This story just made me throw up in my mouth a little.

 

There was another article on teens and driving last year. It was a great article about what and how to teach a teen to drive. Then another portion was all about what car your teen should drive. While the author felt that a used car with good safety features was the most sensible choice, he said that many parents feel the need to buy them a new car and in that case he listed the MINI Cooper and the VW Jetta as the best choices. My son made sure I saw that .
Annette

 

Ideal teen's first car...

Ford Crown Vic ex-police car. Cheap to buy, reliable, and except for the gas, cheap to operate. Big plus is its size. WHEN they crash - that when, not if - there's enough mass to protect them so they can go out and crash again.

 

I agree

 

We got our daughter a '99 camry, and that has been perfect for her, cheap to purchase, great gas mileage and very low maintenance, I don't even have her insured on the mini .
I agree with the previous posts, it is insane to buy a teen a brand new car, but several of her friends have received nice new cars and they of course have wrecked them and get a new one the next day, beats all I have ever seen.

 

Dodge Nitro--I wonder why they picked that???

My idea of a perfect first car for a teen--86-93 Volvo 240- extreemly safe,not very well powered, actually pretty cheap to keep running and are well know for their durability(I put 275k on a 93 wagon that was running great when I traded it for a 00 V70 wagon) My first was a 79 Renault Le Car that I bought (with my own $$) for $800. What a peice of crap!

 

A friend of mine got a Crown Vic as a first car and it has been an absolute fright pig! These things are driven hard for prolonged periods of time and gotten rid of when they start to faulter. Reliability problems abound and between the extra money he spent on gas (12mpg), the money he spent on continually topping off various fluids that the beast burns/leaks/devours, and the money he spent on repairs, he could have gotten himself a nice Civic/Accord or a mid-90's Volvo that would have been trouble-free. Not to mention, dynamically, it's like driving a couch on roller skates. You're absolutely right, if you give a novice driver that car, he WILL crash it.

 

I agree, ygblat. I had a Crown Vic I picked up cheap, and a Licoln Funeral Limo (that is really the stretch version of the same car) and both had problems all over the place.

 

My first car was a 1990 VW Jetta. It had enough get-up-and-go to reach highway speeds, but thats about it. I tried to see if it would do 100mph once and it did... barely.

I've never had my parents pay for a car. Every car I've owned I have paid for... with the exception of that first car. Dad got tired of driving me to my job everyday so they gave me a loan of $2k to get a car. The jetta cost $2k. Cheap to fix, insure, and run... good gas mileage. It was 13 years old when I got it, and only had 51k miles on it. Woohoo!

 

My parents loan my brother and I our Jeep Cherokee. Awesome car, great 4 wheel drive (skiing every weekend, 30 min drive to school each morning, etc.) it's swirl free (yay for OCD detailing) and it takes 10 seconds to hit 60 mph.

 

Regardless of the best I purchased a 99 Saab 9-3 for my son today. I picked it up from the shop where I have my wife's Saab serviced, a quality and trustworthy outfit. When he pulled up his first freeway ramp he had a turbo grin as broad as the rear of a Crown Victoria (as opposed to SC Whine . . . hmmm). Still, despite the added power (this replaces an 87 Honda with a burned out clutch) the air bags, crash zones, anti-lock brakes and so forth make it a safer car. And sweet!

 

My favorite response to this was in a letter sent after Autoweek published their "teen driving" article - an EXCELLENT piece, by the way.

The ideal kids car?

A used Chevy Suburban - with foam in every seat other than the driver's seat, and half the plug wires pulled. As the kid gets better, gradually remove foam and reconnect wires.

 

Who's paying for gas?

 

lol..
i bought my mini as my first car...used 06..i think it almost makes me a better driver because i pay more attention since i dont want to screw up my mini!!
for a reponsible level headed teen...i think its ok to get a newer car...
however...a few people i know..drive beaters for good reason...they dont pay attention and are air headed!! thats how the car gets beat up!! lol

 

Good gas mileage is overrated, besides, if we don't warm up the planet who will?

(NOTE: I"M KIDDING)

Ideal kids car is something large. They don't put on that much mileage. Besides, if you want to really bend your brain, think of the additional energy and heat and CO2 release and toxins and etc etc are used MAKING a new cer - when the old one doesn't come off the road for a while?

Put it to use - let a newer driver "recycle" it!