[vicali]

I've been volunteered as the resident car guy to help out a family friend pick a new car out for her 16 year old daughter.. using my car finding superpowers for good this time :icon_wink: rather than finding the broken down, oil dripping, turbo rally projects..

We've gone over what she wants; newish, fun, good stereo, sedan..
What her mom wants; safe, reliable, low maintenance, four door, not sub-compact..
..and then put it through my car snob/enthusiast/crazy filters to get the potential candidates. :biggrin:

Hard details are;
Newer than 2005, less than 100K km (~60K miles) auto :chair:
Bombproof.

Her budget is 7-10K :icon_eek:

The ones I've gotten her seat time in so far;
09+ Civic -not too shabby
08+ Corolla -boring zzzZZZ
08+ Mazda3 -Likes it!

Right now this little one is at the top of her list..

I'm still trying to find some other good ones out there, so if you have any suggestions let them fly..

 

[dbking321]

go with the mazda they are great cars

 

[peter.k]

I had mazda3 hatch for 2 years. bought with 30k sold at 60k miles. Only thing that went wrong was one bearing and one of engine mounts but I blame my lowered/stiffer suspension + NYC roads for that, other then that great fun car.. ( and if she goes with mazda let me know i still have some parts for it , wheel locks, carpet mats. )

 

[Guest]

Make her get a job and work to buy the car, then, any car is a good car. :biggrin:


My friend has a Mazda 3, it's a good car.

 

[adc]

Civic

 

[ADaughen]

go with the mazda they are great cars

Agreed, I have an '04 S, 5spd with 130k and a '10 I, auto with 70k.

 

[vicali]

Civic

Funny thing, on the way to the mazda3 we stopped into the Honda dealer, they were just putting the window letters on this little car;

2007 Honda Civic DX-G,
20,300kms (~12K miles) :huh:
$11,999

Went for a drive and it was really nice, basically a brand new car parked for 7 years.. bought from the dealership into a honda family. traded in on a '13 civic this month. No claims, not even glass, still has original tires with knubblies..

She loved it of course, and we ended up signing for it at $11K even..
She's picking it up on Saturday.

My work here is complete.

Make her get a job and work to buy the car.

:N_poke:
She's delivered papers since she was 13, works after school at the mall, level headed- not a spoiled kid at all.

Plus when her friend told her she's lucky to be buying a car her reply;
'I'm spending money that was left to me by my Grandma, who died. So no, it's not really that lucky.' Priceless.

 

[sNOwproblem]

My vote of the three is the Mazda3. An ex of mine had one, great little car, good mileage, zippy, geared towards city driving, great from a stop, **** on a quarter mile drag. big trunk.
for a first car though, isnt it a little too nice??? I started off with an Oldsmobile Achieva, talk about paying dues.

 

[vicali]

^Haha, agreed, I had to modify my usual search method of what piece of junk can i turn into a good car to what car can i find that will never need the hood lifted.. It was a different game for sure.

My first car was also an olds-mobile; It's fitting that the pic I could find is beside the water, considering what a boat it was..

 

[Sir Puddingpops]

Mazda3 fits just about every requirement posted... fiancee's family owns three Mazda3s for a reason.

From my own experience with the brand:

(X) newish
(XX) fun
(depends on package) good stereo
(X) sedan

(X [As good as any other consumer sedan]) safe
(Unsure, haven't experienced anything unsually fragile in fiancee's cars) reliable
(see above) low maintenance
(X) four door
(X) not sub-compact

 

[adc]

She loved it of course, and we ended up signing for it at $11K even..
She's picking it up on Saturday.

My work here is complete.

No one can ever be certain of anything, but Civicvs (IMHO) are the most reliable vehicles on the planet.

 

[Guest]

Buy one with a manual transmission and you can't text and drive. :biggrin: :n_poke:

 

[FLfrstr]

Buy one with a manual transmission and you can't text and drive. :biggrin: :n_poke:

Oh yes you can! If there is a will a teenager will find a way!

 

[ryanlarue]

This was my first car :biggrin: I miss driving it so much :icon_cry:



I has (had) a Oldsmobile 403, Turbo 400, 2.79 Posi. I did a few engine mods to it like larger carburetor; 700ish CFM mechanical 4 barrel quadrajet, EGR delete, true dual exhaust with H pipe, electric fan conversion, cut the shaker open. She made 225 RWHP and 290 RWTq. 15.8 sec 1/4 mile was my fastest. 3 years of driving it I only had 1 speeding ticket, 5 over in a reduce speed zone..... :yell:

Lost the engine on my way to work :shake: so now it sits at my grandparents until I have money to rebuild her.

If you teach your kids to respect cars, people and property, they can be trusted with pretty much anything they drive. My parents gave me this talk (kindof) when they gave me this car.

Personally, I think the Forester is the perfect first car; creature comforts, power windows, locks, ect.

 

[Amber Foresty]

Buy one with a manual transmission and you can't text and drive. :biggrin: :n_poke:

That is VERY true! Hahaha. It's REALLY hard for me to multitask, but admittedly while cruising along in third or fourth or fifth gear at normal road speeds with no need to stop any time soon, it's a little bit easier. :biggrin:

I'm a spoiled brat by definition (it took me an embarrassingly long time to realize that, too; so now I just sort of realize how unbelievably lucky I am) because my parents paid for my car (well, it's theirs, but they always kept three cars so it was rather convenient for me when I finally wanted to learn how to drive).

Anyway, I first learned to drive on a 1997 Ford Escort. Then, the '91 Legacy. (This was before I could "legally" drive, but my dad took me to parking lots in order to teacher me.) I also sort of learned how to drive the Forester, but not really; it had a really bad clutch at that time. It got fixed shortly after I turned 16, so when the Escort died, I drove the Forester.

ANYWAY, my point is that, doesn't the Civic seem a little... new, for such a new driver? Historically, my coordination isn't the greatest when I get scared and panic (i.e. when PARKING). I've gotten the hang of it now, of course, but the Forester had a dent in it for the longest time. :shake: My parents just acquired an '07 Honda Accord, and I'm not allowed to drive alone, for fear that I'll destroy it. :biggrin: (Hey, those dents were AGES ago! I wouldn't do it now!!! But they won't listen... :icon_biggrin This isn't true of all new drivers, of course, because a lot of people are FAR more level-headed and careful than I am, and also have the good sense not to put themselves into those situations in the first place (say, parking at Walmart). :icon_rolleyes:

 

[arbakken]

Don't forget the Ford Focus. I mean, all intents and purposes the same car as the Mazda 3, but definitely worth a mention. My '00 is by far away the best car I've ever owned (still have it at 184k!!). Very rarely breaks down (in the past, oh 2 years, I had to replace the original front brakes, tie rod ends, and a heater hose). Doesn't leak a drop of oil, has never let me down or stranded. I was going to shoot for 300k miles, but that almost looks too easy...