I’m firmly of the opinion that every gearhead’s first car should be a complete piece of crap. Suffering builds character, it’ll make you appreciate nice cars more, all that good stuff, sure – but also, my first car was a complete piece of crap, and I loved it anyway. So today’s scenario involves two pieces of crap, and a young budding auto enthusiast.
Yesterday we were looking for a way to bring home some big pieces of furniture, and after some good arguments on both sides, the slightly more versatile combination of a Ford Ranger with a cap on the bed won out over the Chrysler minivan with disappearing seats. There were concerns about rust on both of them, but you don’t buy a vehicle that cheap expecting it to last forever. It’s there to do a job.
The funny thing is, the van probably has more room inside than the covered bed of the Ranger, but if you need to bring home a dresser or a bookcase, the van’s roof is going to be in your way. But a lot of antique furniture places will deliver really big stuff for a fee, and the carpeted floor and watertight accommodations of the van will be kinder to the things that will fit inside it. I think I’d go for the van in this case, assuming the rust underneath isn’t too bad.
All right, here’s today’s scenario: The quiet of your Saturday afternoon is broken by the sound of a car-hauler unloading something across the street. You hear the truck stop, followed by the rumble of a serious V8, and look out the window to see an electric-blue mid-1970s Firebird Formula easing its way down off the carrier and into your neighbor’s driveway. Naturally, you can’t help going over to check it out, and to find out the story.
As it turns out, the neighbor’s uncle recently passed away, and in his will left the Firebird to his grand-nephew, the pimply-faced fifteen-year-old who has been mowing your lawn for years. The kid has his learner’s permit, and will get his license in a couple months when he turns sixteen. The family is reluctant to turn him loose with the Firebird right away, so they have been looking for a more suitable first car for him to drive for a while – and more importantly, learn to drive a manual on; the Firebird is a four-speed.
They’ve asked you for your help in choosing a car for him, and also request that you be the one to teach him how to drive a stick. In return, they’ve agreed to let you take a spin in the Firebird, if you want. A quick search has yielded these two likely candidates, so now we’re going to take a closer look at them.
1998 Ford Escort – $1,600
Engine/drivetrain: 2.0-liter OHC inline 4, five-speed manual, FWD
Location: Clackamas, OR
Odometer reading: 325,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
After years of dicking around and selling a whole lot of really mediocre small cars in the United States, Ford finally did the honorable thing and went to its partner Mazda for help. Starting in 1991, the US-market Ford Escort was based on Mazda’s BG platform, and the difference between it and the previous generation’s half-assed “world car” platform was night-and-day. It drove well, it was a lot more reliable, and even the basic models could almost be considered fun, as long as you chose a manual transmission.
This Escort is from after a restyle, in which the hatchback bodystyles disappeared, including the celebrated Escort GT. Only four-door sedans and station wagons remained. The standard engine was an improved version of Ford’s overhead-cam CVH four-cylinder, and the manual transmission came from Mazda. It’s a combination known for racking up trouble-free miles, and this one has done just that – 325,000 of them, to be precise. It was well-maintained by its first owner, who recently passed away, and it still runs and drives great.
My experience with these Escorts has been that they don’t have the fanciest or most comfortable interiors, but they wear like iron, and that seems to be the case here. The upholstery and carpet still look fine; Grandpa really was careful with this car. The only problem I see is that passenger’s side seat belt; it’s cut more than halfway through, which doesn’t inspire confidence, especially if you’re going to be sitting in that passenger’s seat tutoring a new driver. Might want to replace that.
Outside, it’s the perfect beater – not trashed, but not something you have to worry about either. The hubcaps are long gone, and the red paint is unevenly faded. The ad mentions that one side mirror was recently replaced; my guess is that it got wiped out on a garage door sill. But the fact that they actually replaced it before listing the car for sale shows that someone cared for it.
2007 Chevrolet Aveo – $1,800
Engine/drivetrain: 1.6-liter DOHC inline 4, five-speed manual, FWD
Location: Milwaukie, OR
Odometer reading: 227,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
Chevy’s captive-import game was strong for years before the Aveo came along. This Korean-built subcompact was basically the replacement for everyone’s favorite tiny car, the Suzuki-built Metro. The little Metro left some big shoes to fill, and it can’t be said that the Aveo really rose to the occasion. But it’s not a bad little car, if you consider it on its own merits. This is a one-owner example, well north of 200,000 miles, and it’s holding up just fine.
Power – such as it is – for the Aveo comes from a 1.6-liter twin-cam four, putting out 103 horsepower. It’s probably enough for this little lightweight car, at least with a manual like this car has. The seller says it has “ZERO mechanical issues,” and that it comes with a stack of service records. That’s not something you often get with a sub-$2,000 car.
This one is holding up remarkably well inside, too; it’s hard to believe, looking at this photo, that this car has 227,000 miles on it. There’s some wear, sure, but no damage. It’s a really basic little car, with crank windows and nothing more than an AM/FM radio. I do see a button for air conditioning, but there’s no word on whether or not it still works.
It’s in good condition outside, a little faded, but straight and rust-free. The silver paint is completely gone from the plastic hubcaps, which is weird; I wonder if some chemical from a car wash ate away at it over the years? Personally, I’d ditch them and just hit the steel wheels with some silver Rust-Oleum. It would probably look a lot better.
Really, on paper, there’s not a lot of difference between these two. They’re both high-mileage but well-maintained economy cars, easy to drive and cheap to insure – in other words, perfect for a high-school kid to learn stickshift on. I guess you could turn to brand preference to choose between them. Or you could ask the kid which one he prefers, but honestly, with that Firebird sitting there, he’d probably turn his nose up at both of them. So it’s up to you: which one are you going to use to teach the neighbor’s kid how to drive?
Escort is probably better but I went with the Aveo primarily due to looks. Hear me out…this won’t be a training session or anything of the sort – I’d pursue it as a long range psy-ops campaign with the ultimate goal of having the neighbor turn away from the firebird and get his parents to sell to me. How? Well…get the kid really comfortable with the Aveo…how easy it is to drive, to park, how it does better in the snow, how inexpensive it is to fill it, to maintain it, to insure it…hell kid, you’re gonna have to get another part time job just to afford to drive and insure that thing – guess there won’t be time for much of anything else. Yes…he’ll grow to love the freedom and inexpensive life that little yellow car provides, and the blue bird will be mine…OH YES, IT WILL BE MINE! MWAAAAHAAAAHAAAAHAAA!!!!!!!
There’s some logic here. I probably would’ve gone for the Escort if it were my family, but the Aveo will suit the neighbor’s kid well. And fingers crossed…
I bought on location only, a cheap car that spent its life in Milwaukee will be an absolute bear to wrench, OR on the other hand will probably be a lot cleaner on the underside.
Aside from that I would have picked the Aveo for the lower mileage, hatchback, and fact that I really like yellow cars.
Milwaukie, Oregon, not Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They’re within five miles of each oher.
Milwaukie and Clackamas are both SE suburbs of Portland OR.
Well, that changes everything! If the Ford wins by one vote, my sincerest of apologies for not paying attention this morning. The prompt clearly stated that we were getting the car for our neighbor’s kid, so I should have known his parents weren’t going to ship something from the Midwest.
Those responsible have been sacked.
Damn, both could be fun for low $ and a manual. Both will likely be short-term so it doesn’t really matter, I went Aveo because I like hatches. And both would make fun cheap rallycross cars.
Cleanish yellow > faded red
Oof. Neither of these is a pleasant drive, but I have spent far too many miles in identical (but far less worn-out) Escorts to feel any desire to own that one. I have only ridden in an Aveo once and it was terrible, but in this case it wins the day because I am more ignorant about just how terrible it truly is.
Picked the Escort because it’s longer than the Aveo, so there’s less chance kiddo smashes up the corners of the Firebird first time he tries to parallel-park it. Seatbelt is probably $200.
I’d take the Aveo for a runabout if I didn’t already have a few.
My hottest take is that Aveos are under-appreciated. I wouldn’t want to spend more than maybe an hour in one, but for around town they’re pretty decent.
I once was given an Aveo as a loaner car, and it is tied for the worst new-ish car I have ever had the displeasure of driving, along with a rental Versa. And I am a guy who loved driving a bare-bones ’87 Subaru GL wagon and would buy one again in a heartbeat.
Same here. I once rented an Aveo and it was the most hateful, awful car I have ever driven.
I’m going with the Aveo, because it will be easier for the kid to find parts in the junkyard to keep it on the road. Also 100k less miles is a lot.
The Aveo is newer, a cooler color, and a hatchback. I voted for the yellow car.
Aveo gets my money today mostly b/c of the interior. It’s a throwback that matches the hand-crank windows nicely. There’s not even a center console! I miss that kind of functional simplicity in low-end cars.
Realistically, this would come down to a test drive and inspection. Both cars are well past their prime.
If I have to vote based on only the information available, I’m going with the Aveo. It is a decade newer and has far lower miles. When in doubt I go with the more modern car. Cars have gotten better over the years.
The Escort also has a huge crack in the windshield in addition to the damaged passenger seatbelt. Those aren’t deal breakers, but I don’t see any obvious non-cosmetic issues with the Aveo so that is another point for the Chevy.
I drove a previous model Escort in high school and I was given an Aveo as a loaner when I took my 04 GTO in for service (I was super pissed for that…lol). I’ll take the Escort. It will be more fun to drive, parts should be easier to find even if still difficult, and at the end of the day it simply looks better. Paint those steelies a nice bright silver, replace the passenger seat belt since it’s torn, polish up the paint as best you can so it doesn’t look “as faded”. Drive the thing until it dies which if it is as well maintained as presented, should be a good long while.
Meh, even though it is tragically Yellow, the Aveo ticks more boxes in a beater. both of these cars should be under a grand though in my old guy brain.
Escort, if for no other reason than it’s bigger than the Aveo and thus a better intro for the size the kid will be dealing with when he finally gets to touch the Firebird.
If it were me, I’d go for an old beater pickup, and have him start with something even bigger than the Firebird. Once you learn to park a full size pickup, everything else is easy peasy.
The beater pickup is the right answer, especially in my climate, as you won’t want to be driving that Firebird in the cold half of the year.
I second the “big, rear wheel drive, manual” idea. The kid may learn to clutch and shift in one of those econoboxes, but if he’s like most kids today, he’s never experienced “Right Wheel Drive”. Needs to know how that feels, or he’ll freak out the first time the Firebird kicks its ass-end sideways! If not a beater truck, maybe an SN95 Mustang. They’re still unloved and can be found cheap(ish). Would “feel” more like the Firebird, too. Training is useless if it can’t be applied practically.
Today is probably an “I’d rather walk” kind of day but if put to it I’ll go with the Aveo for the slightly more modern build, hatchback utility and most important of all, yellow.
This generation of Escort is NOTORIOUS for dropping the valve seats into the engine, but with 325K on it – that almost certainly has to have been addressed with a replacement cylinder head with pinned valve seats.
I’d go Aveo, but only because they are easier to find in the self-serve junkyard which if you are considering either one of these, you’re gonna be spending some time there…
It is an either day. Decent little manuals for decent prices. Teach a few kids how to drive stick and then sell for about the same money. Both are perfectly cromulent.
Any first car should have side curtain airbags – they likely saved my daughter injury when her Vibe was totaled (T-bone).
My shitbox first car was $500 ’78 LTDII coupe with a 351W/auto and plenty of rust.
same, went this way cause the Chevy would have more airbags, also its yellow, great color!
Hard to ignore modern safety advances…my dad’s idea of safety was more sheetmetal.
Yeah if it was my kid I’d pick whatever has the most number of airbags and best crash rating.
You also have to remember that when you’re starting out, ANY car is infinitely better and cooler than no car. Might as well start with something miserable so that everything from then on will feel like an upgrade.
I started driving in ’92. The school lot was a sea of K-cars, early G-X and A bodies, Fox body sedans, 70’s barges, Darts, Cavaliers…Maybe someone was cashed up enough for an N-body or G-body coupe.
Neither have side curtain bags it turns out. Aveo has side bags, Escort only has fronts.
The Aveo is a pretty tragic car, and I love subcompact hatches. I’d take the Escort over that Aveo any day.
I will give some serious credit to the Aveo owner though, that particular one looks to be in better condition than nearly every Aveo I’ve ever seen post new car sale. Even back in the 00’s. These cars wore so, so, so poorly. I have no idea how the owner kept it in this condition.
Aveo, but neither is all that bad for a beater. New seatbelts for the Escort shouldn’t cost all that much. The little Fords weren’t really all that bad — in fact, may be more fun to drive than the little Chevy — but the higher mileage counts against it.
Frankly, if either had showed up in my neighborhood while I was shopping, I might have have pulled the trigger. My Corolla automatic may have been plushier when new (bot not all that much) and had fewer miles on it, but is the King of Penalty Boxes. I would definitely prefer something that is more fun to fling around. And allowed me to row through the gears.
Flip a coin. Other than the stick, both are awful to get someone ready to drive a classic rwd manual. Really need an older slow rwd econo box assuming they aren’t all eaten by the rusty worm. I had a celica similar to this one with a 5 spd. Learn to enjoy breaking the backend lose and steering into the skid.
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I have a soft spot for tiny GM cars. I like the Aveo, Spark, and of course, the Metro. I kinda had to vote for the Aveo, especially since it’s yellow (objectively the best color) and a stick!
My mind has evolved on some of the older GM-Daewoos. A lot of them still tooling around the rural definitely lower-middle class (and lower) area where I grew up. They seem to tolerate indifference. This was a hard choice but I picked the Aveo for the hatchback utility and lower miles. Mad respect for those Escorts though- Ford go those right. There is a maid service near me that still has wagons in their fleet. As a former owner of one, I have to put in a plug for the Focus (<MY12) as a cheap beater car, but as is often the case with Ford- you have to be precise about picking the right year and drivetrain combination.
Yeah, this generation was not great. The SOHC motor these had loved to chuck pieces of the valve seat into the engine, usually destroying it. The DOHC Zetec motor was available in the Escort ZX2 was a far better motor. This particular one is either the luckiest SOHC motor ever or has had a reworked cylinder head installed at one point in it’s 325K.
The Aveo.
Crank windows!
These are both pretty heinous cars to be saddled with in 2025, but I’d honestly go Escort. The Aveo was a truly abysmal little car, and I am staggered this one made it over 200k. Really the answer is neither, as both cars crash tested poorly when new, so against todays normal traffic, these are practically death sentences.
The Escort is probably not the safest vehicle in the world, but at least it has a front end and some actual structure along the sides.
The Aveo is only safer than a motorcycle in that you’re unlikely to be thrown from it. Hmmmm, maybe being thrown from the crash instead of trapped in a crushed tin can is preferable in this rare case?
2007 Chevrolet Aveo
1998 Ford Escort
IIHS thinks they’re about the same in a front moderate overlap crash, which is to say “Acceptable”. No one did any other tests on the Escort that I can tell, so probably crap from any other impact.
Still ten times better than the Firebird though.
I can’t believe I’m defending the Aveo…
While I wouldn’t want to be in a wreck in one, I’d much prefer to wrecking in that than on my bike. At least you have airbags and restraints.
So I had to go down the rabbit hole to determine if the Aveo had side curtain airbags. Reason being, if the resident F-150 is aimed at my Aveo-driving head, well, without an airbag my head is a mere inches away from direct impact. There’s just no room for error there.
Turns out most years of the Aveo had side impact airbags but no side curtain airbags. Now, the Escort isn’t going to either, so it’s pick your poison there. But the Aveo would seem to put your (and your passengers) heads so much closer to the leading edge of F-150 impact than the Escort.
On a bike, I guess you get a helmet at least? I’m aware this is probably a pretty dumb case I’m making, as I too would probably prefer to be t-boned in an Aveo than on a bike, if I’m forced to make a bet. But I would also bet that if I were t-boned in an Aveo, I would more than likely be crushed to death.
I guess both options suck.
My kid wrecked his, alas, and it was fine on protection. Better than the Firebird for sure.