New or Used Car for teenager

[Anonymous]

What did you drive as a teen and what does your teenager drive? What about brand, a mainstream or luxury? We have a soon to be licensed driver and spouse and I have very different opinions about what our teenager should have as a first car. One of us is in the camp of a new (2023-24) mainstream (Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Subaru type) the other is in the camp of a used (2018-2020) luxury (Audi, Lexus, Acura type). We are both citing safety features as a concern.

[Anonymous]

Used mainstream, obviously.

Mainstream cars were already safe 5 years ago.

If your child can't be trusted in a normal car, your chis5 shouldn't be driving alone.

[Anonymous]

Our 16 DD is driving a used Hyundai that was gifted from her nana. Is low in miles, she feels confident in it. Compared to our other cars, one Audi (2018 ) and one sequoia (2023) that she drives far less securely in. I think it’s more about how the child will feel and be safe in the vehicle. We do have her drive all vehicles to be road safe and comfortable but she is most happy and confident in the Elantra.

[Anonymous]

Anything but a KIA, they are major theft targets.

[Anonymous]

New mainstream. The safety advances in the past few years are pretty significant, and I would want those features for a new driver.

[Anonymous]

New mainstream or a few year old mainstream. They don’t need luxury. Safety features are priority

[Anonymous]

We bought a new civic in 2018 when our oldest learned to drive. We wanted the latest safety features and reliability. It was a good move. Our 15 yo will soon be driving it. It’s still reliable and while they have probably improved safety features, I doubt they’ve improved enough to justify a new purchase.

[Anonymous]

I was offered a Jeep but had just heard about someone who tipped over at school, so didn't want that. So my dad got me a BMW. (This is not normal.)

[Anonymous]

2023 Toyota Prius

[Anonymous]

Old Honda Accord. Driven by multiple teens who have all banged it up a little more. No way I'd buy a new car for a teen

[Anonymous]

When I was a teen I drove my parent’s car, when they let me take it. It was an older Oldsmobile.

We are having conversations in our house about if we should get our teen a car. My spouse feels more similarly to OP and I’m having a hard time with the idea of buying a teen any car. We are discussing all makes and models right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anything but a KIA, they are major theft targets.

Why are they targeted specifically?

[Anonymous]

When a teen was able to drive we bought ourselves a new car and the teen drove our previous car. We did this for both kids and it worked out well for us. We wanted them to have a used car and since it was our used car we knew that it had been treated well.
We are either Honda or Subaru - would never buy a luxury car.

[Anonymous]

If I had the money, I’d buy myself a new Corolla and give my 2016 to my son. But with college coming up next year, I don’t have the money for all of it. He can borrow my car like I did at that age.

[Anonymous]

My college kid drives my old 14 yr old domestic car with close to 300K miles on it.

My high school kid drives my DH's 11 year old domestic car.

I'm much less concerned about the lack of blind spot detector, automatic braking, etc. in these cars, as I am the temptation of using their cell phones while driving in *any* car.