<p>Buy the Mazda3. It’s a great little car. (Why isn’t it on your list?)</p>
<p>Mazda’s are great cars with good service records…why not buy the one you like the best? Having a car you love makes trips more enjoyable, lessens your stress, and brings you smiles. As long as it works for your needs (# of passengers, gas mileage, safety features, $$$ tag), get it. You know you want to!</p>
<p>Remember, it’s not for me, it’s for the kids. The Mazda3 would be just under $17,000… do I really want to pay that to get them a cool ride? I could get a used Elantra with fairly low mileage for $9000-$10,000. (Don’t care much about resale value because we keep our cars forever.) If I’m spending $17,000, I would feel duty bound to buy the not as cool but last forever Civic.</p>
<p>Give the kids the Camry and get the Mazda3. Why not manufacture a mid-life crisis and do the cute car thing?</p>
<p>I’m having a Significant Birthday soon…don’t think I could pull off showing up in a cute little red car.</p>
<p>I haven’t driven an Elantra so I don’t know that much about those but I (by proxy) do have a 2005 Hyundai Tucson. The Hyundai warranties are hard to beat. Keep in mind that I think there’s a difference between the warranty to the original purchaser and the one for the post-original purchase. The original purchaser is warranted 10yr/100K miles on powertrain, secondary owner 5yr/60K miles (still not bad). Plus, they have a 5yr/60K bumper to bumper warranty.</p>
<p>For best value though, it seems that a used Honda Civic would probably hold it’s value the best and they have a pretty decent reliability record. The downside is that every other kid on campus has a Civic, the remainder have a Toyota Corolla (with maybe a few having something else). Remember that while you might keep your cars forever, the kid might not so resale value might mean more (unless it reverts to you).</p>
<p>For our third car, this past fall we purchased a 1991 Toyota Camry (99K miles) for $1,700 (found it on Craig’s List).</p>
<p>We did have about $600 worth of work done on it, and it still has a battery drain problem my husband wants to fix before DD gets her license.</p>
<p>I took my own car in for service to the mechanic and he mentioned the Camry – “that’s still a good car!”</p>
<p>If resale is an issue, here is KBB’s list for top resale —</p>
<p>[KBB</a> announces 2007 Best Resale Value Awards - Autoblog](<a href=“Autoblog Sitemap”>KBB announces 2007 Best Resale Value Awards - Autoblog)</p>
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<p>For *your *birthday car, you’re looking at the wrong Mazda: [MazdaUSA</a>](<a href=“2024 Mazda MX-5 Miata Convertible Roadster | Mazda USA”>2024 Mazda MX-5 Miata Convertible Roadster | Mazda USA)</p>
<p>Y’all are so sweet to suggest that I buy a birthday car. Alas, I’m too practical for that. I may get a new haircut, though.</p>
<p>Washdad:</p>
<p>For my birthday I need one of these Mazdas -
[Mazda</a> Furai concept revealed](<a href=“http://www.leftlanenews.com/mazda-furai-concept.html]Mazda”>http://www.leftlanenews.com/mazda-furai-concept.html)</p>
<p>It’s the Batmobile!</p>
<p>I always think that by the time you can afford the car of your dreams, you look ridiculous driving it.</p>
<p>In case anyone cares, we bought my son a new red Elantra sedan. It was between a Honda Fit and the Elantra. He loved the Elantra. My son is a very sweet boy who doesn’t ask for much…he’s not “into” cars, but when he saw the Elantra, and I said I’d wait a few days so he could have a red one, he was to tickled. I never ever ever thought my kids would get a new car as teens (when they were little, my husband said we’d NEVER buy them a car!), but it makes me feel good to be able to provide this. Plus, it will help out a lot when the 5 of us have to be in 5 different places at once.</p>
<p>Thanks SO much for all your help. You taught me a lot.</p>
<p>Thanks for the update! May he use it in good health.</p>
<p>More than two years later, I am in a similar place contemplating a car for a new driver and its impact on our insurance. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>[Cars</a> for teen drivers](<a href=“http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/cars/new-cars/cr-recommended/cars-for-teen-drivers/overview/index.htm]Cars”>New and Used Car Reviews and Ratings - Consumer Reports)</p>
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<p>Could we start a new thread with more current info on buying used cars for kids? This one is two years old and a LOT has changed with the used car market.</p>
<p>1995 Ford Escort Wagon with at least 175,000 miles on it (that way, everything that will break already has, and has been replaced.) Saturns 1995-1999.</p>
<p>They will hold virtually all of their resale value.</p>