Suggestions?

I bought my newly licensed daughter a stick-shift Metro on the theory that she would get economy from it. Then one of her teachers pulled out in front of her and the car was totaled.
So I bought her another manual Metro, his time bright red so people would see her. Totaled again, and again the other driver's fault.
So I ought her a red stick-shift Saturn to put a little more metal around her. She was waiting in a line to get into a parking garage and the lifted Jeep ahead of her decided to back up over her hood. The car survived enough to be driven and then it was T-boned as my daughter was following my wife through residential streets at 20 mph. The car was still roadworthy. So four accidents, none my daughter's fault.
My daughter decided to take a friend out on a gravel road to teach her friend how to drive, they hit washboard, the friend panicked and hit the gas, and the car flipped. Bye-bye Saturn. My daughter's fault although she wasn't at the wheel. Five accidents. Thank God for seat belts.
So maybe I'm a slow learner.
I bought an '88 three quarter ton manual-shift Chevy. Screw economy, I'm putting some metal around my little girl.
She was stopped behind another car at a stop sign on the way to school and was rear-ended on ice. I collected on the dented bumper enough to pay for the truck. Then a motorcycle pulled out in front of her across two lanes of traffic and punched a hole in the front bumper hooking the bike by the handlebar so that it was being dragged under the front wheel. No one hurt but the bike rider had a bruised ego.
Seven accidents, no broken bones or lacerations, in less than two years... and the only one that was her fault was the one where she wasn't behind the wheel.

I suggest a chunk of iron with bad fuel milage and a single seat so there aren't a lot of people in the vehicle. And make it a manual trans...

 

Then again you get a reliable vehicle vs a hole that sucks, money.

 

I’ve owned a half a dozen Toyotas and a few Hondas with over 300k on the clock. Keep em for more than 3 years and keep my money too haha. Why would you rent a vehicle you have to give back when you could own it for as long as you want and sell or trade it toward the next when you’re done with it?

Even if it supposedly being more reliable (doubtful) saved you from a 5 grand repair bill it’d still cost you a whole lot more to have a payment every month for the rest of your life ha.

 

Boy, are you in the wrong thread. Gen.3 for $10K?????

Anyways, I too highly recommend the CRV. Bullet proof AWD system, and the reliability of a Toyota!

 

Maybe find an older toyota corolla. A friends wife had one somewhere around a 2010...very reliable little car, and fairly cheap to operate.

 

I pretty much recommend

FWD=Honda
4WD=Toyota
AWD=Subaru

Hondas are just so much more spacious, better ride, better features, more drivable when it comes to the 2WD options
(ie Fit, Civic, Accord, CRV, Pilot, etc.) than they’re Toyota counterparts.

I’ve owned more Toyotas than anything else combined, but if we ever need a 2WD again it will be a Honda, hands down.

 

We bought our 16yr old a 2012 Mazda 3 hatchback a few years back. 2.0l Skyactiv. More than enough power for a new driver, Japanese quality, and good depreciation. Paid about $7k OTD with 121k. It has been solid since.

 

That’s the bolt

 

Volt, bolt they all sound the same, and made by gm....enough said.

 

Wow. Just wow

 

What do you think about salvaged vehicles? (Good airbags of course) keep in mind this will be his college car...he’s 17

 

Buy a crown vic. 04 to 2011. Bullet proof period. Decent on gas. Insurance. Not a powerhouse but adequate.

 

Crown Vics have huge back seats for ............entertaining

 

Pretty good size trucks too.

 

College student. Blanket and a semi private, semi dry patch of grass.

 

2013 toyota Corollą (29k mile ) purchased in 2015 for high school daughter. She graduates college last year (99k on odometer) and now my teenage sophomore son has it and i have no doubt it will get him thru college as well. Besides regular maintenance the only repair has been to replace a front seat buckle latch last year. Civic, Corolla, Camry, Accord are all good choices and then look at Consumer Reports as they will tell you which years of those vehicles are more reliable. Find "the" vehicle and then pay a independent mechanic (hopefully at a shop that specializes in that brand) to go thru it and give you a written report from which you can then make an informed decision to keep it or not.

 

I recommend the exact same vehicles. Only upside I would see to something like a CRV is usually small CUVs have a little higher safety rating than their sedan counterparts.

 

Nothing wrong with salvage cars as long as they were repaired properly. Had bunch of salvage cars and repaired crashed cars.

my Tacoma is clean title and I paid to get a nice, used, clean title car and what do you know. The rear right side of the bed was in a collision and so was the front left fender. But it was repaired properly. So All good.

 

Damn it’s hard to buy a car nowadays.

 

Accord or civic - MT all the way - they are easy to maintain with a few tools, lots of resources for help and will run forever if you take care of em.

Salvage can be good, just make sure the repairs were done correctly and avoid ones with major frame damage.