Teen's first car

[John K Jordan]

That's a tough row to hoe these days...manual transmissions are just not all that common anymore...

As to "older" cars...I don't favor going back many model years at this point because of safety concerns and reliability. But that's me.

When renting a car in London the last trip I made the mistake of getting a manual transmission (a diesel). I'd always rented a automatic in previous trips. If I remember correctly, most of the cars for rent were stick shift, at least at that agency.

Boy that was a mistake. I don't have any trouble with a stick but the combination of shifting with the left hand, driving on the odd side of the road, and multi-lane roundabouts at rush hour with everyone else driving fast 'bout did me in! Next time it's back to auto. Or stick to countries like Italy where they aren't confused about which side of the road to drive on.

JKJ

[Harold Balzonia]

Interesting to me that there are a few people on the forum who consider manual transmissions nonsensical....

I guess they must have a shop full of festool equipment and probably tossed out all their hand planes, spokeshaves and marking gauges...

nothing to be learned by doing things the "old way" I guess... 😝

[Rick Potter]

All the below statements are true.

When my son turned 15 1/2 he got a permit, including motorcycles, and drove a motorcycle a couple years, because a motorcycle permit did not raise our insurance rates.

When his son turned of age, my son gave him use of his Harley for two years....same deal.

That grandson is now getting my Model T with a V-8 60 and a three speed back on the road so his younger brother and sister can learn to drive a stick shift on it. He is almost 20 now and drives a large gravel truck/trailer full time for his dad.

My oldest grand daughter (28) learned to drive in the 'T' also.

Back to the question at hand. Maybe you should consider a trip a bit farther from home. I just looked at my local CL ads under 'Crown Victoria', and found 47 available, all of which showed no rust at all. How about a grandma's 05 model with 88K miles for $3K? Or, you could consider a nice '11 police detective model with a little over 100K for $4K. If you really want to keep her safe, there were several black police models with white doors, and push bumpers available for about the same money. No one would follow close, or crowd her in that one.

[Jim Becker]

The OP has nicely asked that this conversation stay focused on "the vehicle". He's a good dad and will deal with other things accordingly. Let's just provide comments on vehicle choices and why. And that's an official request.

Jim
Forum Moderator

[Jim Becker]

Interesting to me that there are a few people on the forum who consider manual transmissions nonsensical....

It's not really that they are "nonsensical", Harold. Rather, it's a matter of very low supply of such vehicles and the increasing unlikeliness that these younger drivers will ever be faced with having to drive one. There are few manual transmission vehicles on the road at this point, at least in reasonably current model years, outside of enthusiasts' rides. The last time I had to drive one was on vacation in Ireland two decades ago, myself. And it's very unlikely that a parent will find one in a late model, used vehicle that's appropriate for a teen driver at this point.
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Matt, on the insurance thing, I forgot to mention that while we provided the car for our daughter to drive, she's responsible for paying us $100 per month for insurance and for paying for her own gas. That's been reasonable for a high-schooler with a part time job. When she starts commuting to PSU in the late summer, we will be helping with the gas cost because commuting saves us $10K+ over her living away from home and it's going to be about 40 miles per day round trip.

[roger wiegand]

Our kids both have 5-8 year old Toyota Corollas. They are a pretty ideal car for younger kids. Small enough to maneuver and park, good gas mileage, insurance as reasonable as it gets, and extremely reliable, with relatively low repair costs.

They got their licenses at ages 19 and 23. (We were willing when they were 18, they weren't interested) The idea of a 15 year old behind the wheel is terrifying.

[Matt Meiser]

Matt,

Is it possible to insure your daughter with a "rider" on your policy. When my kids got their licenses our agent let us insure them with a rider on our policy. My son had his own car and my daughter used one of ours. The cost of the rider was a fraction of a full policy in their name.

In do remember some legality of primary driver and occasional driver status.

Been a while since I've had experience with the lovely FAFSA, but if the car is titled and registered in your name I don't think it affects the FAFSA.

On the first, that is what we'd be doing. Its still unaffordable to add a kid as a primary driver on a vehicle with full coverage and if you have 3 vehicles and 3 drivers, someone will automatically be primary on each.

On the FAFSA, I was referring to the kid's income, not ownership of the vehicle.

[Matt Meiser]

Well, I just bought a 2007 Focus Wagon for my second car. . It's been made clear this is MY car and in several months when she gets her regular license she will be using it but now we can get her doing her learners driving in the vehicle she will be driving and not in one of our good cars (and especially not my 400HP sedan!)

We will probably do something like Jim and others suggested with respect to gas, insurance, and maintenance. My wife and I are actually working on an inexpensive list of things she needs to buy now to set the mentality that driving is expensive.

[Shawn Pixley]

Our son got his license and a car after he graduated high school. We got him a Honda Fit due to the good gas mileage and safety. He ended up driving it from home to L.A. daily, driving through the worst intersection in the US. That gave him appropriate caution about other cars.

He was hit while stopped at a stop light. The hitting car, his car, and another car were all totalled. My son was completely unhurt. The only thing he complained about was that his slushy was spilled. When he turned 21, I taught him how to drive stick on my S2000. There was no way I was going to let him drive a powerfull sports car without a few years of driving experience. He never drove the car as a matter of course, but I thought it useful to know how to drive stick.

He has purchased his own car, with a stick. He has hands free for his phone (aftermarket).

Luckily it is pretty recent with all the important safety features. Personally, I would focus on the safety aspects. Cars like we learned on are considerably less safe than most cars today (airbags, four wheel disc brakes, anti-lock brakes, driver's stability, etc...).

[Curt Harms]

That's a tough row to hoe these days...manual transmissions are just not all that common anymore...

As to "older" cars...I don't favor going back many model years at this point because of safety concerns and reliability. But that's me.

Not in the US maybe. If they have to drive overseas, the likelihood of driving a manual goes up. I did have to drive a manual Honda from Central New Jersey to JFK airport and back 2 - 6 PM with construction backups. I don't think my left leg will ever be the same

[Jim Becker]

Not in the US maybe. If they have to drive overseas, the likelihood of driving a manual goes up. I did have to drive a manual Honda from Central New Jersey to JFK airport and back 2 - 6 PM with construction backups. I don't think my left leg will ever be the same

Yes, that's true...manual transmissions are more common outside of North America.

That must have been a "fun" ride, too...'hope you weren't having to pilot the same day!

[Jason Roehl]

Not in the US maybe. If they have to drive overseas, the likelihood of driving a manual goes up. I did have to drive a manual Honda from Central New Jersey to JFK airport and back 2 - 6 PM with construction backups. I don't think my left leg will ever be the same

What cemented my initial manual tranny skills was what should have been a short trip to and from the mall in my dad's fairly new (at the time) '93 Mazda B2200 pickup many years ago. While I was at the mall, it snowed, it was just before Christmas, and traffic went all to heck while I was at the mall. What should have been less than 10 minutes home took about 45 minutes of stop-and-go. The situation let me get the feel for where the engagement point of the clutch was, and the slick roads forced me to get good at feathering the clutch and accelerator pedals. About a year later, I got my first car--an '87 Mercury Lynx (same as the Ford Escort) with a 5-speed and manual steering.

[Matt Meiser]

My dad bought a car for himself that was a stick when I was away at college and when I was home summers had to learn to move it but never really learned to drive it. Then I got my first real job after college in Peoria, IL and got my first new car which was a stick. I learned REAL quick how to get moving on the hills as the grocery store I shopped at was up a hill with a funky light arrangement that pretty much guaranteed stopping on the hill. The last thing I drove that was a stick was a beater pickup we briefly owned in the early 2000's before I realized we were way better off owning a trailer to tow behind our minivan than a 3rd vehicle.

[Bruce Wrenn]

One thing ALL parents need to do is to teach their kids to BACK IN PARK. Backing in, the driver controls the traffic. How many new misses have you had some idiot darts between you and the cars parked behind you while blowing the horn? Most commercial leases, and insurance requires back in parking where permitted. As a side note, I want a water spray on back of car when it's in reverse for those idiots who insist on walking behind your car when your are backing out of a space at Walmart.

[Ken Combs]

Those older cars are long gone here, literally...they've rusted away to nothing! That causes a dilemma here because even mid-2000's cars, many are starting to rust, and its than just cosmeticissues as rusted rocker panels and the like affect the structural integrity of the vehicle in an accident.

Matt, I'm late to this party but the quote above caught my attention. My kids are way way past the new driver stage, but if I were in your position I would search OK, NM, part of TX and AZ for an older car/pickup of my liking. Then take a family vacation to purchase. Your choice, drive it back using two drivers, or rent a car hauler trailer from Uhaul. You can get a literally rustfree vehicle in any of those places and others I'm sure. Not only will the body be pristine but the undercarriage, springs, brakes etc will be also.

Doing this will net a better vehicle and probably a better price. Yeah, you do have the trip to consider, but its' cost is offset, at least in my mind, by the shared family experience and after all, you need a vc anyway. I've used that logic to justify a few purchases from surrounding states.

that's worth a bunch when it comes time to do brakes etc.