3 year lease accomplishes the same thing as your father with a lighter effect on her cash flow... it might be better than shelling out $6500 now with $2g in surprise repairs and potential reliabilty issues and midnight calls and tow truck bills

 

she told me she thought about it but wants him to be able to modify and have fun with his own car without issues if he wrecks or changes it. so we are back to looking.

 

I had a '91 525i (e34) as a first car and the thing was a tank. I ran the hell out of it and it never let me down. Great for $3k, 5-speed, plenty of power, comfortable, etc.

I then got a 944 Turbo which I'm not recommending , but I have an e30 now that's been pretty reliable. More expensive than your average car to maintain maybe, but more fun too.



Mine's the '91 318iS with the rev-happy little m42 engine. Great car, but one day something bigger will go in.

 

I would avoid second hand Hyundais... Everyone I know that has one puts NO care into the thing. They all treat it as a throw away car.

The Golf or Jetta is an easy one, and a majority of the maintenance can be done at home with hand tools. The online VW contingent is huge, and there are online write-ups for every service job short of an engine swap.

 

Also if you get a VW I hear you can pay a few extra dollars for the aftermark rings that go into the grill

 

How about something like this? Put a bed in the back, and he's set. I wish I would have had something like this when I was in High School. Great mileage too.
http://seattle.craigslist.org/tac/cto/1556457422.html

 

I love my Passat. I accidentally paid for two of them though.

In all honesty there is enough difference just in the AWD system and engine to justify the increased cost. Plus some nifty stuff. Like the oil filter being on the top of the engine. It takes five minutes to change.

 

Go for a MKIV VW TDI ... reasonably priced, great fuel mileage if she has to pay to fill it, and still looks decent. Don't worry about the mileage, they go forever.

 

I bought my kid a Scion Tc. its a cool car for a teenager and is made by Toyota. I've seen '05, '06 in that price range

 

DC2 integras are very reliable and definitely within the price range, moreover, there are so many parts available in the aftermarket scene.

 

what's a MKIV? I like TDI's they do run forever on a tank

#1 car for tickets I've read. Aren't they alot of $$$$?

LOL.....She's a MILF now and I don't think she wants to be a GILF

 

Isn't insurance for Integras really high? I think those cars get stolen pretty frequently for parts.

 

Lexus GS300?

http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/ctd/1548426898.html

 

The lesson learned here: Don’t ask a bunch of car enthusiast their advice about buying an inexpensive, no frills, easy to maintain first car.

Tell them they get what they get, and should consider themselves lucky! My parents made me ride the bus and I was pretty much the last person to get a car. I know its not a story about having to walk through 5ft deep snow, but I honestly consider it worse.

If they want something different tell them to get a part time job that will not conflict with their schooling and match them dollar for dollar or something. Personally, I would probably get them an economy si*t box because they are probably going to crash it anyways. Then I would outfit it with one of those gps things so I always know where they are. Tell me that’s not love?

I like the Scion idea too.

 

actually like the feedback alot. I'm not going to pretend I know anything about any of these cars. I lost owned a Honda in the 80's. The only thing I've heard is what FerRari states that a lot of these things have higher insurance premiums because of their frequency of loss. It could also be that there are just so many of them on the road the loss is greater but it's the same percentage

I will say her son is a really good kid. He went through a spell at 14 not unlike my new 13 year old step son. Touch of a pain in the ars. His grades are fantastic if not all A's. He's got a few thousand dollars saved from various jobs and can up buy the car if he wants but I believe he plans on using that for gas and small upgrades. So she's not just handing him something he's earned it. the Hearse was a grand idea but she doesn't want to be a GILF just yet and she would be....omg

Scion's I will look at today. I don't know much about them at all other than I've heard they are the most ticketed car on the road.