jheck

Greetings,

The time has come, my 16 year old is ready to get his license and we looking for a first car. I have about 5k to spend and obviously looking for something reliable and good on gas. I am hoping to get some opinions on here, I am a bit bias towards Acura but probably out of my budget.

Any opinions would be appreciated. As of right now, I am leaning towards either Civic, Corolla, Sentra.

Advice would be appreciated.

myron

iTrader: (4)

civic out of those options.

ttribe

Abrams Tank

Ken1997TL

Accord or Camry.

Safer and cheaper to insure.

silver3.5

When I got my driver's license at 15.5, my dad bought me a 1985 Honda Accord for $2500. Everything was manual but as a first car, I was estactic and didn't care what it look like or what car it was. I remember my dad saying he wanted to get me a nice reliable, good on gas, small 4-door auto sedan. That old Accord fit the bill and I drove it to death right up to high school graduation. Thus, moral of the story is...buy something reliable, small, and cheap for a first car because he'll trash it eventually. An old accord, camry, civic, corolla would suffice for now.

Aman

Out of those 3, I would pick the Civic. But I just bought a Jetta that I'm enjoying a lot

Maybe give your kid a list of choices and let him pick?

CLtotheTL32

iTrader: (3)

What year Civic? My girlfriend had a 2002 and it was terrible.

I would look into an Accord if you can afford it.

Gfaze

+1

rossv1

Older Wrangler?

Undying Dreams

iTrader: (3)

THIS

Give him a list of cars that fit your budget and have him pick what he likes. If he doesn't like the list then maybe have him search for more options. Good luck!!

CLtotheTL32

iTrader: (3)

Hell no. My girlfriend's brother has one and all he does is run curbs over, goes through puddles, and does other dumb shit. Yeah it's fun but it's scary with an inexperienced driver.

The ONLY advantage of a Wrangler is that the 4-cylinder is stupid slow.

Hapa DC5

4cyl accord or camry can't go wrong. Reliable, good on gas, safe, cheaper to insure than a Civic, most importantly SLOW. Perfect for a 16 year old.

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

What he said.

BTW, very nice of you to buy your kid a car. I bought my first car, and every car since myself...

speedemon90

is there a year for the 2nd gen tl that doesnt have the transmission problem??
Then i vote the acura. Other than the transmission (if you avoid those years) its really reliable. And the quality of the car overall is just much better than the others being listed.

For some reason there's always one outlook that I see with parents in that get the slow car. Granted i'm not a parent so i think differently. But to me the slow car is not so safe I'm not saying get a 500 hp car, but for me having my tl as my first car, i think the power is perfect. This is the car i mainly learned to drive on and now its mine.

Then again you also have to have a certain amount of trust in your kid when you get a slightly more powerful car. My parents had it with me and it turned out fine. No accidents, 1 speeding ticket i got this year (in my moms accord) and its not like i've had close calls. I've had plenty and i'll say for some of them if i was in my dads corolla, i would have either crashed or spun trying to avoid some dumbass driver.

Ken1997TL

Some of the '03's supposedly didn't have issues. My '03 was one of them and a friend of mine has one as well. It seems to be hit or miss still.

Legend2TL

+1

parasitius

It's probably better if you let him pick, he might get enthusiastic about having a car and benefit in that way. I had my first 3 handed to me with absolutely no choice in the matter, so I couldn't help but be utterly indifferent to them except as a means of getting from point A to point B. If I had chosen them myself, having been a kid in highschool with all the time in the world, I might have been able to learn mechanical stuff and basic repairs from some of the motorheads. (Thinking jealously of one of my buddies from middle school who will never have to pay a mechanic's bill in his life)

Aman

I haven't heard much bad about the '99 4ATs either. If fuel cost is a priority, I don't know if I'd give him a premium-fueled V6 though.

oo7spy

I would think an Accord transmission would be riskier than any Civic.
He'll flip it.
Same here. I've already started a savings for my son so he can too.

There may be some benefits to letting him pick too. He may appreciate it more than something he totally hates.

Legend2TL

I've been looking for a 6G (2000-2002 SE or EX) Accord for my daughters.
Nice and clean ones are hard to find, still searching.
Reliable, not too fast, good safety, great visibility, very easy controls and displays, and no gadgets.

My search continues...

Hapa DC5

Yes I agree with everyone saying to let him choose. Give him the choice between a Camry or Accord.

Legend2TL

what's even more funny is my older daughters friends drive either Accords or Camry's

RPhilMan1

Is narrowing down the make and model first the best decision? What if you decide a Civic is the best choice but for some reason can't find a good deal or one in good condition in your area?

I think taking the approach of searching what is in your area first and then narrowing down your choices is more sound. Take a look at the used car lots around you, online listings, etc, to see if you can find something that not only you think is a great choice but something your son will like and enjoy to drive. A collaborative effort will yield a positive result.

My first car when I was 16 was a 1997 Audi A4 1.8T. It had around 120k highway miles that an elderly couple drove down to Florida and back several times a year. It was a great first car. One day my dad was heading home from town and saw it parked out front a car dealer's used lot. He checked it out, brought it home, and showed it to me. I loved it, and we decided to get it. It was priced at $5k. Quite a deal.

Good luck in your search!

oo7spy

Even under your humor there is benefit though. As a teenage boy or even today, I would have picked the Accord and not just b/c I am a Honda fanboy.

Hapa DC5

I would pick the Accord too at 16. Today, I would choose a Camry.

Hapa DC5

No Jettas? Or that was back in my day? Every cute girl had a Jetta when I was in HS.

Aman

You tryna say something about the Jetta?

Hapa DC5

^ I guess fine black men now drive what hot white girls use to drive

Aman

Hapa DC5

fuck, I just remembered silver was like the color of choice for these girls too

I still like the car. My ex had two (crashed a 1.8 and then got a VR6 both manuals), she changed her badges over and it said Bora. I feel bad if anyone bought that car

VieTLover

Get him a 1997 Toyota Celica 5spd! Nice small coupe, good on gas, and cheap to insure! Very reliable, I had 199,xxx on mine before it was totaled and it was running strong. Never left me stranded or anything.

UA6~RBP

I'm 16 and my parents were originally planning to get me a car under $5k to last me until college when I could pay for a larger portion of a car, but new plans came up and I was able to get my mom's TL because she got a new car...

Some models that can be had under $5k that I liked, were safe, cheap to insure, and not POS's:

- VW Passat 1.8T (2001-2004) <--- My favorite for a teen. Safe, roomy, modern, and has bragging rights with slow turbo
- Hyundai Tiburon (2003-3004) <--- Probably still under warranty (Go Hyundai!)
- VW Jetta / Golf (2001-2005) <---- The 'Average' teen car. GLI is usually closer to $7k but it's really nice for a guy
- Toyota Celica (2000-2002) <---- Slow, sporty, and reliable. Quoted to be cheaper to insure than Tibby.
- Mercury Cougar (2000-2003?) <---- Celica is the better choice, but this has more room to carry stuff.

HBaJ

It really makes no difference how fast it is. My first car was 5G Accord and I hooned the crap out of it. E-Braked every corner on the way to school when snow was on the ground. That same Accord though, after the way I put it through hell is still driving perfectly fine through 220k miles with normal maintenance.
So my first vote goes to a 6G Accord, the 02's are very nice.

If you can find a good example a 2nd gen TL is also perfect. My sister's 01 got up close to 300k until she didnt realize she was leaking fluid over the highway and the engine gave out and my 03 TL-S is now up to 170k problem free (knock on wood). Def hit or miss with the tranny. 01 CL might be in that budget as well?

Anyways, good luck and keep us posted.

dreem1er

iTrader: (2)

i used to do 90 in my 92 sentra coupe, the car isn't really going to stop the way someone drives, just slow them down in the 0-60 range.



if you want to keep him in line get him a geo metro, if they are any of them still rolling all he can do in that is like 40 mph 0-40 is probably like 3 minutes

KieranM37

One of my buddies bought a turbo'd geo metro... it was actually pretty awesome

how about an Integra? I bought one as my first car (still have it) and have absolutely loved it. Cheap to buy, reasonable to insure, and pretty good on gas.

Legend2TL

Depends on the school I guess, at another high school nearby used 3 series and Beetles seem to be more popular than Accords and Camrys.

SimonCL-S6

Eh, if he's not going to work for the car he will most likely beat it to shits anyways lol

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

^ Sad but true. I remember when I was in school those who had their cars purchased for them didn't really care about them. Those who bought their own car pampered it and treated it llike a Ferrari.

Same seems to hold true today as I see friends of our buying (or handing down) cars to their kids and the kids really don't care. Not all, but most...

Aman

I think it depends on how much the owner appreciates it, too. There are a lot of young drivers here who didn't pay for their cars, but still have a great deal of respect and treat them fantastically.

DaChef320

iTrader: (1)

90 mustang 5.0