First Car Recommendations

[rseynaev]

Just started looking for a car for my daughter. She is 16, has had her license about 6 months and would like a car to get back and forth from school. She is an A student and very level headed. We want something that is safe, reliable, good condition, easy for her to handle and economical. Any suggestions on what brands to look at (or avoid), model years, sweet spot mileage, .etc would be appreciated. How much should we budget to get the best bang for our dollar? I'm thinking around $3500 should buy a decent first car - what do you think?

Oh - and if you are in the Portland area and have a car forsale that would make a great first car for her please let me know!

Thanks!
Randy

[tesseract]

I won't bother with years. The $3500 amount will probably dictate that the car will be over 10 years old and have around 100k miles or more. It's not difficult to find cars this old with under 100k though, I would seek those out. Generally these belong to older people or owners that just drove short distances to work and home and are in top shape.

I'll list these in the order I would choose:


Toyota Camry. Safe, reliable, easy to find used.

Toyota Corolla is one of the cheapest to own and maintain.

Honda Civics seem to run forever, and you can get a newer model year with less miles on it cheaper than the Accord.

Nissan Sentra or Altima.

Ford Crown Victoria is a reliable and safe vehicle.


I would rule out SUV's. They will have more miles on them and be more expensive to maintain, you are not going to get a good one for $3500 unless you get very lucky. Some small 2WD pickups would be worth looking at and would limit the number of passengers (distractions). If you are in the snow belt, a new driver could have troubles. 4WD pickups, same applies as the SUV's, no bargains to be found here.

For prices and and real world feedback from owners, check NADA and Edmunds. Wikipedia is useful, as is Consumer Reports.

[cburbs]

I was going to say the Honda accord off the top of my head. Though like mentioned the civic will be cheaper and just as reliable.

Good recommendations listed above.

[1BionicEar]

Honda, Honda, or Honda.

[tesseract]

I've had a hand in building stamped/welded steel safety components for both the Civic and the Accord. I can tell you that the Accord IS worth the extra money, everything is built more robustly. It's just not a bargain at this level.

Notice that I put Toyota in front of Honda in my descending ranked order. ;)

First pick for myself would be the Crown Vic or the Altima, but bigger cars are not always easy for beginning drivers to handle.

[HuskerOmaha]

I would go find a Honda Accord that is a late 90s or early 2000s that has 85k and has been driven nicely.

Perfect car. Looks sporty enough she will like it, but safe enough for you.

[rseynaev]

Thanks for the recommendations. I'll take a look at Craigslist and see what is available. Any thoughts on Dealer vs. Private Party?
Thanks!
Randy

[fanuminski]

Please be prepared for what is out for $3500. This is probably
the worst time for buying used vehicles that I can remember.
A friend at work just picked up a 03 Ford Escape for his 17 yr old daughter.
He looked for months before finally finding this 2003 with 135,000 miles
and paid 5500 for it.
I've been checking out Ebay for vehicles recently - and there just
isn't that many listed nowadays. The reason is that they (dealers mainly)
don't have to resort to Ebay now. It is a seller's market -bigtime.
imo, for the cars recommended cars above (all of which I agree are
good first cars) , for $3500 they will have closer to 150,000 mile +
and be over 10 years old.
Not to be a negative nelly, just trying to prepare you for what is out there.
What was 3500 last year, is now 4500. Dealers are not want to "deal" much
either. Craigslist is a good place to start.
I even notice fewer and fewer
cars for sale on the side of the roads. People are hanging on to their vehicles and new car prices are much higher than last year also - driving up
the used car market.
I really do believe that this is the toughest market right now.
Good luck!

[HuskerOmaha]

Thanks for the recommendations. I'll take a look at Craigslist and see what is available. Any thoughts on Dealer vs. Private Party?
Thanks!
Randy

Like is being said, $3500 will be tough. My sister got a 99 Accord, for that amount 3 years ago but the market was different.

Maybe Craig has something at his dealership? Free shipping? :peeping:

[Loophead]

I would also recommend you look at a small pickup with an extra cab, but no back seat. Limits the number of friends. Would look at the Toyota Tacoma, Ford Ranger or Mazda B2000.

Subaru's are another good option I have quite a few friends that own these that have 200K+ miles.

Just my 2 cents.

[HopefulFred]

Let me drop a little mechanic's perspective on you...

After a decade or so, there's lots of room for neglect and abuse. You'll have to accept the fact that there will be things needing repair - and it doesn't matter if it's a Honda or a Mercedes; things like power windows and air conditioning systems will break. What you should be looking for is major system maintenance. I like to look at the dipstick itself - the condition of the oil in the engine when you look at it is not of much significance - you want to know if the the oil has been routinely allowed to work for too long. If it has, you'll see varnish on the dipstick, near where the level should be.

The transmission is another liability you want to be aware of. It's much more difficult to identify a transmission with good life left in it. Apart from a test drive, the only insight you'll have into it is the condition of the fluid. In almost all cases, it should be red and transparent. If it's oxidized (cloudy and brown) or smells like burning oil, that's a bad sign. It's no gaurantee either way, but it's a bad sign. (basically the same should be said of cooling systems, though the color is not usually red) This is one strong reason I would encourage you to look into manual transmissions.

The third major system(s) I would be looking at is evidence of body work/electrical problems. I lump them together because they are both the result of major problems (like a total loss). If the wiring has been hacked or is not pinned down with plastic clips inder the hood - somebody's been monkying with it. If the paint is too fresh and nice, you have to wonder why. Even if it's not too fresh looking, get close and look for consistent levels of "orange peel" in it and for any dust that may have settled into it when it was repainted. Then you ask why...

And last on my general list of things to look at for all cars, is a test drive. Listen for funny noises. Does it pull? Does it pull when you brake, or accelerate? Is the steering sloppy? Do all the accessories work? Does the sunroof leak? Just take your time and look at everything on it - does it work like it should?

Of lesser importance is, does it have new brake pads? New tires? Fresh spark plugs? Fresh oil? New belts? In fact, in many cases I'd prefer to check out the car without all those new parts - it's hard to tell if the tires are going to wear badly because of alignment problems if there is no wear on the tires...

In terms of specific recommendations... here goes:

Honda and Toyota are hard to beat. Ford, and GM both make high quality products (skip Saturn), but for some reason don't seem to get the care they deserve and are harder to find properly maintained. I'd resist Chrysler - PTCruisers, Neons, Sebrings - no thanks. I've not been impressed with Nissans, outside the Maxima. Lower market share imports, like Mitsubishi and Isuzu, get garbage maintenance, have higher aftermarket parts prices, and due to their relative scarcity are harder to fix for the average technician - for all those reasons, I would not recommend them. Among Europeans, the challenge is finding well-maintained examples in your price range. If you find one, be prepared that the maintenance and repairs will be more costly, but depending on your priorities, it may be worthwhile. All that said, I own a Mazda and a VW, enjoy both and have relatively pain-free ownership experiences with both, for a combined 13 years and 200K miles.

The biggest issues should be safety, IMO. I would insist on ABS and airbags. Traction control is a major bonus. Front-wheel drive is an absolute must - remember that FWD was developed as a safety feature: in panic situations a FWD vehicle is effectively self-righting, while RWD often required reverse intuition that is absent in 99% of all drivers - 100% of young drivers! My sister has twice turned her pickup truck around backwards in the road, failing to manage the unloaded rear end of her Nissan Frontier.

The advantages of a manual transmission (properly, a transaxle if FWD) include: cheaper maintenance; cheaper repair; higher durability. Clearly, the weak link is the clutch, and learning to use it. It can be challenging for a new driver - it was for me - but the confidence you can have sending her out knowing that she can drive herself away from any bad situation in any car she can find the keys to would be priceless for me. The cost of replacing the clutch, should she destroy it, is far far less than replacing or repairing most automatic transmissions. Further, but also of high importance, she won't be able to text/talk on the phone, eat, or hang out the window while driving; she'll be engaged with both feet and both arms (and therefore both halves of her brain) while driving.

I think that's my whole basic philosophy - do with it what you will. Pardon my spelling - my new browser doesn't have a spell checker built into it. :D

Fred

[rseynaev]

Thanks everyone!

I found a great deal on a 2001 Honda Civic Ex on Craigslist for only $2995. Some minor body issues and a couple issues we need to get fixed. Car is at our mechanics right now getting checked out! My daughter is going to FREAK!!!!

Randy

[HuskerOmaha]

Let me drop a little mechanic's perspective on you...

After a decade or so, there's lots of room for neglect and abuse. You'll have to accept the fact that there will be things needing repair - and it doesn't matter if it's a Honda or a Mercedes; things like power windows and air conditioning systems will break. What you should be looking for is major system maintenance. I like to look at the dipstick itself - the condition of the oil in the engine when you look at it is not of much significance - you want to know if the the oil has been routinely allowed to work for too long. If it has, you'll see varnish on the dipstick, near where the level should be.

The transmission is another liability you want to be aware of. It's much more difficult to identify a transmission with good life left in it. Apart from a test drive, the only insight you'll have into it is the condition of the fluid. In almost all cases, it should be red and transparent. If it's oxidized (cloudy and brown) or smells like burning oil, that's a bad sign. It's no gaurantee either way, but it's a bad sign. (basically the same should be said of cooling systems, though the color is not usually red) This is one strong reason I would encourage you to look into manual transmissions.

The third major system(s) I would be looking at is evidence of body work/electrical problems. I lump them together because they are both the result of major problems (like a total loss). If the wiring has been hacked or is not pinned down with plastic clips inder the hood - somebody's been monkying with it. If the paint is too fresh and nice, you have to wonder why. Even if it's not too fresh looking, get close and look for consistent levels of "orange peel" in it and for any dust that may have settled into it when it was repainted. Then you ask why...

And last on my general list of things to look at for all cars, is a test drive. Listen for funny noises. Does it pull? Does it pull when you brake, or accelerate? Is the steering sloppy? Do all the accessories work? Does the sunroof leak? Just take your time and look at everything on it - does it work like it should?

Of lesser importance is, does it have new brake pads? New tires? Fresh spark plugs? Fresh oil? New belts? In fact, in many cases I'd prefer to check out the car without all those new parts - it's hard to tell if the tires are going to wear badly because of alignment problems if there is no wear on the tires...

In terms of specific recommendations... here goes:

Honda and Toyota are hard to beat. Ford, and GM both make high quality products (skip Saturn), but for some reason don't seem to get the care they deserve and are harder to find properly maintained. I'd resist Chrysler - PTCruisers, Neons, Sebrings - no thanks. I've not been impressed with Nissans, outside the Maxima. Lower market share imports, like Mitsubishi and Isuzu, get garbage maintenance, have higher aftermarket parts prices, and due to their relative scarcity are harder to fix for the average technician - for all those reasons, I would not recommend them. Among Europeans, the challenge is finding well-maintained examples in your price range. If you find one, be prepared that the maintenance and repairs will be more costly, but depending on your priorities, it may be worthwhile. All that said, I own a Mazda and a VW, enjoy both and have relatively pain-free ownership experiences with both, for a combined 13 years and 200K miles.

The biggest issues should be safety, IMO. I would insist on ABS and airbags. Traction control is a major bonus. Front-wheel drive is an absolute must - remember that FWD was developed as a safety feature: in panic situations a FWD vehicle is effectively self-righting, while RWD often required reverse intuition that is absent in 99% of all drivers - 100% of young drivers! My sister has twice turned her pickup truck around backwards in the road, failing to manage the unloaded rear end of her Nissan Frontier.

The advantages of a manual transmission (properly, a transaxle if FWD) include: cheaper maintenance; cheaper repair; higher durability. Clearly, the weak link is the clutch, and learning to use it. It can be challenging for a new driver - it was for me - but the confidence you can have sending her out knowing that she can drive herself away from any bad situation in any car she can find the keys to would be priceless for me. The cost of replacing the clutch, should she destroy it, is far far less than replacing or repairing most automatic transmissions. Further, but also of high importance, she won't be able to text/talk on the phone, eat, or hang out the window while driving; she'll be engaged with both feet and both arms (and therefore both halves of her brain) while driving.

I think that's my whole basic philosophy - do with it what you will. Pardon my spelling - my new browser doesn't have a spell checker built into it. :D

Fred

I'm saving this.

[tesseract]

That is always a good idea to have a mechanic look things over. As you can see from Fred's informative post, there is a lot to look for.

Good Luck, rseynaev!

[HopefulFred]

The Civic is a good choice, especially if you get a discount because of minor cosmetic issues. I put my younger sister in a Civic a few years ago (a 98) and have no regrets. (yes, her transmission doesn't always shift right, but with 225K on an automatic, I'm not surprised) :applause:

Listen carefully to the mechanic's recommendations - minor repairs are to be expected, but be wary of major system shortcomings.

Good Luck, and make sure she stays safe!