Mind child, Delmar (not his real name) is turning 8 weeks soon, so naturally I’ve already started shopping for his first car. It’s hard! All the cars my single self thought would be great options to teach my kid that “there’s no such thing as a free lunch” and that “hard work is how you get anywhere in life” are vehicles I can’t get myself to consider anymore. Maybe I’ve gone soft?
Upon my wife birthing Delmar, various wires in my brain either got crossed, or they un-crossed themselves and are now functioning properly, because my plans to daily-drive my family in old cars have pretty much gone out the window. And while I myself still feel OK driving old junkers, don’t think there’s not part of me that isn’t constantly thinking that I need to not die for at least 18 years, at least.
Naturally, my hunt for my son’s first car has taken a sharp turn from 1965 Plymouth Valiant to post-2010 machines. This is a large departure from where I stood about a year ago, which was: “Just get the child the cheapest crap-can possible and make him wrench on it to keep it running” and also “I drove an unsafe old Jeep in high school/college, so my kid can handle one, too!”
In my defense, I don’t think this is me going soft, I think it’s just reality that the safety innovations in the past 20 years have been absolutely tremendous, and I’d be a fool to ignore them. Take Electronic Stability Control, which helps keep your car under control in emergency-maneuver situations. From NHTSA:
In 2015 an estimated 1,949 lives were saved by electronic stability control (ESC) among passenger vehicle (PV) occupants. These lives saved consisted of 857 passenger car (PC) occupants and 1,0911 light-truck and van (LTV) occupants. The estimated 1,949 lives saved in 2015 is an increase over the estimated number of lives saved in previous years; 1,575 lives saved in 2014, 1,380 lives saved in 2013, 1,225 lives saved in 2012, and 896 lives saved in 2011. Added together ESC has saved more than 7,000 lives during the 5-year period from 2011 to 2015. NHTSA’s estimates of effectiveness for ESC have been updated in the report, Updated Estimates of Fatality Reduction by Electronic Stability Control (Kahane, 2014), discussed in the Background section of this Research Not
From IIHS:
IIHS studies indicate that ESC reduces fatal single-vehicle crash risk by about half and fatal multiple-vehicle crash risk by 20 percent for cars and SUVs. Many single-vehicle crashes involve rolling over, and ESC’s effectiveness in preventing rollovers is even more dramatic. It reduces the risk of fatal single-vehicle rollovers by 75 percent for SUVs and by 72 percent for cars.
Did you read that?! “It reduces the risk of fatal single-vehicle rollovers by 75 percent for SUVs and by 72 percent for cars.”
That is insane. There’s no chance I’m ignoring that. My kid’s car is getting ESC, period.
And you know what, he’s also getting side airbags and a good overall IIHS rating, especially on the Small Overlap Rigid Barrier (SORB) test. I realize in the future there will be more stringent tests, so the car won’t be the safest, but it’ll probably be safe enough.
I would love to get my kid something with a manual transmission, but it all depends on what fuel prices look like in the future. There’s a decent chance he’ll be driving something electric. Maybe I could get him an EREV so he can still do some oil changes, which we can all agree, are good for the soul.
Maybe he’ll inherit my BMW i3? The Mazda3 hatch above with a stickshift could also be a decent option, and it is included in IIHS’s “Safe Vehicles for Teens” list:
That list is pretty boring though, and though safety is paramount, I’d like my child to drive something at least somewhat interesting. Is the i3 too small for a road filled with SUVs and trucks? I don’t know; it’s hard, and I only have about 16 years to figure it out!
What car you buy your kid/have them save up to buy themselves?
I know this is more a thought exercise that anything serious, so I’ll chime in.
Just get them a reasonable car without ridiculous amounts of power. Which nowadays is actually the biggest challenge. Something in the 0-60mph range of 8 seconds or slower.
Power is the worst thing you can give to a new driver. There is a reason insuring a 16 year old in a sports car is expensive. Their hormone addled frontal cortex is still developing and their ability to properly judge risky driving maneuvers is extremely limited.
Actuarial science backs this up with the much, much, much higher insurance claims for 16-25 year old drivers. Men are way, way worse than women as well. (But lots of regions have banned insurance rate by sex based on it being “discriminatory” despite actuarial tables showing men are way, way more likely to get in an accident at that age.)
The old adage speed kills is very true.
Oh and don’t give them a car you consider precious (thinking of your i3 here), as they will get dings, rub the sidewalls smooth learning parallel parking and use the car as a garbage repository. I did not care about anything of those things as I knew that my kid was a safe driver and able to drive defensively when required.
My kids are in their early 20’s so just went through this process a few times.
Oldest son likes cars, wanted to work on his first car with dad so we found a 1-owner, not-running RX7 convertible. Had a great time together making it road worthy but got tired of having to go pick him up when it wouldn’t start so moved on to a Lexus IS250 Convertible. He loved that car until a Ram 1500 pulled out in front of him and totaled it. Next we went with a Infinity G37 (also convertible – seeing a pattern) that he is still driving 4 years later with little to no money spent keeping it alive. But now that he is a responsible college grad ended up with an Acura TLX – what a great car!
Now the younger son could care less about cars. A refrigerator with wheels would be fine for him – so that is pretty much what we got him first – a Kia Soul EV. Worked perfect for his high-school days of driving 5 miles to school and another 5 to work each day. Talk about cheap transportation! That worked until he went away to college 1,000 miles away so ended up with an HRV.
A bicycle.
But if I were looking for a newish car for a teenage driver a 2015ish Altima with its gloriously quiet, hyper efficient, ultra smooth, and dead reliable Jatco Xtronic CVT.
Well that and the knowledge that car can protect its driver well enough to walk away after being rear ended, folded over and crushed by a semi:
https://www.motorbiscuit.com/nissan-altima-driver-miraculously-survives-worst-crash-weve-ever-seen/
So Altima. But a 4cyl.
What is the insurance premium for a teenager driving an Altima? 2k a month? Or is an Altima driver with insurance an oxymoron?
No idea. Altimas are a staple of rental fleets so I guess it can’t be too bad?
When I was a kid, I got Mom’s 11 year old Mercury Monterey Custom – and promptly wrecked it.
Many years later – my Sister got Mom’s 10 year old Volvo 240DL – and promptly wrecked it.
I gave my Husband an 11 year old Ford Focus sedan after we were married. He’s run into several things – but it’s still drivable. Barely.
Thank the stars I’m gay and will never have any kids to buy cars for.
You can have some of mine. Everyone should have the joys of parenthood.
Lol. Hard to keep a straight face there. You do you. If kids ain’t in your future, good for you. While I enjoy having a little one, I can understand not wanting them. Especially when said little one is doing her dead level best to drive me nuts. Damn summer break.
TBF lizard kids bite more often and harder than humans.
Teething is a nightmare. Indestructible dog toys didn’t stand a chance. As for the human stuff? Not even with considering
Dog toys make the best baby toys!
DT! take note!
Lol. If you really think about it, are they really that different? As for human safe plastic, well, I’m not worried about that.
Dog toys squeak more. But you bring up a good point, dog toys aren’t regulated the same. I guess that’s why baby toys suck compared to dog toys.
Yup. Luckily us lizards have a literally inhuman resistance to toxins. And the squeaky bit is handy for tracking down the sneaky little lizards.
If lizardlings are so sneaky why don’t you just modify the control chips your people have for implanting in your human slaves? Simply remove the control and remote subject termination circuitry but keep the tracking.
(Keep the agonizer circuitry too, I hear its more of a tickler for your people.)
Not a bad idea….
Thanks. Just remember my loyalty and usefulness when the time comes.
I shall eat you first, to gain your cunning and wisdom
You will find I am NOT crunchy and taste terrible with ketchup.
I am not a fan of crunchy or ketchup.
Oh OK. Bon Apetit.
My kids are young adults, so we recently have gone through this. The two greatest safety features in my view are excellent driver training and three-point seat belts.
My daughter (not a gearhead) inherited my ‘02 Focus SVT 6-speed and drove it until the engine cradle rusted away. She then plopped her money down on a minty Gen 1 Jeep Compass with a stick shift. One of the crappiest cars ever, but the manual redeemed it and she loved her practical little faux-SUV. She took a performance driving class at Road America in that car and was awarded most improved by the instructors. Just this spring she replaced the Jeep with a lightly used Kia Sportage, taking on very modest car payments. She’s only sad she couldn’t find another manual.
My son, the gearhead, spent a year with a $500 Honda Civic 5-speed that burned a quart of oil every 600 miles. After he demonstrated flawless, cautious driving skills, he then chose, paid cash for, and repainted a 1965 Rambler with the 232 six and 3-speed with overdrive (and Buick front seats with integrated 3-point belts). That got him through college and adventures coast to coast. Next car was a low mileage K-car that blew its engine and we got to do a swap. Then a baroque 1980s Lincoln Town Car. Then a very original 1953 Kaiser which he daily’d for a year. Now he daily’s a 1992 Mercury Capri convertible and hobbies a 1929 Ford Model A roadster pickup. Both cars require some tinkering. He’s 25, never had a car payment, and living the dream.
Do I worry about the kids’ safety on the road? Sure, sometimes. But I also want them to enjoy life.
My (now 19) year old daughter inherited my 2020 base model Corolla. I truly believe that out of all the safety stuff in that car (12 airbags, auto braking, ect), Apple CarPlay is the most important…
Something boring like a Camry. They’d probably chide and want a Mustang. We’d compromise and get him a Civic coupe.
Not the Si.
The base one with the NA 2 liter.
Loved your topshot!!
I actually just bought my 16 year old kid a Mazda 3 hatchback (2015, NOT new!!)
Modern enough to be safe, practical, inexpensive, not too fast, but decently responsive to drive. I wanted them to have a chance to enjoy driving.
I was so happy the day they told me, “I don’t like driving the Toyota (Corolla; Wife’s car), it feels so mushy to drive.”
I’ll now give you the other side of the coin from something “safe and slow”.
Back in my Chrysler days, we had super inexpensive employee leases on a few select cars and the craziest cheap option was a base Chrysler Crossfire with a 6 speed manual and summer tires. Internally, we called them ” black beauties” because all of them were black for some reason. Seemed like half the company was driving one when looking at the parking lot at the CTC. These things leased for only $191/mo. with unlimited miles and insurance included at no charge.
My oldest son got to drive a Cossfire for two years. We didn’t even mess with changing out the tires for winter as it was a lease.
He got some quality first hand driving immersion with a manual and a V-6 on tires that had minimal traction at best for winter driving. Amazingly, no accidents and only one speeding ticket that I know about. The kid definitely picked some valuable driving skills.
My insurance agent suggested we start the kids with an old cheap half ton domestic pickup, paid in full and with liability coverage only.
His take was each kid was going to be in one or more accidents, so it was best to have a vehicle with some mass in case of a major crash, and had easy parts availability for the inevitable repairs. If there were accidents, we’d have to eat the repair costs or write off the vehicle completely, but on the bright side the kid wouldn’t be starting their “on my own” phase of life with a history of car accident claims.
Of course we largely ignored this advice.
They both started off in a ’98 CR-V that didn’t have ABS (it wasn’t yet standard when it was new, and we didn’t spring for the extra $ – my only regret as we ended up owning the car for 20 years). Neither kid wrecked it, though the sides looked like wash boards from all the door banging it received in the high school parking lot.
I’d say you are smarter than your insurance agent. A cheap truck is gonna be way behind on safety features, and mass does not equal safer. My cousin was rear ended in a pickup, and although the hit was minor enough to make the truck easily repaired, the shock traveled forward so well it messed up her back. In hindsight, a car with good rear crumple zones would have absorbed the shock better. Yes, it might have totaled the car, but cars are replaceable. Back pain is permanent.
> His take was each kid was going to be in one or more accidents
That’s a weird take. I’ve never been in a crash, and neither have my parents or siblings. Lots of peoples don’t crash at any age.
My (now 31-year-old) son was taught to drive at a school run by cops as a side-gig. At the time, we had a second Gen CR-V. The exact year escapes my memory now, but it was pre-facelift so probably an ’02 or ’03. It had ABS and I took him, and an empty plastic garbage can to a big church parking lot on Saturdays and had him do maximum performance take-offs, so he learned what acceleration was possible, heading straight for the garbage can. Then, at progressively later runs, had him nail the brakes and steer around the can. The CR-V was what he drove through high school and college. He hasn’t had an accident yet.
When he went off to law school (UW Madison–Go Badgers), we bought him a used ’15 Ford Escape with AWD. He still has it, but in retrospect, keeping the Honda might have been a better choice. The HVAC in the Escape is messed up and isn’t easy or cheap to fix.
He and his wife last year bought a Mazda CX-5 on their own after test driving several CUVs. I was not consulted, but I am proud of what they chose. If he had called and said, “Dad, we’re buying a Rogue,” I would have done my best to talk them out of that.
This is an interesting topic for an article, but you’ve got a lot of time and who knows what will be available or reasonably priced then.
If I had to make a choice now, I’d look at the safety ratings of CUVs and go from there. Most CUVs are a practical choice, offer good visibility and are almost universally better than anything I drove until much later in life.
My child is 12 so ive been thinking about this for a bit. If the 2014 prius is still in the stable that would probably just get passed down to him.
If im buying him his own car i would consider one of the last years run prius c. Next choice would be a honda accord coupe. I would aslo consider a toyota yaris ia/ scion ia or possibly a scion tc if i find one in decent shape.. whatever he drives it needs to be fuel effecient because he probably wont have his own job to pay for gas money!
I ran across a great deal in my local Miata Club and my kid got surprised with a 2016 ND Miata. 65,000 miles, automatic, in Soul Red, with a set of winter tires and rims and a full service
history from the original owner for $10,000. He obviously loves it. He’s 20 and has proven himself very responsible and I wanted to get him something dependable for committing to college in the fall. It gets about 35 mpg, it’s cheap to run, and it’s really gotten him interested in cars and modifying his. It’s actually one of the cheaper cars of mine to insure, which shocked me. It’s been good bonding too, since he helps with work on my NC. He wants to learn stick this summer too, so we’ll be working on that in the NC.
All 3 of my kids started with a 2008 RWD V8 STS. It’s been passed to kid #3 now and it just keeps going. It’s a huge safe car, but it gets like 15mpg city, so the Miata was quite a reduction in running costs for the kid that commutes about 200 miles a week.
I cannot believe you are even asking this question. Please relax and reset your gear-head sensibilities.
First off- by the time Dilbert (not his real name) reaches car buying ownership age…
i can see it now: elder David Dad wanting son to be sensible, responsible and make a positive impact on society.
young Dilbert- IWANNARAISEHELL and have fun. GIMME HP produced by the gods of organic dinosaurs.
Realizing dad is orgasmic over his electric BMW…. I probably nailed it.
Dave you are getting too far ahead. Have you decided on a preschool for young Delmar? It is required sooner. You have 14 years to decide, maybe wait to see if you still like him? You are in California so no ICE cars will be legal heck maybe driving will be illegal. At least wait and see what he likes. Nothing separates a father and son than a father forcing his opinion on his progeny.
Although you still left off the safety of just good driving because that beats even seat belts because 99% of all drivers get home safe every day.
Ha! Preschool! So much drama about which preschool on the Real Wives of Wherever shows.
Do your best. Listen. Be patient. Don’t rub his nose in stuff you want, but he doesn’t. Listen to your wife when she calls you out on stuff that might not be working.
I’m pretty confident that you will have a bright boy. I’m not saying let him run wild but try to be open to his interests and nurture those.
You probably didn’t post this to get parenting advice, but team up with your wife and figure out how you’re going to handle this. Be open-minded to her advice. More so than all of us in the peanut gallery.
Another proper test is if you have sliding glass doors do not put any stickers on it. When he stops running into the closed glass doors or screen door then you can start thinking about letting him drive.
Ha! Back in college (1977) I picked up a girl to go to a buddy’s birthday party and we did a bowl before showing up at his apartment complex. he was hosting the party in his complex’s common space and she hit the slider. I brushed it off and we would wink at each other as we made our separate ways through the party. I think everyone knew we were high.
> You are in California so no ICE cars will be legal heck maybe driving will be illegal
Sorry but that’s entirely absurd.
It sure is. But I thought banning sales of new ICE cars by 2035 was absurd but California is replacing Florida as the land of absurdity, frankly I think they already are in the lead.
The article was already written here for my son’s first car David. M’mm It’s Always The Answer. My son saved up from age 14 to buy his first car and picked an NC Miata grand touring 6spd manual. Perfect for him. He’s having too much fun driving and shifting to text, it’s good on gas and insurance is cheap. We’ve done track days and it’s been dead reliable even though he thrashes it. I told him to plan for tires each summer and it’s been accurate. The tires are the most important part and really make the car shine. They are on there for a good time, not a long time. It’s been so much fun that I got one too. Now we go on drives together. Mine just happens to have a 2.5 swap and a turbo. 2 seaters also have other features: No bad advice from a back seat friend saying “do it” and also no room for “activities”.
Some great suggestions in here.
I gave my son my 2014 Avalon Hybrid about a year ago, when he started driving to school on a permit. Reasonably slow and has enough mass and safety features to somewhat compete with the huge SUVs and pickups. Somewhat.
It will also likely get him through the lean college years reliably. Hilariously, his younger sister dreams of a Kia Carnival as her first car.
My 20 year old daughter inherited her mom’s old 2016 Forester. All the modernish safety stuff in a boring, slow AWD CVT CUV that seats 5.
Perfectly reasonable!
I’d answer, but that then brings up the question of what my offspring would be, and I’m not sure I’m ready to answer that one yet.
We already know it would have the best transmission ever imagined and produced.
Every parent dreams of a child that’s sealed for life. Fluids are the worst part of parenting.
And every orifice leaks ridiculous amounts of fluid, often all at the same time. How did the baby hold that much?!?!
Retired Ford Crown vic police interceptor. Or maybe a Grand Marquis, most of those old cop cars are BEAT. Personally I like the 90s Impala SS, Roadmaster wagon or Caddy Fleetwood, but prices on those are silly, theyve become collector cars.
Anyways the Ford is big, safe, slow, rwd, good car to learn how to drive with in the snow. Too many young drivers have no idea what to do if their car starts to slide, how to countersteer, etc. Fwd or awd leads to overconfidence and driving too fast for conditions in snow IMO.
I bought a mint 2003 Grand Marquis LS Ultimate Edition for my daughter. It was 10 years old with 132K. Except for a failed LCM, which was covered by Ford (extended 250K warranty), the car served her well.
I got it back from her when she bought a new 2016 Honda Fit a few years later. The ’03 became the first of three Panthers for me (’95 Town Car, ’06 Marquis GS), and I enjoyed them all. I wound up doin a coil-spring conversion on the ’03 and fiddled with things such as plugs, coil packs, but the Panthers were solid performers overall.
Jump in the wayback machine and read how panthers fare in a snow day collision as written by Jack Baruth. Heavy and old inflicts damage on the other vehicle, but isn’t good at protecting it’s own occupants.
Care to provide a link or at least the name of the article so I can google it?? And yes crash standards are constantly improving, Im sure you can quote me a newer S class or 7 series is far safer(about the only big sedans left) or that a newer crossover might hold up better. But Im talking about the panther cars being a great place to learn basic car dynamics, its a hell of a lot safer than learning them in a Miata or some other type of sports car.
Put “Baruth”, “Panther”, and “crash” in your favorite search bar. It happened in 2014 and he wrote about it several times on more than one site. TTAC, Avoidable Contact, maybe Hemmings or R&T too. I’m not going to recommend him as an ideal human, but cars and writing were some things he was/is good at.
David – I feel well qualified to give you an answer as I have recently taken this life-test myself for my daughter who has survived driving through high-school and college with nary a crash or ticket. You are absolutely correct that you need to get a modern enough car to have the basic new safety stuff – side airbags, etc. However, what I don’t see mentioned here (at least on the 1st page of comments) is what I consider the most important thing. Living here (like Jason) in the college town of Chapel Hill, NC I am struck by one constant trait of nearly all the young drivers tooling around town in hand-me-down SUVs – they have their faces on their phones! This lack of paying any actual attention to the task of driving was something I was determined to prevent for my daughter. The solution was relatively simple – buy her a car with a stick shift. We managed to find a very low-mile, 10-year old Mazda 3 hatch that has been the perfect car for her. The stick gives her instant cred at the garage when she has to take it in for service and was a critical skill during a summer trip to Europe with a rental. She enjoys driving and is engaged in that activity when behind the wheel, not checking her social media feeds or whatever the heck all those other darn kids are doing. Good Luck!
Our daughter is 22 and currently drives an old Buick LeSabre. If she would give it up I would offer a Honda Element as the ultimate dog car, although her Labradoodle service dog is happy in any car
My kid’s first car was my wife’s old 2011 Acura MDX. AWD, antilock brakes, traction control, and decent size…it was a great first car. Add to that the fact that it had an impeccable maintenance history, and had a partial engine rebuild under warranty due to Honda’s well documented oil consumption issue. My only complaint was the presence of a 3rd row, which along with my daughter being old for her grade meant that she was the designated bus driver for her friends/teammates…not entirely bad, but you know there were snaps and tik-toks being shared while she was behind the wheel…
Sadly, not one but two of her contemporaries ended up crashing into that vehicle, resulting in its replacement with a 2012 Mazda CX-9.
The Mazda had most of the pros (plus lane indicators) and cons (still a 3 row) of the Acura, with the addition of a tendency for the PTO/transfer case to cook its ‘lifetime oil’ (which we addressed with a fluid flush at every oil change).
Unfortunately, she hydroplaned during a late night drive home from work, kissed the concrete median, and killed it.
By that point she was a college student working almost full-time; we gave her the insurance $$ and cosigned on a Hyundai Kona, which she still has.
Something cheap, slow and reliable. Our old Nissan Versa would be a great first car. In fact we sold it to a couple for their teenagers first car. I know what stupid shit I did as a teen, so they aren’t getting more than 150hp.
Before my daughter gets a car she has to beat me go karting. Once she has those skills I can trust her on the road.
My daughter is coming up on 10. I’m fairly certain my 2014 6-speed Mazda3 hatch will last long enough (est. mileage ~160k-180k when she’s 16 based on my current habits) and I would definitely let her drive it.
She really likes Mini Coopers and Fiat 500’s, so maybe I’d get one of those (I’ve considered an Abarth for me already), but I don’t look forward to some of the inevitable repairs.
She’s a cool kid, though, and I like seeing what kinds of cars she likes and look forward to finding something fun when she’s old enough.