Recommendations for a cheap daily driver for someone who is not a gearhead

I'm helping my SO's younger sister find a used, cheap car under $9k-ish.  If it were me, I'd get a NA/NB Miata.  But she is:

1. Not into cars
2. Can't fix cars
3. Can't drive manual

So this is relatively new territory for me.  I think a gen 2-3 Prius would be a good fit but I don't know if there are specific common failures to look out for on those or if there are better options that I'm overlooking.  The main criteria are:

1. Safety (she's a young, overconfident, underskilled driver)
2. Price (budget of $9k-ish)
3. Fuel economy

Any other suggestions?

Prius or Honda fit. 

both are pretty dead nuts reliable, as long as you find ones that are well maintained. 

Anything from Honda Toyota or Mazda. Id lean Mazda, the reliability tax is a little lower. 
 

Prius is a good call

Another Prius vote

Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic were made for this person. Bonus that they are also nice cars to drive.

I would include the Kia and Hyundai  equivalents because cheap to purchase, but reliability and cost to repair are hit and miss. At least that is my perception. 

Buy the nicest small Toyota you can find. The end.

Mazda 3.

Gen 2 prius is the only prius worth having in that price range, by now they are developing expensive problems.  Camry or corolla in toyota, civic or accord in honda at that price range with a good service record and low mileage.

I love Gen2 Prius but I love them for GRMers who will work on their own.  There are some Prius repairs that are rather simple and well documented that can be DIY'ed ultra cheap.  But if you need these repairs at retail...they are expensive mostly because it is seen as "specialized work" and  "corner shops" don't do that kind of work.  Therefore for a non-DIY'er who will be paying retail for repairs, I'd highly recommend the Corolla/Civic over a Prius.  Every corner shop works on Corolla/Civic.  

In another thread I recommended a Toyota Matrix as being a SUV alternative that might be cheaper than similar SUV.  Another great choice is a Gen2 Scion xB...the bigger one.  Nearly a generic car.  The engine is the 2.4L shared with the Camry which is actually a pretty big engine for that chassis.  Add to that the box aero and the xB doesn't get stellar mpg but cheap to buy and cheap to maintain can offset any mpg expense.  The Scion xB gets the same mpg as the similar age Rav4 of 22/24/28 mpg rating.

To test my recommendation...I figure she's not a savy shopper either so I just did a really wide Autotrader search to see what low mileage Scion xBs retail for at dealerships. 

 '12 w/68k miles asking $9k

'13 w/85k asking $9k

For context, same search but for a low option Rav4.  '12 w/86k asking $15k

Drive what the previous Toyota CEO drove. 

Corolla

Something Toyota.  I personally prefer the Avalon as a comfortable, undervalued car on the used market.  Corolla if they're looking for something tiny.  Camry for in between.  Plenty to choose from.

get the nicest Mazda, Honda, Toyota (except Prius for reasons named above), or Scion compact car you can find. 
 

Mazdas are gonna be cheapest probably. If you can find a well maintained one, they are every bit as reliable as a Toyota generally speaking.

Corolla.

Toyota Corolla.

Stop wasting time here and just get a corolla.

The answer is Corolla.

There is a reason that most of your Uber rides have been in Corollas. I don't know what that reason is, but if they're doing it, there must be one. End of the day, they look good, cost little, and since they're Toyotas,  you can pretty much ignore them and they'll keep working.

I am going to go against the grain on this. With a $9k budget I would be looking at the best Hyundai/kia I could find. Cheaper than a comparable Honda/toyota with similar reliability 

Yeah I wonder about a Kia or Hyundai here. I'm coming around slowly to them. Very slowly.
 

I drove a friends 2015 forte ex for a while last summer and it was better than I would've imagined. Not sure how it would hold up long term but it handled well, good power, good MPGs, nice heated seats. Needed brakes during the time I had it, but that's normal stuff.
 

I'm just not sure I'd buy one when a Mazda might be the same amount of money.

tyronejk said:

 

1. Safety (she's a young, overconfident, underskilled driver)

Any other suggestions?

How about an $8000 Corolla and a thousand bucks' worth of professional high-performance driving instruction?

Few things scare me more than an overconfident, underskilled driver in a vehicle they feel safe in. 

As a Kia Soul owner - the Rio / Soul / Accent / Elantra lineup could well be worth looking at. The only non maintenance thing my Kia has needed in two years has been a crankshaft position sensor and the rubber power steering coupler, and right now the Kia has over 170k on the clock. Bought it at about 140k.

Might be worth doing some extra checks on the Hyundai/Kia front if that's a way you're looking. I've been told (haven't actually looked into it) that with how easy they are to steal the insurance for a Hyundai/Kia has increased drastically, and if that's the case plus it being for a new/younger driver that might rule those out for you.

2013-2020 Ford Fusion, best car we've ever owned. 

Oh I forgot about the theft issue with the Korean cars. Definitely check insurance rates first. 
 

I like the Fusion idea. Focus would be good too if it's not the auto DCT which was problematic.