What car did you buy your newly driving teen? Year, make?

[Anonymous]

Mazda3 or because you want it to be a family car,
mazda CX-30 or CX-5.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS got our old minivan that had been totaled in a hailstorm (baseball sized hail, do not recommend) and we bought back from the insurance company for something like $2500 in 2018.

Can you explain this?
It got totaled and you "bought it back"?
And it's still driveable?

Thank you

[Anonymous]

Our teens had the use of one of the family cars. It was never "theirs" though. As it happened it was almost always available to them but they weren't entitled to count on it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS got our old minivan that had been totaled in a hailstorm (baseball sized hail, do not recommend) and we bought back from the insurance company for something like $2500 in 2018.

Can you explain this?
It got totaled and you "bought it back"?
And it's still driveable?

Thank you

Not PP, but totaled means that it will cost more to fix the damage than the insurance company says that the car is worth. It does not mean that the car is not fixable if you are willing to pay for it yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get an accord or corolla. Best cars you can get, they have the fewest issues and last forever.

My first car was a Corolla so this advice is close to my heart. With all of the SUVs on the road, I wonder whether to get a higher profile car for better visibility. But our "youngest" car is 14 years old, so we are looking closely since most of the safety features have been updated a couple times over.

Give the kid your old car and get yourself a new one.

[Anonymous]

My daughter has had her license since August. She uses one of our cars if it is available to her. After the holidays I am going to purchase myself a new vehicle and hand her down the one I'm currently driving (2016 Honda Accord). I think it is the perfect teen car. Good gas mileage, not too fast or "cool", very reliable and should last her through college!

If we didn't have the car to hand down to her we would've purchased something similar - used, 5-7 year old Japanese sedan. I wouldn't buy a new car for a teen, personally.

[Anonymous]

We’re considering a VW Tiguan, Hyundai Tucson or Ford Bronco Sport. I prefer something newer with all the safety features.

[Anonymous]

The newer cars have all the safety features. Sensors when you’re too close, backup cameras, overhead cameras, braking alerts, bind spot sensors and so forth. I feel like it will cause less scrapes and accidents. But they come at a cost. I am torn whether kids should learn the hard way in case they drive a car that doesn’t have the features or is it better to have them with it since they are new drivers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The newer cars have all the safety features. Sensors when you’re too close, backup cameras, overhead cameras, braking alerts, bind spot sensors and so forth. I feel like it will cause less scrapes and accidents. But they come at a cost. I am torn whether kids should learn the hard way in case they drive a car that doesn’t have the features or is it better to have them with it since they are new drivers.

Our new driver was in an accident (the other driver was at fault) and we felt much better having the newer, better safety feature. Heck, I'm a safer driver with them.

[Anonymous]

As crazy as this sounds I gave my kid my 11 year old Cadillac. It is very safe. I bought a new car for myself.

Cadillacs depreciate and older people own them and loaded safety features. Easy to find a low mileage garaged one that is 10 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get an accord or corolla. Best cars you can get, they have the fewest issues and last forever.

My first car was a Corolla so this advice is close to my heart. With all of the SUVs on the road, I wonder whether to get a higher profile car for better visibility. But our "youngest" car is 14 years old, so we are looking closely since most of the safety features have been updated a couple times over.

It's not just about better visibility. Look at IIHS's updated side impact tests. Most cars and even SUVs are rating poorly after they updated the testing to reflect that there are more SUVs on the road. I bought a Subaru Outback based on the updated test results. My first choice was actually the Mazda CX-5 but it was too small. The CX-9 probably had similarly good ratings, but I didn't want a 3rd row.

[Anonymous]

It was a few years ago but a Toyota RAV4.

[Anonymous]

2009 Toyota Camry

[Anonymous]

2016 Audi A3 convertible. This was last year. I think it was $24K. We put down $5k, teen put in $4k, and the rest is financed with monthly payment of $280. Teen pays monthly payment with money from job. We pay gas and insurance. Teen drives younger siblings to school and activities. Teen can drive self to travel sports and practices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2022 Toyota rav 4 hybrid

This was the car consumer reports recommended.