Chevy Sonic is cheap, reliable, safe, and way nicer than the competition. If you get the system with the bigger screen it's even better than the Kia/Hyundai system which people seem to really like
Chevy Sonic is cheap, reliable, safe, and way nicer than the competition. If you get the system with the bigger screen it's even better than the Kia/Hyundai system which people seem to really like
Nissan Leaf -- low maintenance, pokey, can't go very far, dorky enough that their friends won't want to ride in it.
I’m also a fan of getting them something safe, reliable, and not too big. Looks like you’ve had several good suggestions here, so I only have a little to add:
A Versa S survived my nephew for several months when he was still early in his driving career. I can vouch for them. The 2nd gen Prius has a legendary reputation for reliability, so that it’d be a good choice in your price range. For the 2nd gen xB, check into what years had problems with oil consumption. I think some RAV4s had the same issue.
If their safety is of utmost concern, I have a 2004 escalade with 155k miles I am thinking about selling. Everyone else on the road may be in danger but your girls will be in a bulletproof fortress of gasoline chugging protection!
In reply to Cousin_Eddie (Forum Supporter) :
mismatched center caps?!?! this is alarmingly out of character for you. 
A Leaf's a pretty good tether. An RX-8 is another good one where they'll have to learn to be careful about maintenance.
Earlier Ford Escapes. Our son has an Escape and Mazda version Tribute that so far has been used by three teenage boys as first cars. Not large but big enough to be safe and so far reliable. Both have 160,000 miles so far.
DD#2 likes big, easy cars. I bought her a grampa-fresh 2006 Impala with the 3.5. For $5000 it was pretty much spotless and had 45k on the clock. She bounced it off a guard rail once, but other than that it's still doing fine.
Delaware's license restrictions require no more than one unrelated passenger for the the first year.
Those are great cars.
My son loved his and will probably buy another newer one when the G5 rots away
My daughter is getting this 2005 Camry. She prefers a manual and this one is automatic, but a good first car. Already has a few bruises from her grandmothers ownership.
There are lots of "good" answers out there. I can tell you from an insurance/crashing perspective that full frame and/or SUV does NOT equal safer. It simply doesn't. Full frame vehicles tend to be heavier, so they have physics on their side. At the same time, they're trucks and trucks have a tendency to roll over. So do SUVs. Full frame trucks also often don't have side impact protection like unibody passenger cars. I can tell you from first hand experience that I've seen lots of trucks hit in the door and the result ain't pretty. For those reasons, I'd go with a sedan/hatchback unibody of some kind. So many have been named here...Corolla, Camry, Civic, Accord, Fit, Elantra, Forte, Focus, Optima, Sonata, Vibe, Matrix, Altima, Versa (though I think they're junk), Sonic, Taurus, Malibu, HHR, on and on. For a $5k budget (which is more than plenty), I'd just look for the nicest car you can find...I wouldn't care if it were a Camry, Forte or Matrix. Just find the best kept, well maintained, best bargain you can. There are so many cars that will fit the bill nicely.
I have a son who just turned 16. I was looking for cars like that, but wound up finding an absolute steal here on the GRM forums for a '97 Lexus LS400, so that's his first car. I also have a set of twins, but they're not quite 13 yet, so I've got a few more years before I have to jump that hurdle.
Good luck!
Klayfish said:There are lots of "good" answers out there. I can tell you from an insurance/crashing perspective that full frame and/or SUV does NOT equal safer. It simply doesn't. Full frame vehicles tend to be heavier, so they have physics on their side. At the same time, they're trucks and trucks have a tendency to roll over. So do SUVs. Full frame trucks also often don't have side impact protection like unibody passenger cars. I can tell you from first hand experience that I've seen lots of trucks hit in the door and the result ain't pretty. For those reasons, I'd go with a sedan/hatchback unibody of some kind. So many have been named here...Corolla, Camry, Civic, Accord, Fit, Elantra, Forte, Focus, Optima, Sonata, Vibe, Matrix, Altima, Versa (though I think they're junk), Sonic, Taurus, Malibu, HHR, on and on. For a $5k budget (which is more than plenty), I'd just look for the nicest car you can find...I wouldn't care if it were a Camry, Forte or Matrix. Just find the best kept, well maintained, best bargain you can. There are so many cars that will fit the bill nicely.
I have a son who just turned 16. I was looking for cars like that, but wound up finding an absolute steal here on the GRM forums for a '97 Lexus LS400, so that's his first car. I also have a set of twins, but they're not quite 13 yet, so I've got a few more years before I have to jump that hurdle.
Good luck!
Seems like you cherry picked a couple of scenarios, sprinkled in some anecdotal evidence and then came to a broad sweeping scientific conflusion.
Actual fatality rates do not agree with your assessment.
https://www.edmunds.com/car-safety/are-smaller-cars-as-safe-as-large-cars.html
Olemiss540 said:Klayfish said:There are lots of "good" answers out there. I can tell you from an insurance/crashing perspective that full frame and/or SUV does NOT equal safer. It simply doesn't. Full frame vehicles tend to be heavier, so they have physics on their side. At the same time, they're trucks and trucks have a tendency to roll over. So do SUVs. Full frame trucks also often don't have side impact protection like unibody passenger cars. I can tell you from first hand experience that I've seen lots of trucks hit in the door and the result ain't pretty. For those reasons, I'd go with a sedan/hatchback unibody of some kind. So many have been named here...Corolla, Camry, Civic, Accord, Fit, Elantra, Forte, Focus, Optima, Sonata, Vibe, Matrix, Altima, Versa (though I think they're junk), Sonic, Taurus, Malibu, HHR, on and on. For a $5k budget (which is more than plenty), I'd just look for the nicest car you can find...I wouldn't care if it were a Camry, Forte or Matrix. Just find the best kept, well maintained, best bargain you can. There are so many cars that will fit the bill nicely.
I have a son who just turned 16. I was looking for cars like that, but wound up finding an absolute steal here on the GRM forums for a '97 Lexus LS400, so that's his first car. I also have a set of twins, but they're not quite 13 yet, so I've got a few more years before I have to jump that hurdle.
Good luck!
Seems like you cherry picked a couple of scenarios, sprinkled in some anecdotal evidence and then came to a broad sweeping scientific conflusion.
Actual fatality rates do not agree with your assessment.
https://www.edmunds.com/car-safety/are-smaller-cars-as-safe-as-large-cars.html
Crashed cars are what I do for a living. Been doing it for well over two decades and have reviewed probably 40,000 car crashes, if not more. I'd hardly call that a few cherry picked scenarios and anecdotal evidence. I've seen people badly injured and killed in all manner of vehicle. I can tell you without a shadow of any doubt that an SUV or truck is more likely to roll over in a collision than a car. Indisputable. If you want to cherry pick a scenario, in a very high speed accident a physically larger car is going to fare better, especially if it's heavier. But again, we're talking unusually high speeds here...think head on highway speeds. Not too long ago, I saw a very tragic case where a Honda Fit was hit head on at highway speed. The poor Fit did the best it could, but sadly the driver and passenger did not survive. I inspected that car in person. It was sad. At the same time, I've seen fatalities and very bad injuries in trucks at lower speed impacts. For the majority of crashes that occur in the real world, the good news is that most cars and even SUVs/trucks do pretty well. We're talking about people walking away with often nothing more than a few bumps, bruises and maybe a strained neck muscle. However, I'm still going sedan or hatchback. Every time one of my staff tells me about a roll over accident, my first question is "What type of SUV/truck was it", and 95% of the time, I'm right. They roll over when they're hit, if they slide off the road, or sometimes a kid just doing stupid stuff and going too fast. I'd rather my kid in a Camry than a RAV4.
In reply to Klayfish :
So what you are saying is that SUV's have a higher fatality rate than smaller vehicles or that the fatality rate isnt relevant, you would rather have your kids in a sedan regardless?
If we're going to talk about accident survival, I think every fatal I've seen has been either lack of seat belt or motorcycle. I've handled hundreds(probably well over a thousand if not more) of accident calls and I've seen pretty much every kind of car, truck, suv in a roll over or nasty head one/t-bone accident. I think the key here is find a newer model with all the fancy air bags that you don't mind maintaining that fits your budget.
Olemiss540 said:In reply to Klayfish :
So what you are saying is that SUV's have a higher fatality rate than smaller vehicles or that the fatality rate isnt relevant, you would rather have your kids in a sedan regardless?
Yes, I'd rather have my kids in a sedan if we're comparing apples to apples (i.e. a modern car and modern SUV).
Thankfully, all modern vehicles are far safer than they have ever been...be it SUV or car. I can't tell you how many mangled wrecks that I've seen people walk away from, or at worst have a relatively minor injury. Vehicle safety has come a long, long way even since I joined the industry in the 90s. I'll never forget looking at wrecked Chevy Cadavaliers...uh, Cavaliers. The passenger compartment would fold like a cheap tin can in even a moderate impact.
I think you're on the right track with the Honda's and Toyota's you mentioned in the first post.
From a value stand point, you could probably fit two decent Pontiac Vibes under your $5k budget. They'll also be one of the more reliable options at the price range.
The whole 5-door hatchback or small SUV hatchback segment is a good place to stay because the insurance rates will be lower. That'll be crucial for a teenage driver, where some sedan and especially 2-door stuff will be a lot more even for PLPD.
On my list, Subaru's would rank somewhere behind offerings from Honda and Toyota. Only because most of the options in your price range will have the EJ25 that's notorious for head gasket issues. If the previous owner has had them done recently, and especially with the better aftermarket gaskets, then you're good to go. If not, then be prepared to potentially have to address them at some point. Luckily, with the right tools, the HG swap is surprisingly easy on any of the affected Subaru models, and revised gaskets are available that will usually keep it from happening again.
The only other advice I'd give is to avoid some of the options from the Big 3 that'll fit under your budget. Especially junk like the Compass/Patriot/Caliber trio, Escape/Tribute, Equinox/Torrent/Vue, PT Cruiser, HHR, and at least the turbocharged variants of the Sonic/Cruze, among others.
Olemiss540 said:In reply to Klayfish :
So what you are saying is that SUV's have a higher fatality rate than smaller vehicles or that the fatality rate isnt relevant, you would rather have your kids in a sedan regardless?
I would as well... Go watch some IIHS crash videos.
this thread has me considering euro cars... https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/thank-you-audi-and-cg-lock/151602/page1/
While they may be a maint nightmare, they seem to be glued together awfully well.
chaparral said:This is an ideal situation for a Miata. Two seats = no friends tagging along.
Plus, manual transmission and wind noise mean you have to put the cell phone down.
I'm surprised more GRM-ers haven't looked at their garage and thought "what could I use a parts car for?" before deciding on a first car for their offspring.
In all seriousness, a 2nd-gen Mazda 3 might be your answer here. Low running costs, stability control, a full brace of airbags and good headlights. Everything a new driver needs to see hazards, avoid hazards and walk away when hazards go on the offensive.
MadScientistMatt said:chaparral said:This is an ideal situation for a Miata. Two seats = no friends tagging along.
Plus, manual transmission and wind noise mean you have to put the cell phone down.
Plus, since smaller cars are safer, the kiddos will be in great shape just in case they have an accident with one of the thousands of mom-ute SUVs on the road......
You'll need to log in to post.
