Used minivan.

I am teaching my son on a 2009. It is a nightmare because his driving instructor has a newer car that shows which was the tires are pointing. He cannot accept that the steering wheel may need to be turned 2 times to straighten out the wheel.

It has a back up camera so I actually feel safer backing up because it shows him where the car will go.

Scary how dependent they are in 2 weeks.

He cannot believe I have safely driven that car for 17 years without all the the other features.

I probably will get him a modern car; odds are he only need to know how to drive for a few years before everything is autonomous.

Anonymous wrote:Hire an independent consultant.

Just check Consumer Reports April Auto Issue, Edmunds and Car&Driver.

It doesn't really matter, OP, honestly. Old cars might not have the best safety features, and new cars might make drivers too reliant on safety features. All you can do is what's best for your specific situation. Your existing car sounds great.

My kids didn't get cars when they got their licenses, because we're urban and don't need them that much.

Three kids, 20, 19, 18.
No cars for them. They borrow mine very occasionally. One doesn’t drive. Doesn’t want to pay the insurance.
I think cars are a burden for teens, better to put the money into education.

We got our DD a new Prius. It had the idiot-proof safety and driver assist features that gave us confidence that she would be safe, even when she was a novice driver.

I would never ever give my kids older models of cars to drive alone just to learn how to drive "old school cars".

Anonymous wrote:Hire an independent consultant.

This is what we did. Spent about $90,000 with Deloitte. Answer came back 2020 Subaru Forester.

Give your kid the car and get a new one for yourself. That's what we did. I had a 2016 Mazda (under 30,000 miles) that I got brand new in 2016. Has back up camera, blind spot monitoring. When we looked at the price of used cars/amount of mileage on them...it was a no brainer. The price of new cars is crazy. Price of a good reliable used one with low mileage is INSANE!!!

I disagree with the assessment of having an old school car. The safety features have been added for a reason and it's not out of driver laziness.

My DS who is almost 20 is driving our old 2019 Honda HR-V. DD is driving a 2020 Hyundai Kona. Both has pretty good safety features but not everything. Backup cameras have been a requirement for every car for some time now.

We bought our kids each a nice BMW SUV. It's built well, safe, reliable, looks nice. Plus they take them to college and can haul their computer/clothing/etc easily.

Anonymous wrote:Responsible 16-year-old boy who has had permit for a year. Has a job and involved in extracurricular and I am over drop offs/pick ups.

We were thinking about giving him my Subaru Forester (2020) and getting something new for myself.

It had all the bells & whistles (back up camera, blind spot detection, emergency stop etc).

His driving instructor said to get them “an old school car” at first so they learn how to drive without all the handicaps. I actually like knowing he’d have these safety features. They can also be turned off.

What did you do?

I honestly had the same impulse as your instructor, to give them an old school car without training wheels to hone their instincts.

But it’s like pumping your brakes while hydroplaning or driving manual, 99% of the cars they will drive will have these safety features, and I wanted them to know how to drive stick, but they don’t car and the cars are disappearing anyways.

Driving is the most dangerous thing your teen does most likely, so giving them a car with automatic protection is good parenting.

I would stick with probably emergency braking and back up camera requirements; lane keeping and blind spot detection is less common and does impact their ability to learn to drive and may not end up universal, and side impact accidents generally will not be deadly.

Definitely give them the car. My teen is driving a 2016 vehicle that does have blind spot indicators in the rear view mirrors which is an improvement on the 2012 car my 22 year old still drives.

How important is blind spot detection? I got a car two years ago that I don't really like that much and have thought of passing down to my kid in 2 years. It has backup cameras and braking/crash prevention whatever but I just realized recently that it doesn't have the blind spot detection.

I agree that OP should share that 2020 car. But perhaps OP should have him demonstrate a few times that he can check his blind spots without the system.

My daughter is driving my old 2019 Pilot. We wanted her to have something with a lot of safety features (there are more now). I would not go with an "old school" car.