Good SUV's for a teenager

**snowboarder_for_life** · 02-15-2010 07:07 PM

Okay.. I know this isn't a normal post about makeup or nails, but I really need some advice. I'll give you a little background information. I'm 16 and I'm getting my license in May. My dad is buying me a car and we are looking for one that is under $5,000. I'm not looking for a new car, I'm perfectly satisfied with a used one. I am lucky that my dad is willing to pay for my car at all. My dad is very picky on car brand. He doesn't trust Ford or Jeep so I'm thinking maybe a Nissan or a Honda? I need some help. Does anyone have any suggestions for good SUV's? Even late 90's or early 2000's would be helpful. I don't know much about cars so I would really appreciate some input. Thanks!

**WildChild** · 02-15-2010 07:45 PM

Why do you want an SUV? They get terrible gas mileage, are a pain to park, and their center of gravity is such that they are rollover risks on left turns.
How about a nice little Volvo? I got my daughter a 200 series, cheap to insure, one of the safest, if not the safest car car built and if you do regular oil changes ,they'll litereally go .a million miles

**snowboarder_for_life** · 02-15-2010 08:08 PM

Well, my dad wants me to have a truck or an SUV because he wants me to be higher off the ground. I was just wondering if there was something out there that someone would recommend.

**sperosi** · 02-16-2010 05:48 AM

please dont get a suv as a new driver. they are extremely top heavy and tend to roll over easily. i saw a 17 year old get killed right in front of me when she flipped her suv in 2007. any little swerve and it can roll over with horrible results!

please...

**ItsASecret** · 02-16-2010 08:16 AM

I do not know American (I will assume you are from there, if not sorry) car market prices very much but I do follow cars and their quality to some extent, but not a lot. If an SUV is your only option for whatever reason then I would stick with a Toyota Rav 4, or a Honda CRV. Everything else I would say is on a level "meh" type quality. Anything Honda will last a very very long time and they retain their value to a greater extent than other names as well which is a good thing.

If you can convince your dad to let you get a little sedan the sky is the limit. Again I would go right for the Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla if you want something that has substance and will last many years (providing the previous owners did not brutalize it). As for other names the Nissan Sentra will be a good first car. My personal goal for my first car is a Volkswagon Jetta or Mitsubishi Lancer. Those two are going to be a bit more pricey but the quality is there. You can look at the mediocre dodge neon, which isn't a great car but it isn't horrible either. A step up from the neon is the Dodge SX 2.0. It has same styling and general function as the neon but seems to be a better built car is. Whatever you go looking for remember to COMPLETELY AVOID the used Pontiac Sunfire, and Chevy Cavallier. Do not care about if those cars are a "steal" in price and seem to be in good working order, they are some of the worst vehicles on the road they will break down and cause absolute grief. Not to mention they are made of such poor quality that I do not even know how people can survive a car accident with them.

Try not to get the old rust buckets that the car salesman will say "is a great first car". Obviously if it has rust and terrible quality problems now it is going to be magnified in later years. Get a good set of tires on the car as well. Personally I would go for a car before and SUV and an SUV before a truck. But that's just me.

**Little** · 02-16-2010 08:23 PM

Chevy Blazer.
I got a 91 S10 model when I was 16, was the typical terrible teenage driver, and 5 years later she's still running strong. In the words of a guy I used to date, "I've seen a Blazer turn over 3 times and still look like a Blazer."
Really, there's no difference between any one vehicle from a certain era and any other. They're all going to have the same kind of safety features. So your father saying he "doesn't trust" Ford or Jeep, he shouldn't trust anything. But the options you're left with for domestics are basically GMC/Chevy (technically made by the same people, just different brands.) I don't like the way Nissan and Honda's SUVs look, but their pickup trucks are all the same.
I suggest something S10-sized. Like WC mentioned, some SUVs/trucks are humongous and hard to park, but I've never had problems with mine. The kicker with pickups and unsafe driving: you NEED to carry things in the bed of your truck. Heavy things. Otherwise you're not going to get good traction and things like flipping, swerving, etc become very real. I've never crashed my Blazer, and I've taken some scary-feeling turns with it. What kind of car did you learn to drive on? Was it large, small, a sedan, a truck? Take it into account when you choose style and size.
Think about who you are and where you're going in your life when you choose this car. Your father is thinking of your safety when he asks you to choose a vehicle that's higher off the ground. I picked my SUV because it was "cool." I didn't know that it would be a HUGE help when I went fairly far away to college and could fit everything I owned in it. You might not need that, and when you compare gas bills with your friends who have sedans you will be VERY angry you were stuck with them. Don't assume this is something you will have for your teenage years and then get rid of soon after. I have been begging my truck to last out "one more year" for about three years now.
Do some googling when you get in your head what it's going to be. Check Blue Book Value. Print out a checklist. Check your radio, listen to the speakers, change stations, check the lights, check the paint, check everything you can. If your dad isn't a mechanic, take it to one (of YOUR choosing, not the seller's) for a checkup before you buy, or at least right after. Look into anti-lemon laws in your state. Stay educated.
Good luck! And whatever your choice, ENJOY your first car ... you never get another!

**p3375** · 02-17-2010 03:27 AM

to ignore the following:

the terms "Good SUV" and "teenaged driver" are entirely contradictory in this universe.

Ok, that's a completely biased opinion and based only on the fact that SUV's are more difficult to control at any speed and therefore should be operated only by experienced drivers.
P

**sourpuss** · 02-17-2010 07:33 AM

Originally Posted by p3375

to ignore the following:

the terms "Good SUV" and "teenaged driver" are entirely contradictory in this universe.

Ok, that's a completely biased opinion and based only on the fact that SUV's are more difficult to control at any speed and therefore should be operated only by experienced drivers.
P

Agreed.
I think anything big and top heavy is a no-no for a new, teenage driver.
How about a Subaru Outback? They are 4WD, have lots of space and get good gas mileage.

**kira** · 02-18-2010 01:11 AM

My blazer isn't bad for the price. The roll over rating isn't too high on it. My husband's honda crv though beats anything. It has some of the highest safety ratings to the point he got discounts on his insurance when switching from a car. It also gets as good of gas mileage as his neon did. However they have such high ratings and break down so infrequently even with age that we hardly noticed a difference between used and new prices. We ended up with a new one.

A small pickup would actually be better. Not too bad of gas mileage, lower tip over odds, some of the lowest insurance rates.... That's what I was thinking of getting before getting the blazer. It takes a lot of gas but it's an improvement over my first vehicle which was a large pickup we used to haul the horse trailer.

Keep in mind I grew up on a farm and I live in the middle of nowhere. You drive large vehicles or you go in the ditch every winter and occasionally in spring if you don't stick to the paved roads. I have seen plenty of teenagers killed rolling large suv's on gravel and one death growing up from a guy in my highschool losing control on a wet paved hill. Suv's do absolutely horrid on gravel because of the center of gravity and distribution of weight. I learned that lesson real quick when I almost ditched my mom's explorer. A truck will handle such things much better. The crv though is surprisingly low to the ground for an suv. The difference in center of gravity threw me off at first. It's a bit light weight for my tastes and doesn't handle gravel well for that reason or the snow and ice quite as well as the blazer but for safety and gas mileage it really doesn't come out any lower than a car. If you want an suv for main road driving I'd look in to honda. If you want something to handle bad weather and unpaved roads get a truck but if you go 4wheel drive with something heavier you'll pay for it in gas.

**snowboarder_for_life** · 02-21-2010 06:07 PM

you guys have given some great advice. I also had another question. My dad took me out driving to teach me how to drive stick. I was just wondering how long it took some of you guys to get good at stick. I'm getting good at it but I want to be more confident. Your input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!