The new car idea has a lot of merit; no costly surprises and only minimal maintenance expense compensates for the payment. She could lease an '05 Civic for $159/mo + tax with about $2k to start, keep the other $3K in reserve, even to help with payments. Click on "Current Offers" at
http://automobiles.honda.com/
This might be a useful resource if you ignore my advice:
www.intellichoice.com