While in HS my eldest clipped off the driver’s side mirror backing out of the garage as well. 
Was none too pleased that we made her pay for the replacement!
I believe I said something terribly supportive like, “You can keep the old mirror you knocked off, and all you need is everything else and you’ll have a car of your own!”
I need to keep the mini van. 
I’ll look at some insurance rates for new versus a good used.
I used to drive a hatchback so ya, all things being equal, I lean that way. However, I’ve also learned that a trailer hitch can make up for the 1-2 times a year you wish you had a truck. (Not for the novice driver but for some time down the road).
We already have a decent college fund in place.
I think a $5000 budget is extremely adequate for a first high school car. You don’t want to pay for colision insurance on a $20,000 car, especially for a high schooler.
I’d go with an older Toyota Camry or a Nissan. Toyotas and Hondas are the more expensive cars, there are some undiscovered jewels with Nissan and they have good quality. I thinks Hondas are gadgety and delicate.
Think of all the things she could do with that extra $15,000. A car is just an appliance to many kids, with a cheap car she could afford a tour of Europe upon graduation. Or another excellent used car!
The biggest insurance price difference will be the collision, which you might feel safe to skip if the used vehicle is cheap enough. If it were me, I wouldn’t skip collision on a new car. And if the car’s being financed, most insurers will insist on collision insurance…
A few weeks ago, someone linked to a video showing a crash test run by the UK programme Fifth Gear, in which an older, tank-like Volvo wagon was pitted against a newish Renault hatchback. The Renault had done extremely well in the European safety ratings and it did much better with regard to expected injury to the crash test dummy passengers. And new cars have various accident avoidance technologies, like electronic stability control and lane change collision warning.
So I’d recommend something new or newer with good ratings from the IIHS.
Here’s Consumer Reports video of the 10 best used cars under 10 grand.
Here’s another from CBS: Recommended Used Cars for Teenagers
Ours lost a piece that snaps back on. It isn’t pristine, it got scratched up a bit, but the Volvo was bought used and I really don’t like it.
My son doesn’t get good grades and doesn’t want to participate in the high school experience (except baseball in the Spring), so he has to pay for his insurance and gas via a job.
My daughter does and uses her time productively (well, there is the Tumblr habit, but since her current reading material is The Federalist Papers, we are letting her slack a little), so we frank her as long as she employs her time more productively than working a minimum wage job.
Here is that video.
My dad’s philosophy was, “A teenager needs a well-used car with so many odd quirks that he can’t loan it to any of his weird friends.” And since I was the only one who could find 1st gear in my car, it apparently worked.
I have an unconventional vote - PT Cruiser.
Now, there are a few drawbacks. Would a teenager be caught dead in one?
Discontinued, so parts could be an issue.
Not as reliable as some of the other cars noted.
But, there are advantages:
Not too sporty, so safer
Hatchback with tons of versatility
Dirt cheap
Roomy for carpooling and hauling stuff around.
I loved my PT Cruiser and was saving it for my kids, but I got a free (better) car and sold it off.
Pretty sobering video.
This makes a lot of sense to me. Honestly, I’m fortunate to be at the point in life where the cost difference isn’t that material…
In that case, look at this list of the top safety picks from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The list includes the 2016 Honda Civic and CR-V, 2016 Nissan Sentra and the 2016 Toyota RAV4. Any of these would be a good choice.
I’d recommend one of those little pickup trucks like a ford ranger.
Why?
The smaller ones are just one seat so less room for passengers. The cab is all open so one has good visibility all around. No blind spots. Also people can see inside and see who she has in her car with her.
Plus they tend to be cheap.
A brand new 16 year old driver with a brand new car? Bad idea. A beater type would be better. Cosmetic damage won’t matter as much. Ask Grandma to hold off on the new car until HS graduation. And a lease return would be better. It’ll be 3 years old, not much more than 36K on it, and it’ll have enough factory warranty left on it to get her out of college.
And talk to your insurance agent.
I have an 18-year-old son, and he is still driving his starter vehicle: a '95 Toyota Tacoma. It’s zippy enough to make him happy, but there aren’t enough horses under the hood to get him in real trouble. It’s simple enough, mechanically, that he has been able to maintain it and do some repairs (oil changes, replacing belts, etc. And replacing ball joints. But he’s a bit of an amateur engineer, so the last bit I wouldn’t recommend for everyone. My brother supervised that job.) Now that The Boy is looking at college, we plan to replace his ride with a small, newer hatchback - a little more passenger space, decent cargo space, and good fuel economy. Nothing fancy, nothing too fast. The insurance cost is going to blow, regardless of whether it’s a Scion or a Kia or Civic, because he’s an 18-year-old boy.
But the good little truck will stay home - The Girl just turned 15, and it’s time for her to learn. And that’s the best $900 truck I’ve bought in a coon’s age. Plus, I saw the evidence a few nights ago - a kid in an old Tacoma wrecked out on the highway behind our house. By the time he was done, he’d crossed 6 traffic lanes on a 4-lane road, hit the median twice, and bounced off a guardrail - which kept him out of our treeline and creek. I heard the wreck, and went to see about him. The poor dumb kid walked away. He probably hurt like hell the next morning, but he was alive.
I agree with other posters: find something decent and safe, used. Put the remainder of the budget in savings - towards college costs, or a graduation gift, or similar. A brand new car for a brand new driver seems unwise.
I used to be a driving instructor. My coworkers and I constantly heard about former students totaling their new car. Buying a new car for a brand new driver is often a waste of money. Even the good kids.
Things happen other than accidents- parking lot miscalculations, poor decisions. Many small things are expensive to fix on a new car. How much is a new rear view mirror? If a car is new, the tendency is to want to repair every little ding and dent. That can get pricy.
Rather than thinking of features you want, how about some things to avoid?
Lots of passenger room- you want your new driver to haul around lots of noisy, distracting friends? That’s when showing off happens.
Cargo room- in my day, that was necking room. (My first car was an Impala station wagon. Good times.)
Lots of power- hard to resist showing off or misusing.
Sure, you want a good vehicle that won’t fall apart or be unsafe, but don’t throw money away.
Buy a lease buy back with low miles and I think the Civic or Corolla would be good choices, as would the Impreza. You might want to look at the Scion Tc or Im as well. Roomy and the Im has a hatch.
I haven’t shopped for a car in a while, but when I did, I found that lightly used Hondas and Toyotas (like ones coming off a lease) are discounted so slightly that it didn’t seem worth it to me to buy used. And the accident avoidance technology seems to get better every year, so I’d still vote for a new car.