect the car to break down too much. Me on the other hand, I bought my lancer in 2011 brand new and I have over 60k on it now. I drive a lot so I can feel when the car needs something done or isn't right.

 

[NutBucket]

I assume your mom is paying for insurance? Honestly, make your sister pay for it. Then maybe she'll get off her high horse and accept that she can't afford a G35 or whatever. It's a real eye opener when you realize you're paying $2k a year for insurance on a $6k car or whatever.

 

[Yuriman]

Has she ever paid for gas before?

It might not be entirely honest, but you could throw some numbers at her to try and convince her. For instance, the average American drives around 15,000 miles per year (you don't have to tell her this), so the fuel cost difference between a G35 and a Civic at current fuel prices given those miles is around $3200 vs $1900. In fuel alone, it's around $1300 per year difference. If she's going to be working at all while in school, that's a very significant chunk of her income. She'd probably really hate you if you got her a Prius, but that would further drop fuel costs down to about $1200.

EDIT: Previous poster points out insurance. Maybe let her know that if she wants a sports car, she'll have to pay the difference in the insurance too.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Ford Focus or Chevy Cruze (not sure if you can get a non-rental Cruze for $8k). Cheap and solid.

If she doesn't want a free car she can take the bus.

THIS!
Why is it the op 's responsibility to get her to school and work? An $8000 first car is pretty darn nice. A used corolla or civic would be fine.

 

[sze5003]

Has she ever paid for gas before?

It might not be entirely honest, but you could throw some numbers at her to try and convince her. For instance, the average American drives around 15,000 miles per year (you don't have to tell her this), so the fuel cost difference between a G35 and a Civic at current fuel prices given those miles is around $3200 vs $1900. In fuel alone, it's around $1300 per year difference. If she's going to be working at all while in school, that's a very significant chunk of her income. She'd probably really hate you if you got her a Prius, but that would further drop fuel costs down to about $1200.

EDIT: Previous poster points out insurance. Maybe let her know that if she wants a sports car, she'll have to pay the difference in the insurance too.

Good points. She drives my mom's car now and then and yes she pays for the gas when it's low. But yea all those costs add up really fast. Especially if the car is a v6. My mom pays insurance on her car and has my sister on the policy. It went up about $90-100 bucks a month so I've told her about this. Of course she will need to work and pay part of that insurance in any case because it will go up regardless.

 

[Fenixgoon]

prius?

i agree with everyone else - look for something that's cheap, easy to maintain, has low insurance costs, good fuel economy, etc.

 

[SSSnail]

Introduce her to the Mazda MX5 or Miata, all girls love the MX5 (and some "guys").

/duck

 

[Yuriman]

Introduce her to the Mazda MX5 or Miata, all girls love the MX5 (and some "guys").

/duck

I really like the older Miatas. Not a bad suggestion. They're not great on gas for the size or amount of power, but not bad either. They're fairly reliable, and pretty respectable.

 

[sze5003]

Yea miatas are nice. Unfortunately not many here in my area so I'll put em on the list.

 

[dbk]

wow ur mom is really nice to buy her a sportscar after she rear ended someone. I wouldve bought her a used corolla prob from the 90s. those things dont die

 

[sze5003]

wow ur mom is really nice to buy her a sportscar after she rear ended someone. I wouldve bought her a used corolla prob from the 90s. those things dont die

My mom doesn't make much I'm surprised she has more saved up than I do which isn't a good thing. But she gets child support and doesn't have student loans so that helps.

She doesn't want to get her a sports car. She told me she will get whatever car we find for her. Which is how it should be. Something to take her to an from class next year and work.