Teenagers and cars, best ride?

[Detective D]

My buddy with a used car lot has a sweet '06 Buick LaSalle that his 90-yo aunt owned. It has 61K miles and has the 3.8L supercharged V6 in it. I'm thinking of getting this one for myself...actually, for my wife. It is absolutely loaded, with leather, eight-speaker sound, A/C that'll freeze your nutz off; and it is that Buick yellow-gold color with tan leather. Just a nice, nice cruiser. That wouldn't make a great first car for a kid, due to the "old guy" factor. Her current ride is an '08 Buick Enclave with 190K on it. Drives beautifully, but it's coming up on needing new struts, shocks, brakes...and the dreaded (and expensive!) timing chain replacement.

He also has a '10 VW Tiguan Wolfsburg edition with 101K on it that is very nice, too. That is another great first car for someone,. I like those a lot.

BTW, Impalas are insurance nightmares because they are among the most stolen cars in the US and Canada.

Used VW are a mechanics best friend.

My 03 Impala, with only liability, and my daughter's name on as primary driver, costs me $194 for 6 months coverage. I suppose that is a nightmare?
The trick is to not shop around for a new policy every new vehicle you buy so your policy gets to be 15 years old and then not get speeding tickets or accidents. Some companies let you move a policy to a new vehicle, provided you remain primary driver. This allows the policy to gain history.
Then make sure your kids know that, and tell them they are on their own if they decide to get tickets. While explaining this, let them call an agent and get a quote.

 

[moparedtn]

Back in the day, my dad's theory on first cars for teens was to get them as big (and as cheap) as possible...
he figured they'd save our asses when the inevitable happened - or even survive with dents if a lesser
transgression occurred.
Worst case, they were cheap and disposable, too.

Turns out, he was right - but I don't suppose such options are possible these days, eh?

 

[Cojohnso1]

One of the best bang for the buck we have been finding is KIA. You can still get at very reasonable price with many still sporting some factory warranty. They are easy to work on. And parts are more reasonable than most imports. And even some domestic.

The downside? They are imports. And they are not the sexist vehicles In the world.

 

[SteveSS]

I hate to write this but teenagers will make mistakes and get into wrecks. My friend's daughter was in a bad wreck and everyone said if she hadn't been in an SUV with a full frame she would have been killed. As it was she was pretty messed up physically.

 

[r4sedan]

I went through this a little over a year ago with my son. I ended up finding him a '03 Nissan Frontier KC. A couple reasons I went with this vehicle. He can only take one other person with him.
Rear wheel Drive. Easy to work on. Has the 2.4 litre which is a very good engine. Not too fast and decent mileage. And it was a one owner vehicle with 59k.
So he finishes HS next month and should do him good for college.

 

[64plymouth]

I also live in Wisconsin and I see plenty around. My son was looking at them before he became a father (Dec 22). He bought an SUV instead.

 

[Belvedere408]

Ima give my step daughter my 92 Volvo 740 station wagon turbo. It runs and drives great and it’s a tank.

 

[cosgig]

If he just drives around town, find a nice late 80’s Dodge pickup, it will probably last forever. If he needs to drive any more than an hour away, I would concur with KryslerKid and go with a Subaru.