Car search for a 19 year old girl

[Bob Kontak]

'Help me find a car" she says.

The most I can get out of her is under 100k miles and for $6,000.

I am thinking Ford Focus/Fusion. Accord would be better but then will be older.

Something relatively easy to fix as I'll be doing the repair work.

Chevy Cruze?

Just a few suggestions of nicer economy cars you have had good experiences with.

[masraum]

My kids have both had Chevy Sonics. They both paid more, but bought either new or practically new. The nice thing about them is that they are generally much more feature rich than a comparable Toyota or Honda. You might be able to get a decent one that's a little older for $6k.

If the plan is to buy something with <100k miles, then there's potentially going to be little failures that start popping up, starters, alternators, water pumps, etc... I would probably be shooting for something in the 50k-70k range, but maybe I'm biased from cars that I bought when I was younger and poorer and cars didn't last as well as today.

I'm not sure how the winter environment might change what's good for you folks up there.

[PorscheGAL]

My son is 20 and has been driving a Focus ST hatchback for the last few years. It has almost 200K miles on it. We are replacing the coolant tank this weekend. That has been the largest repair we have needed. It has been reliable and stood up to a teen learning to drive. I would imagine a basic Focus or Fiesta would have a similar repair bill.

[legion]

Domestics have the advantage of being able to put up with a lot of abuse and still be easy to repair. Japanese cars can put up with the abuse but are slightly more expensive to repair.

[Tobra]

Buick.

Big, slow, tank-like construction.


Perhaps a better choice for a young man.

Honda may have higher insurance costs, may find a clean, used rental car if you are going for domestic.

Check out Mazda 3

[sugarwood]

How about letting her take some initiative and find some cars herself ?
Then you can vet the ads. A grown adult should be able to search for cars using those filters, not just ordering DoorDash and Tinder dates.

[DWBOX2000]

Just bought a 08 VW Rabbit. Fun car with airbags. Practical with the hatch. A little different.

[rfuerst911sc]

My SIL purchased a new Chevy Cruze a few years ago , to my knowledge has been drop dead reliable . Any brand of US or Asian econobox would fit the bill . Like any used car purchase find the cleanest version you can afford . With a 6K budget I would look for a 5K car and keep the 1K for repairs .

[aschen]

just don't get a focus with the powershift dual clutch transmission. The only real detail I know about them is there is a reason they are so cheap. You may need to get a manual or one outside of the offending years. I like my ST quite alot.

Otherwise buick or something else American and reliable with a low resale value. You can get a decent camry/corolla/accord/civic for that price private party but will take a bit of searching.

[aschen]

Maybe able to get a decent prius in that range as well. I have heard they are super reliable.

[herr_oberst]

1974 El Camino with a 454 Big Block!

[masraum]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

1974 El Camino with a 454 Big Block!

I was thinking '83 El Camino owned by the same person for the past 35 years with 485,000 miles on the clock. And that'd make a heck of a road trip from the PNW to OH.

That's REALLY impressive, BTW.

I'd almost want to buy it myself to try to mostly preserve the way Glenn has done with his.

[GothingNC]

My kids have a 2005 Toyota Matrix, cheap, slow and bulletproof.

And plenty of space behind them in case they get rear ended by a texting driver.

[badcar]

Subaru- 2.5L bombproof. Tons of Foresters and Imprezas in that range.

[Cajundaddy]

A college age car *should* be a vanilla sled. It will get dings and dents, it should be reliable and reasonably cheap to own. Get A/C and auto trans, avoid the weird CVT.

USA build- under 100k miles
Honda/Toyota/Lexus- under 200k miles

A few that my kids got good service from as they passed through this life chapter:
Ford Fusion, Toyota Avalon, Lexus RX 300, Saturn, Honda Civic DX. A 20 yr old car that has been well maintained can be a great find and under the radar for most.

VW Passat was a reliability nightmare. Daughter was stranded 6 times in 2 years.

These cars are brilliant and if well maintained will easily go 250k miles without burning oil or any major breakdowns:
https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/l-Used-Lexus-RX-300-d568#listing=242356889
https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/inventorylisting/viewDetailsFilterViewInventoryListing.action?zip=9 1730&maxPrice=5000&distance=50000&entitySelectingHelper.selectedEntity=d291#listing= 263251323

[GH85Carrera]

It is always just amazing to me a 19 year old does not have a car already. I know I am a geezer.

I had already had a car that day I turned 16. Dad gave me an interest free loan, and I paid for all costs except insurance.

I bought my first new car when I was 18, and when I was 19 I bought my 1974 914 2.0.

I would NOT recommend a 914 for her, but it was my dream car at the time.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

It is always just amazing to me a 19 year old does not have a car already. I know I am a geezer.

I had already had a car that day I turned 16. Dad gave me an interest free loan, and I paid for all costs except insurance.

I bought my first new car when I was 18, and when I was 19 I bought my 1974 914 2.0.

I would NOT recommend a 914 for her, but it was my dream car at the time.

I'm guessing that things have changed a bit since the early 20th century.

Yeah, for folks born in 1954 vs 2001, the world may be a slightly different place. I also suspect you weren't exactly typical (which is a good thing) even in the early 70s.

[aigel]

MK6 Golf, Jetta with a stick. Doable if it is an early MK6.

G

[ckelly78z]

Lots of elderly folks out there taking great care of their Crown vics, and buick regals who are aging out of the driving game. Look for something 10 years old, American, large, and boring.

[Scott Douglas]

I think I'd look for something like this:

https://orangecounty.craigslist.org/cto/d/fullerton-2004-toyota-camry-le-91k/7079421459.html

You'd have enough money left to fix the little things that needed it and make it a really reliable runner for her.