@ucbalumnus - NOT the same. Period.
I realized. But my point was about creating good driving habits with the traditional methods.
@BunsenBurner agreed, added to the reasons he shouldn’t have it.
I do agree with your concern that a vehicle like a Tesla with many driver assistance features could result in developing a more “lazy” driver dependent on those features than learning without them.
Mr. B strongly advises against anything with the Autopilot for a beginner driver. His motto for that feature is “trust but verify.”
Because, in a lot of the country, you can let your gas tank run low and count on there being a gas station within 5 miles. The nearest public charging station might be a 100 miles away. The infrastructure for EVs doesn’t exist in the same way it does for ICE vehicles.
I stumbled across a 2006 Volvo S60 with 91,000 miles on it. It was always garaged and only driven to a commuter lot every day so it was spared city driving. It’s very clean. He has it priced high at $5,000 with the upper end of KBB value at around $4,800. I plan to look at it sometime this week.
My D got my Volvo that I had been driving for about 5 years. She drove it for several years and even when she got a new car and we sold the Volvo it was still in good condition. S got my mother’s Camry when she stopped driving. It was in great condition and hadn’t been driven much at all. (when my parents bought it she had cut back drastically on her driving). My parents, like H and I are very good at maintaining their cars. He still drives it when he’s home from school and H and I drive it when he’s away and it still runs great. Both of these cars never gave us or our kids any trouble. We’ve always been good at maintaining our cars and because of that our cars have always lasted years with almost no problems.
We aren’t big car people. When we do buy a new car we keep it for years and always take good care of them.
We would never buy a brand new car or lease a car for our kids. H and I don’t think teens need a brand new car. (I get that other parents may feel differently and that is OK) Our well-maintained used cars that were passed onto our kids worked fine and kept them safe. And we wouldn’t have passed on our cars to them if they weren’t safe or were in poor condition. Then again, our kids didn’t take their cars to college, parking permits are too expensive and the 10 hour drives just add wear and tear…
Regarding the Tesla. An all electric car will be my next car according to son- just had to replace my Lexus ES and went hybrid. H will need to replace his aging car (finally!) looked at the Tesla online (we’re frugal, not what we can afford but what we feel is worth spending our money on so it was the least expensive version) and determined the features were not his style. My take is that it is not just the need for a charging station but the time required. A hybrid can be filled up in minutes at the gas station (or someone can bring that gas can to where you are stuck) but any electric car will need hours to recharge even with the best outlet installed. I suppose it is easier for a teen to remember to plug in a car than stop for gas.
The brand new car is for the college grad with a first job. We ended up paying for our son’s because of timing with getting paperwork from his job and holidays, sale ending before he could get the new grad loan rate. My parents borrowed to provide me with a new car for my needed car in medical school (clinical years) eons ago- for safety and reliability. Not the HS driver. Cars on campus then and now still rare- no parking. Both son and I neglected good maintenance, wisdom comes with experience.
OP- many options discussed here. Costs/benefits with choices. Availabilty at the time needed will determine much.
@GKUnion my son has a 2005 or 2004 Volvo S60. We bought it used when he was 17, he is now 30 and still has the car. It’s got a lot of miles on it (close to 200,000) and he’s put some money into it but it’s been a reliable car. He’s ready to replace it as it’s starting to have some problems that are costly to fix. The car probably would be in better shape if he had taken better care of it. For its size it gets good gas mileage and it’s a safe car. It also is a speedy car so that is something to be aware of. It may look like a Volvo but it goes fast.
I’d try to see that Volvo sooner than later, before it gets snatched up by someone else.
I wouldn’t lease a car for a new driver—likely to get body damage that will force you to either pay a considerable sum for repairs or buy out the lease.
I just found out from the seller that the Volvo has a salvage title. The search continues…
Opinions on Audi A4’s and Lexus is250’s?
@GKUnion What about a Honda CRV or Toyota Rav4 or Honda HRV? Or an Accord or Camry?
Yikes—glad you dodged salvage title bullet. Tough to know all that may be wrong with that. Good luck moving on.
We bought an AWD 2010 Honda CR-V in late 2017 with about 148k miles on it for about $9000. Took it to our mechanic and it checked out great. Brand new Michelin tires even.
It was a one owner car from our local area; they had traded it in for a new Subaru and the Subaru dealer sold it themselves (as opposed to putting it in one of those big auctions where a lot of cars come and go) b/c they could tell it was such a good used car.
She’s been driving it for just over 2 years, and the only thing we’ve had to do was a few hundred bucks for some brake work.
I bet today you could get a 2010 or 2011 for about $8k if you look long and hard enough.
Wow, that’s a ton of miles in a short time, @AlmostThere2018 ! Glad the mechanic said it was good.
My first new car ever was a 1994 Accord. In 2003 I traded it in on a brand new 2003 Accord. I just got rid of that Accord last fall. I love Accords and am not opposed to a Camry, but people charge as much, if not more for them as the Lexus owners do in some cases.
My son is still driving my 2004 Accord
@GKUnion Wow! In my area used Camrys and Accords are usually less then a used Lexus. Of course it all depends on the year and condition of the car.
@GKUnion my sister and her husband sold their old Toyota Avalon (which is a step up from the Camry) and they priced it pretty high. Then again, it had leather seats and all the bells and whistles. They’re retired and the car didn’t get driven much and was in very good condition. It was about 7 years old when they sold it.
We just gave our son a 2008 Corolla that only had 80K miles on it. We bought it from a very well-regarded dealer and we speculated that it had been owned by an elderly driver who only drove it on short errands until he/she got t-boned and gave up driving. We put snow tires on it because you need them up here.
Corollas are reliable, safe, and inexpensive, all the qualities we were looking for in a used car.