Buy a Prius. I owned one for a year until a reckless driver hit me and totaled it. Great car. And, also had a higher safety rating than a Camry according to my insurance agent

My brother had to replace the windshield in his Prius and it was $1500

Out here, a new Bolt can be had for up to $20K off. CA example, tax rebates would be different in WI. My point is, don't pay too much for a used one. I sold my 1.5 year old Volt for more than I could have gotten a new one for.

Purchase Option - Bolt
$43,510 MSRP
-$6000 Dealer Discount! ($5,500 without supplier pricing)
-$6500 Factory Rebates
-$1,500 GM lease to purchase rebate (or $500 for Non-GM lease)
Total savings - $14,000
$29,510 No-Brainer Net Price

-After Purchase (if you qualify)
-$2,500 cvrp (income requirements)
-$800 PG&E (PG&E customers)
-$3,750 Federal tax credit (based on tax liability)
$22,460 Net cost !

My wife’s thinking of getting a Volt or Bolt. This all looks pretty interesting.

^ sending you a PM, Jim

I believe the Volt was discontinued?

Thanks Steve!

Scott, you’re right, although there may be new 2019 models still on dealer lots.

The sedan body is discontinued in 2019. It will be replaced by a Voltec powered crossover. They discovered the problem with Volt isn’t the electro-mechanical Voltec system, it’s the lack of interest in sedans.












S

Why not consider the Hyundai
Ioniq? It's available as HEV, PHEV, and EV
Personally for such short journey's( with occasional long ones) the PHEV will hardly ever require petrol as even in cold weather it will easily do 20 miles daily on battery alone.
The HEV( which I have was bought specifically to do long journeys and in summer does 30mpg more than my old Focus diesel and in winter about 15 mpg more. It's roomhy comfortable, with a big hatchback trunk.
The HEV and PHEV have 6 speed double clutch auto but always start from rest in electric so that spares the clutch somewhat from overheating by lazy idiot drivers who hill hold on the gas.
5 year warranty as well.
The Kia Niro SUV has the same running gear but is 10. mpg less economic because of the less good aerodynamics

As mentioned before, make sure the heater will work well with whatever model you consider.

Similar ideas in our household. New driver coming into the fold. Not interested in driving a manual (shock!) and likes the ideas of electric power.

Then again, 16 year old drivers wreck cars.. How much do you want to spend? (this is why, for me, a cheap ICE in the 10 year old range is likely going to be our starter car for driver #3)

ok.. back to the issue at hand:
1) Hybrids - best of both worlds as commuter cars. They use almost no gas in stop and go. They get good overall range (400+ miles/tank). Prius, Civic, some others too.. Cmax, Fusion, Sonata etc. Everyone seems to make one.

2) PHEV - as noticed, too short pure electric range. But, given the climate, car will always have range. Plug in/Recharge not required to use the car (dad, I forgot to charge it last night). Volts seem to have the most range... older ones, 30ish electric miles, the new ones (soon to be discontinued) about 50 miles electric. Be sure to read up on them as to how they interact with the battery. Some recharge the battery but I think some just simply go pure ICE. Each maker seemed to have their own approach.

3) Pure electrics. Older are limited in range - 50-100 miles. Focus, Golf, Leaf, BMW i3 etc.

New electrics - Leaf (150 miles) Bolt (200 miles) and Tesla 3 (up to 300 miles) are actually good "cars" that just need to be charged.

And that leave the charging issue.. Where would the car be charged away from home? Is there local charger support? For instance, our nearest Trader Joes has some chargers available. There are apps showing where public and private chargers are. Will it only charge at home? Obviously, as a 3rd or more car, there are other options if needed?

Key point. When you say a cheap ICE though, I get the impression you're risking the loss and not getting comp/collision insurance. If you're getting full insurance, than there are more options, I think.

I think safety should be a high priority, especially with new drivers. Safety costs money, especially if you're talking hybrids and EVs. I know there's lots of alternatives and nuance in safety, etc, but I like Volvo CPOs. The cars didn't really hold their value that well, but that's a good thing when buying used. A Volvo CPO will have a 5 year/unlimited mileage warranty from its original sale date, but it can be extended up to 5 more years with either 100K or unlimited total miles. Not cheap, but worth it.

We faced this with my niece, who was looking for a used RAV4 type of car and AWD. Her parents and I concluded the best option for her was a Forester lease. With about $1,000 out of pocket, she's driving for about $171/mo plus tax. For a relatively safe car with the latest safety technology, warranty, and minimal maintenance, it seemed hard to beat. Of the Japanese economy cars, I think Subaru is at the top of the pack safety wise.

A nice thing about leasing is you don't suffer any diminished value if the car is in an accident (as long as it's repaired properly).

I'm with Steve on safety. I look for the safest car with the best reliability.

Right, people only buy SUV's now I hear.

Our priority for our kids, when they became of driving age, was safety and reliability. IMHO with those short trips, fuel economy is less important. We bought a used Jetta, made it through 2 kids, never let us down.

https://www.iihs.org/ratings/safe-vehicles-for-teens#best

Whats funny about that is it's self fulfilling prophecy...people will only buy SUV's when there are only SUV's to buy!

Insurance wasn't the concern. Safety is a very personal thing in some ways. back in the 1980's, my first car was a 914. Overall, a horrible choice when it comes to safety. But I lived through it just fine. My brothers first car a few years before me was a Mercedes. He died in a non spectacular (ie, not speeding, drugs, on a phone etc) car accident. There are no guarantees here folks.

By a cheap ICE car, I merely meant a 10 year old Civic/Jetta etc. Heck, even a 10-15 year old Mercedes is a safe car. And cheap.. $3-5K.. cause its disposable. My original plan was to keep my 13 year old, 220K mile Jetta for my boys, but the car had other ideas with growing issues that rendered it useless for its current use, let alone keeping it around for them.

Sorry for getting off track.

As to lasting long, I've ridden in several Prius cabs, all with original batteries, with HUNDREDS of thousands of miles on them. They certainly last. The long term issue is when the batteries erode to about 70 or percent charging capacity, its time to replace. And in hybrid instances, its likely the same cost as replacing a motor. $2500 or so. From the factory, a prius has an 8yr or so warranty.

I wouldn't worry about the ICE cycling on and off in cold climates. These cars are winter tested for thousands of miles.. and there are so many out there now that owners and manufacturers have learned about any issues.

I see safety as a legitimate angle on the conversation!

there's that little Fiat or e-Fiat

a guy here loves the ones he has for his business

(he's a 944 owner tho)

Safety first. Right behind it is how much you trust the 16 yo to properly monitor the batteries on an EV. Remember that older batteries lose their charge capacity so an older hybrid or EV may have even less range.

While you're looking at all the info, check with your insurance agent and see what the cost of an EV versus ICE is. Be prepared to pay heavily for all your vehicles when there is a 16 yo driver in the family.