First car for daughter

[PDBusa]

Hey gang. I know I haven't been around for a while due to selling my Bullet and now riding/racing "dirty"
At any rate, my daughter, who some have met, is 16 and "driving"
She will be looking for a first car soon and I need some help. She flat out refuses to use my baby blue 1988 Kcar because it's not cool. ???
She was initially looking at Jeep Cherokees, but I have found the pre-2006 that would be in her price range are electronically problematic.
I'm looking for something SUV ish, that is safe, reliable, won't cost a fortune to insure, and can be had for less than $7k or so.
Any input greatly appreciated.
Thanks gang.
Ride Safe and Be Well!

cHank

 

[twotonevert]

Good to see you back Chank! Miss you around here. Have you looked at the Kia's, Chevy has some nice suv's that would be a good starter.

 

[PDBusa]

Looked at some of the smaller Chev SUV's. Wife has a 2010 Equinox, but Jen isn't getting that anytime soon. Will have to look into Kias. Are they reliable?

 

[k03gsxr750]

Make her pay for gas and you won't even have to worry about curfew or distance because she won't be going far for long

Kia makes a pretty good SUV post 2004 in that price range, usually very safe too

 

[Commuta_Busa]

any of the more recently built cars are as safe if not more safe that any suv. Cars get better gas mileage too and at least in NJ they cost less to insure. I wouldn't just focus on suv's unless it's some kind of status thing. I tell everyone that the first car will sooner or later be involved in an accident so it's a good idea to remember that it's a temporary car and not to go over board on its price.

 

[karnage]

Nothing GM would be my suggestion.No kias or hyundais.Jeeps arent too bad as long as it has the 4.0 in it.

 

[saygbye]

buddy of mine has a jeep cherokee that has over 250,000 miles on it. 96 model I think?
been good to him though and this guy never does maintence or anything else. been through 1 of his kids and now a 2nd one is driving it.

 

[twotonevert]

Never heard anything bad about the kia's, 100k mile warranty. I was just trying to come with something cheap and reliable.

 

[Sous]

I had a 2000 Grand Cherokee for 150,000 miles and it was a great SUV. Did not have anything but regular maintenance issues with it.

I would look into Kia, they have come a long way in the past years. 100K mile warranty, you can't beat that with a stick.

Also, older Toyota cars run forever. I bought my wife a 1993 Tercel 6 years ago for $600. I spray painted it John Deere green with 20 spray cans from Tractor Supply. I then wet sanded it down and it still looks great to this day. She has since put pink and yellow daisy magnets on it and loves the car. It has 130K miles on it and has only needed a few things over the years. It also gets like 40 MPG and takes 12 gallons or something ridiculous like that.

It is not really the car you are buying, it is how well it was taken care of before.

 

[BusaWhipped]

It's a bit amaller than a SUV, but we;ve had a PT Cruiser for 6 years now. It's been a reliable car. Ours has 128,xxx miles on it with only the scheduled maintenance. They are inexpensive to purchase as well.

 

[skydivr]

Big/Heavy enough to have a fair chance in taking a hit....

 

[lankeeyankee]

An older 4runner made by toyota are bullet proof Ive seen them go atleast 300K before major issues.
they do hold there value but if you are patient you can find a great deal on one.
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[zukracer]

around here? the biggest/safest thing you can find

your phone broke or just ignorin my calls these days ???

 

[kromdom]

Mitsubishi Montero Sport: have one, bought it new in 01 and problem-free so far (sample pic below). My daughters learned how to drive on it and were required to "get good" with driving for at least one year before they got trucks of their own.

 

[Busa1166]

Well I would say the GMC or Chevy Trail Blazer or Envoy, good crash rating and reliable but in 6K price range may not work. KBB has the 06 even in fair condition with 50K miles in the 10K-11K price range for private sales. And fuel economy isn't to great on them they are heavy little trucks but they always impressed me how well they held up in an accident.

 

[PaLVBusa]

any of the more recently built cars are as safe if not more safe that any suv.

+1000 to this. My fiance had a 2011 chevy cruze (tiny little cavalier looking thing) and was hit from behind by a tractor trailer doing 90mph. The car was totalled and she left the accident without a scratch. Only hurt her ego and now shes afraid to drive on highways but the car held up pretty dang well for the size of it.

 

[nybryan]

i say offer the k car or nice new pair of sneakers. No power means less tickets, uncool means she won't be the one driving all her friends all over the world, and getting into all sort of trouble. It stands out so you will always be able to spot where she is and where she isn't. She won't take it into the powerlines to go four wheeling with her stupid boyfriend where you will get a phone call at 3 in the morning to come get her unstuck. No collision insurance required to keep the rates down and when it get smashed you can just walk away from it. If the babyblue paint job is the problem tell for fourty bucks you can buy and gallon of paint and a roller and it can be any color she likes.

 

[skydivr]

First car ought to be like your first trackbike...in all likelyhood it's gonna get beat up a little...

 

[omslaw]

I'm driving a 2002 Grand Cherokee 4.7... 190,000 on it and still runs great. Sure, it's had a few issues, but that's to be expected. Nothing major; just the usual...having to replace all the OEM stuff that is wearing out; brakes, shocks, just replaced a broken O2 sensor. I still drive it 1/2 way across the country every few weeks...

 

[Busa1166]

i say make her drive the k car or nothing. No power means less tickets, uncool means she won't be the one driving all her friends all over the world, and getting into all sort of trouble. It stands out so you will always be able to spot where she is. She won't take it into the powerlines to go four wheeling where you will get a phone call at 3 in the morning to come get her unstuck. No collision insurance required to keep the rates down and when it get smashed you can just walk away from it.

Well I would expect regardless of what car you get her you would put a sat tracker on it regardless but K car isn't very crash worthy car.