PullinSon is graduating high school in a few weeks. Since we were planning to buy him a car for commuting/college, Mizpullin suggested that we get it early as a graduation present for him. This caught me a little off guard, as I thought I had until next fall to come up with a vehicle for him. I would like to solicit advice from the board regarding specific (cheap) cars you have used, along with your likes and dislikes. I visited the Toyota dealership yesterday and found a few cars within my narrow price range. One was a Corolla, and the other was a Yaris. The Corolla is fairly familiar, but the Yaris is new to me. They also had something called a “Scion”, but I didn’t test-drive it (it looked like a miniature panel-van).
Current plans are for PullinSon to live at home and commute. His daily travels to the college and to the flight school (he’s decided on flying as a career), will probably be in excess of 100 miles per day, so gas mileage is pretty important*. We also are looking only at new cars, in order to avoid the maintenance downtime so often associated with used vehicles. I still haven’t looked at Kias/Hyundais or any domestic brands, and would really appreciate any opinions/experiences with these. I occasionally see adverts for Kias that are extremely inexpensive, but I’m a little cautious (“get what you pay for”, and all that). Our goal is to select a car that will get him through school, and serve as a reliable vehicle for the first few years in his career.
If anyone has any experience with any of these vehicles, I would appreciate you enlightening me. My gut feeling is that Toyotas are pretty reliable, but I would like to get the opinions of other drivers (and would love to hear your dislikes, as well). We’re not fixed on any brand at this point.
*This rules out the traditional old family dinosaurs that college students often use.
Hallgirl1 has a Scion–the two door car, not the boxy van thing. She loves it and the gas mileage is good. (Of course, that also depend on HOW a person drives the car, and what the traffic is like, etc.) Of course, I also love driving it. It handles good on the snow (don’t know if that’s a factor), as well as when it’s raining.
I just bought a 2004 Hyundai Elantra which I absolutely love as well. (We’re thinking of starting a “I Love My Car” club, with tee-shirts and everything.) The gas mileage is okay (about 32-35 highway depending on how fast I’m going).
I think the Yaris is cute, cute, cute, but I haven’t had the opportunity to drive it.
They’ve quit producing the little hatchback Aerio SX, but they’re still making the sedan. From what I’ve read elsewhere, you want to avoid the four-wheel-drive versions.
I have a Kia Rio that’s now 5 years old – dependable little car, I like it just fine. I get about 27 mpg in a 70-mile daily commute that’s a mix of city and highway.
The highest rated small car this year is probably the Honda Fit. It looks to be a fantastic commuter car. 33 MPG, extremely well built, and actually fun to drive. And it starts around 14K.
And it’s cute as all getout. If my trusty Civic were to give up the ghost, I might consider a Fit just for the cuteness (Honda reliability being a given anyway).
Yes, the classic college/university cars are the four-door hatchbacks. Honda Fit, Toyota Yaris, Nissan Versa, Chevy Aveo/Pontiac Wave/Suzuki Swift+ (I think; basically the same car), Suzuki Aerio, Ford Focus ZX5 (I think), Toyota Matrix, Mazda3, Kia Rio. Some of these are available in sedan versions, but IMHO that’s not nearly as useful; students are always having to move friends and Stuff around.
If you were looking for a pure commuter car, I would also recommend the Smart Fortwo, but as a two-seater, it is not nearly as useful for hauling Stuff.
If your son has a new car, that will vault him into the upper levels of student respectability. When I was at university, we went out one day in my friend’s old Fiat, and he didn’t reveal to us intil we were on the freeway that only the parking brake worked. I was not amused.
Just be sure he has a way to afford to operate it while at school.
(Dewey Finn, you can’t get a four-door Yaris hatchback in the States? They’re all over the place here. What is Toyota thinking? Are they positioning the Scion in its place? We don’t have the Scion here.)
Of all of them, I’d choose the Honda Fit. Heck, if I was buying a car now, that’s probably what I’d get. I just wish it was a diesel-electric plug-in hybrid.
No, for whatever reason in the US the Yaris is sold only as a two-door hatchback (although the Toyota website calls it a “liftback”) and a four-door sedan.
I’m eventually going to need to replace my 94 Honda Accord, and a small hatchback is what I may want, but I want four doors, so the Yaris is out. As for the Fit, there was a rumor on some of the hybrid-fan websites that Honda would release the Fit as a hybrid to replace the Insight, given that they were the same size vehicle. I have no information to suggest that will ever happen, although I’d be interested in buying one if it did.
A new car? I do think you’re making a mistake. Chances are he’ll crash it pretty quickly, and insurance will be expensive. I suggest you go for a 2-3 year old Far Eastern (Kia al) car. They depreciate like mad from new for the first few years and are very well made, if spartan. I’ve got a Kia Shuma, and it’s cheap to service and cost me very little when I bought it nearly 3 years ago.
Another thought: with that mileage, would it actually be cheaper for him to rent near the college?
Oh, absolutely. I have a Ford Focus ZX5 (Dewey Finn, the ZX5 is a four door), and I’m in love with it. My father bought if for me when I started my PhD (I was 28 at the time, so maybe that’s kinda lame…). I can haul so much stuff in the back. I’ve moved a twin bed (w/o taping it to the roof). I’ve furnished my apartment via craigslist. I parallel park in spots that sedans covet. If I can’t find a spot I put it in my purse.
Only downside is that milage is okay but not great (maybe 30 highway). I walk to school, and the up-front purchase price was lower than comparable cars. Probably won’t hold its value once we hit $4/gallon gas, but I’m not selling it anytime soon.
If you want gas mileage and reliability, you’re going to be hard pressed to do better than a Honda Civic. You don’t need a new one, either – if you can find a used one with less than a 100k miles, you can be pretty confident it’ll go at least another 100k with few problems.
I have a Hyundai Accent, bought for commuting to school. I have the 2-door hatchback. It gets nearly 40mpg, and I paid $5,000 for it (4yrs old, 28K miles, used by previous owner as college commuter car). Bought new, it comes with a 10 yr/100,000 warranty.
Hell yes its dinky. Dinky and reliable. And easy to park. With great mileage. and Dual front airtbags. Not a bad deal as far as I’m concerned. It’s a getabout, not a status symbol.
I love Hyundais. My whole family has them. I’ve got a '00 Elantra, with 70k on it, not a single problem other than standard repairs like tires and oil. It looks cool too. I got it used for 8k after taxes. New are like 14k, I think.
I love Hyundais. My whole family has them. I’ve got a '00 Elantra, with 70k on it, not a single problem other than standard repairs like tires and oil. It looks cool too. I got it used for 8k after taxes. New are like 14k, I think.
[Thread Hijack]Whatever your son can afford. Why do so many parents feel the need to bankroll their kids’ college lives? Let the guy work while he goes to school so that he can learn what it’s like to have some financial responsibilities before he’s out in the real world. Especially if he’s living at home, he should be able to make a car payment with no problem.[/Thread Hijack]
My first response is if he’s looking at driving “in excess of 100 miles a day,” why doesn’t he just move to be closer to where he’s going to be? With $4 gas on the horizon, renting would be the far wiser option.
Seriously. Why get a new car that will lose a big portion of its value as soon as you drive it off the lot? Those older Saabs and Volvos are extremely durable, they’ll last forever, and they have acres and acres more class than any of the new, slick, “aerodynamic,” jellybean crap out on the car market today. Nothing says “classy bohemian charm” like a used, slightly worn, earth-tone Saab 900 or Volvo 200 or 700, IMO.
If you buy a new car and keep it until it dies 10+ years and 100,000+ miles down the road, why do you care whether it loses value as soon as you drive it off the lot?
When I bought my last car (a 1994 Honda Accord purchased when it was two years old), I found that Hondas kept their value so much that the discount for a used car was minimal. So next time I plan to purchase a brand-new car.
