What is a good first car for a 16 year old?
(2010-05-29 16:29:49) 1. Says: Im 5'4 and I like the small cars, like a jetta. is there anything other then a jetta that looks nice and is small? thanks.2. Says: It should be 4-door, 4-cyls, not sporty. I would prefer Honda or Toyota... First time drivers usually have much more expensive car insurance, and it depends from car. You should compare insurance rates while choosing the car - for example here - carinsurance.deep-ice.com3. Says: An older Volvo, not that small but reliable and safe.4. Says: ford focus5. Says: VW's are some of the most unreliable cars. They have the 4th most official complaints, but only sell the 13th most cars. I'd get one of these:http://www.cars.com/go/search/detail.jsp?tracktype=usedcc&csDlId=&csDgId=&listingId=29479854&listingRecNum=3&criteria=sf1Dir%3DDESC%26alMdId%3D20649%26mkId%3D20039%26stkTyp%3DU%26mdId%3D20649%26rd%3D75%26crSrtFlds%3DstkTypId-feedSegId-mkId-mdId%26zc%3D80130%26rn%3D0%26PMmt%3D1-1-0%26stkTypId%3D28881%26sf2Dir%3DASC%26sf1Nm%3Dprice%26sf2Nm%3Dmiles%26alMkId%3D20039%26rpp%3D50%26feedSegId%3D28705&aff=national
It's really just a rebadged Opel Astra, engineered in Germany, built in Belgium, and marketed in the U.S. as a Saturn. They were only brought to the US for 2008-09, but ever since they came out in Europe it has been one of the top 5 best selling cars. They have a much more competitive small car market than we do, with literally dozens of good entries so it's a much harder feat to accomplish than doing that in the States. However, in the U.S. the car was a flop. Partly because GM gave the car no exposure, and how are you going to get people to buy a car if they don't know it exists? Another setback was the price, and because of the strong Euro and weak Dollar importing it raised prices to nearly 16K. Americans just weren't ready for the idea of a premium small car. The quality of it is very good. It's well built out of premium materials (well, for a hatchback). It even had some pretty cool options, like a dual-panel panoramic sunroof. They didn't make too many of them, about 10,000 cars, so they're rare enough to be unique, but not too rare they're impossible to find. Other than a couple minor problems reliability has been above average. It's been out in Europe for 7 years now (I believe), and nothing major has come up. It's certainly worth a look. I do really like VW's. I think they're well styled, well built, and made from very high quality materials. It's just they're too unreliable for me to recommend as a first car. This will probably have to get you through college and starting off at your job, and the last thing you need in that situation is a car that costs a fortune to run. Tag: What is a good first car for a 16 year old?